{"id":10652,"date":"2025-08-24T01:38:31","date_gmt":"2025-08-23T23:38:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.danamladin.com\/?p=10652"},"modified":"2025-08-26T11:04:54","modified_gmt":"2025-08-26T09:04:54","slug":"islanda-5-jokulsarlon-regatul-de-gheata","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.danamladin.com\/en\/2025\/08\/islanda-5-jokulsarlon-regatul-de-gheata\/","title":{"rendered":"Iceland (5) \u2013 J\u00f6kuls\u00e1rl\u00f3n, a real-life Frozen :)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

There are places you just don\u2019t want to leave! I had that feeling in Iceland<\/strong>. And, thinking about everything I\u2019ve seen so far around the world, there aren\u2019t many places I can say that about. I adore certain cities, I go back countless times to some of them, but that sensation of \u201cI don\u2019t ever want to leave this place\u201d I\u2019ve felt only rarely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think I could write for a year about all the places I\u2019ve seen in Iceland (and I haven\u2019t even seen everything!). So I\u2019ll just take it step by step\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

VATNAJ<\/strong>\u00d6KULL<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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10% of Iceland is covered by glaciers! Vatnaj\u00f6kull<\/strong> is the largest glacier in Europe and the third largest in the world! It covers an area of 8,100 km\u00b2 and has a thickness ranging from 400 to 1,100 meters! Just to give you an idea, Vatnaj\u00f6kull is 10 times larger than the land surface of New York City!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This glacier is so vast that each part of it has its own name. I\u2019ll stop at the section called Brei\u00f0amerkurj\u00f6kull<\/strong>, closely connected to one of the most photographed tourist attractions in Iceland! (I think I alone took over 2,000 photos and videos during my two visits here\u2026)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

J\u00d6KULS\u00c1RL\u00d3N<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Before my first trip to Iceland, in 2014, I knew from pictures what J\u00f6kuls\u00e1rl\u00f3n looked like, and I thought: \u201cWell, of course, they stayed on the shore for a few days to catch some nice shots, then added filters, did some editing, and voil\u00e0 \u2013 a beautiful place ready for promotion\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oh my God, when I saw the lagoon, I was speechless! It felt like someone had pressed pause on me with a remote control in the \u201cwtf, is this real???\u201d position.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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2014<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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2025<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Yes, it\u2019s real! In fact, it\u2019s UNREAL! The multitude of icebergs, the light, the sound of the ice, the glacier wall\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s a place that truly leaves you utterly amazed!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

J\u00d6KULS\u00c1RL\u00d3N GLACIER LAGOON<\/strong><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

(somehow redundant, considering that j\u00f6kuls\u00e1rl\u00f3n in Icelandic basically means \u201cglacier lagoon\u201d)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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It\u2019s the largest lagoon and one of the most touristic places in Iceland. And it\u2019s easy to reach, imagine that\u2026 It\u2019s right by the main road, in southeast Iceland, on their national road (the ring road that circles the whole country). You can even see it straight from the car, while driving.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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2014<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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2025<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I got here coming from the east of the country \u2013 on both my visits \u2013 since that\u2019s how I planned my route. But, if you drive from the capital Reykjavik, you\u2019ll have to cover almost 400 km to get here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This place used to be farmland. With the global warming of the 20th century, the Brei\u00f0amerkurj\u00f6kull glacier retreated, leaving behind a lagoon. This happened around the 1930s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the process suddenly accelerated starting in 1975, so from nearly 8 km\u00b2, the lagoon grew to 15 km\u00b2 by 1998!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today it exceeds 18 km\u00b2 and it\u2019s still growing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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the glacier in the evening<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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the glacier in the morning<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Somewhere I read that Brei\u00f0amerkurj\u00f6kull is retreating by 100-300 meters per year, depending on the temperatures of that year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I, who saw this place 11 years apart, didn\u2019t even notice that the glacier had retreated \ud83d\ude42 At first glance, from a distance, I really couldn\u2019t tell. And even when I got close by boat to its wall, I didn\u2019t realize it was a few hundred meters farther back compared to 2014\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The huge chunks of ice breaking off the glacier are over 1,500 years old!!! They float in the lagoon for a few weeks, undergo certain transformations (which I\u2019ll describe below), then head out to the ocean, since the lagoon is directly connected to the ocean \u2013 a rare thing for glacial lakes \u2013 through a short canal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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When the tide comes in, salty water flows into the lagoon, creating a kind of layered cake \u2013 at the bottom it\u2019s salty and warmer due to currents brought by the tide, while at the surface it\u2019s fresh and colder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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2014<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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2025<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The icebergs in the lagoon create a spectacular backdrop!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Some are an electric blue, others have layers of volcanic ash inside, others are transparent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The blue ones are the \u201cfresh\u201d ones. Just broken off from the glacier, they owe their color to the density of the pure ice, free of air bubbles. Over time, in contact with oxygen and with salt water, their color changes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And whether you look at the icebergs from the shore or go by boat among them, you feel as if you were inside a fantasy movie.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking of movies\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

