South Iceland Gallery I

Jokulsarlon is one of the most famous and most visited natural attractions in Iceland and turned out to be one of our favourites too. It offers the mind-boggling combination of a glacier, an iceberg lagoon, a short stretch of river carrying the icebergs to the sea and a black beach. On the beach large and small pieces of multi-hued ice wash around in the freezing surf. To avoid the crowds, we planned a visit in two instalments. On the first day we stayed until it became too dark for photos at about 9pm. A heavy mist came down just before dark, when Saul, myself and the seals that wander among the icebergs were the only living things left. Enjoy our photographs of Jokulsarlon and, of course, some South Iceland waterfalls!

The Viking village in the foreground is a beautifully detailed (and yet-to-be-used) movie set. We had great fun poking around it and taking lots of (very average) photographs that did not make the cut for this gallery.

An endless and completely flat black beach in a somewhat inaccessible spot next to a NATO radar station

The soggy path that passes behind the water delights all comers

One wet lens, one wet camera and one wet photographer

Blue glacial water, black volcanic rock and the beginnings of autumn foliage made this hard-to-find waterfall worth the hunt

Agricultural land in the shadow of Eyjafjallajokull (back left), the volcano that severely disrupted North Atlantic air traffic when it erupted in 2010

Another waterfall where it is possible to go into the drenched, mossy space behind the curtain of water

Eyjafjallajokull, the infamous volcano that disrupted air traffic in 2010, is visible on the back left

This breed (deliberately isolated to protect them against diseases) is arguably the purest in the world