Katla Ice Cave Tour
Another relaxing later start to the morning in this pristine quite town and the cumulative carb overload for the past few days called for an outdoor run. The drizzle 🌧 failed to deter me from the refreshing run with a few stops to admire my running companions- the moss covered green cliffs, the church and a few scattered homes/hotels.
Morning run
Kahan and I went slightly overboard at the supermarket Kronan across the street from our apartments.
He was excited to jump the patio and run to the Kronan supermarket across!
We thoroughly enjoyed our lunch at the Soup Company. Kahan’s nacho bowl was packed with delicious flavors and so was Chinmay’s grilled falafel salad with tiny falafel patties on a bed of greens and a few pieces of cheese. My pesto tomato panini was alright and while I didn’t care for the Thai noodle soup, Kahan liked it. The cream of mushroom soup was delicious even for someone like me who doesn’t care for mushrooms much.
Troll Expeditions got us all on the Mercedes Benz 21 seater bus 🚎 driving through dirt roads with live entertainment in the form of chorus music by the kids to the glacier for the Katla Ice Cave tour. We walked a bit to a spot and geared up with helmets and crampons over our hiking boots 🥾 ready to explore the volcanic glacier. With yet another lunar like landscape gazing at the dying ice cave and the surrounding black and white glacier was incredible and another never before seen sight for all of us. In a matter of a year the receding glacier was causing the ice cave to die. Our enthusiastic guide, Michel was certain about the disappearance of that cave if we visited next year. Their team is constantly on a look out for new ice caves in the many glaciers around. Not surprisingly, Michel fell in love with this country on one of his visits 3 years ago and made the move from ðŸ‡ðŸ‡· Croatia.
Girl at work
The crampons made treading the glacial ice fun and easy, next up was the baby ice cave which we would all get to enter in groups of four. The heat from the volcano melts the glacial ice creating a path of least resistance forming to cave. The gravel also soaks up the heat from the sun and also creates channels for water to flow through, which eventually widens into an ice cave which you can walk through… With 32 volcanic systems in Iceland amongst over 130 volcanic mountains, this land is extremely unique in its geology to say the least. The interplay of the resulting lava, glaciers and the ocean create the enchanting natural wonders including but not limited to a plethora of waterfalls, canyons, ice caves, lagoons, hot springs that we get to experience.
The Icelandic Lava Show at the Soup Company was one of the most fun and informative geology class any of us had attended. The genius couple, Julius and his wife created this show 3 years ago and put on their creative and research minds to work constantly improvising during the pandemic and successfully making real lava indoors. www.icelandiclavashow.com. Julius’s passion for his creation was apparent in his enthusiasm throughout the show as well as his patient and elaborate explanation to questions from our large group after. He was gracious enough to take us on a behind the scene exploration of the lab where they made lava in a 100 year old repurposed furnace which can melt any stone or sand. We learnt about the Katla volcano 🌋 near Vik where they get an inexhaustible supply of lava flow from the epic 1918 eruption. The Katla is 53 years overdue for the next eruption and the inhabitants of the town are well prepared with a volcano eruption evacuation kit as they are expected to go to the higher elevations around town. The sub-glacial eruption can cause massive flooding equivalent to the four largest rivers in the world combined destroying Vik.
Each day was packed with experiences and sights which would lead us to debate if one trumped another. Like all exciting travels do, our Icelandic experience really impacted all 5 of our senses ranging from seeing the spectacular sights to touching millennia old ice, tasting the fresh cascading water, hearing the gurgling waterfalls and streams to smelling the sulphur from the hot springs.
The winner amongst the five senses was unquestionably the sense of vision, a reminder to be grateful for all of them.
Comments
Post a Comment