FILMING AT J\u00d6KULS\u00c1RL\u00d3N<\/strong><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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This place couldn\u2019t leave (no pun intended :)) film producers and directors cold<\/strong>. They set their eyes on it and shot here some scenes, some of them memorable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In James Bond: A View to a Kill<\/em> (1985), a Siberian area was created here, right at the beginning of the movie. Part of Siberia also became the Icelandic lagoon in Lara Croft: Tomb Raider<\/em> (2001).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Interstellar<\/em> it was the frozen planet, and in Game of Thrones<\/em>, J\u00f6kuls\u00e1rl\u00f3n shows up briefly in season 7, episode 6, as a background in a few scenes, to convey the feeling of a frozen land beyond the Wall. However, for the same series, many more locations in Iceland were used! I\u2019ve actually just seen one of them myself, in the middle of the country, and I can\u2019t wait to show it to you in the post about the \u201chighlands\u201d!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In James Bond: Die Another Day<\/em> (2002), the lagoon was the perfect setting for a spectacular car chase on the ice:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The crazy part, though!!! To be able to shoot the car chase on the lagoon, even though they filmed in winter and the lagoon was frozen, they had to \u201chelp\u201d nature a bit: the natural ice wasn\u2019t thick and stable enough to support the cars, all the equipment, and the film crew, so guess what they did? They temporarily closed off the lagoon from the ocean, to reduce the inflow of warm sea water, which was melting the ice sheet. Then they used industrial pumps to pull up cold surface water and spray it, thus creating a thicker and safer ice layer. Clever folks, huh!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And of course, they must have shooed away all the tourists while filming\u2026 Luckily, I hadn\u2019t even heard of this place back in 2002 \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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2014<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I first arrived at J\u00f6kuls\u00e1rl\u00f3n in the summer of 2014 and, in the summer of 2025, I couldn\u2019t wait to return! I stayed in the same hotel, 10 minutes by car from the lagoon. Eager to see it again and curious to find out how things had changed, I set off right after I checked in. In the evening, at the exact same hour as 11 years ago, funnily enough.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Late hours have the advantage that there aren\u2019t many people around. Usually, crowds gather in the morning, making a stop on their way east or, the other way, toward the capital. Plus, lagoon tours usually end around 7 p.m. And, well, around that time, normal people want to have dinner and then head to bed\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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2014<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In 11 years, things have definitely changed! I don\u2019t remember every detail from 2014, but some photos and some of my notes from back then help. For example, now you can no longer go down to the shore to walk around.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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From the parking lot, you follow a well-marked trail up a hill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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And from there, fenced off, you can take unfenced photos\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Now the parking is paid. It costs about 7 euros\/day, but I preferred to pay upfront for 2 days, since the next morning I had a ticket for the lagoon tour. I figured this way I\u2019d avoid the lines that might form at that time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A caf\u00e9 has appeared, a souvenir shop, a food area with food trucks cooking various dishes, and you also come across more containers selling lagoon tours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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They\u2019ve even built a sort of balcony where you can take pictures without other tourists crowding and ruining your shot. I felt like Juliet, only Romeo was missing, appearing among the icebergs \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n\n\n\n

WHAT TO DO AT J\u00d6KULS\u00c1RL\u00d3N<\/strong><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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2014<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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2025<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

First of all, you can walk along the lagoon, as far as the marked trail allows\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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You can sit at the wooden tables or on the rocks, calmly admiring\/enthusiastically photographing the chunks of ice piling up on one another, while seagulls make themselves at home on them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Or you can take a tour on the lagoon<\/strong> if you\u2019re here between May and October. There are 3 options:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Amphibious boat.<\/strong> A 40-minute ride on the lagoon, in a larger group. Cost (in summer 2025) \u2013 6,900 ISK per adult (+13 years), about 48 euros.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Zodiac boat.<\/strong> Smaller capacity, but faster and with the great advantage of being able to slip between the icebergs and get closer to the glacier wall. The tour lasts about 70\u201375 minutes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And the price is steeper: I paid 15,900 ISK, about ~111 euros! (In 2014, for exactly the same tour, I paid 6,500 ISK, about ~45 euros.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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You can paddle, if your muscles can handle it\u2026 Guided kayak tours<\/strong>. They last about an hour and a half, and the cost is around 130 euros!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both 11 years ago and now, I chose the same option: the zodiac boat. The difference is that back then, I showed up in the morning without knowing about the tours, and they took pity on me, letting me hop into a boat that was just about to leave, after I paid on the spot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This time I booked in advance, since I saw how quickly spots were selling out. I booked through the first site that seemed like an Icelandic company \u2013 icelagoon.com. But I soon discovered that there\u2019s also another one, also local \u2013 icelagoon.is. The difference between them is small, sometimes just in schedule. Generally, they run about 6\u201310 tours per day in the summer season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ZODIAC TOUR<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Nine of us with tickets for the 8:50 a.m. tour enter the container truck. We\u2019re given bulky overalls to pull on over our own clothes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Should I keep my jacket on, or leave it? Big dilemma, considering it\u2019s cold, and on the moving boat it\u2019ll be even colder. The locals here say they go without, but hey, it all depends on how sensitive to cold you are. I decide to leave it, since the overall they gave me already feels warm enough\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the other hand, you are advised to bring a hat and gloves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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We climb up the little ladder into the tall truck, which drives us along the lagoon to the boarding point.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cIf we\u2019re lucky, we might see seals or icebergs rolling over\u201d, says the captain. Eleven years ago, I didn\u2019t see a single seal (or flipper, for that matter), nor any icebergs flipping. What luck will we have today?\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We set off at full speed. It\u2019s 7.6 km from the shore to the glacier wall. I pull on my hat\u2026 then the hood of the overall\u2026 I take them off again for a selfie. Or maybe not \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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2025<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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2014<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We pass large ice blocks to the left and right. And we keep advancing toward the glacier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I ask the captain how deep the water is. Just the perfect moment for me to get curious like that, right in the middle of the lagoon\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMaximum 284 meters\u201d, he answers, and my blood instantly freezes inside me! Now I match the lagoon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnd the water is 3.4 degrees Celsius\u201d \u2013 he shows me on a screen, though I wasn\u2019t exactly giving any sign that I wanted to jump out of the boat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Suddenly, I remember something!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Even though now it\u2019s clearly written that you\u2019re not allowed to swim in the lagoon, because you can die after just a few minutes, in 2014 I photographed three girls who did exactly that!!!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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After thorough preparation on the shore, they entered the lagoon one by one and swam up to the first iceberg that came their way. It was late in the evening, few people around, nobody questioned their sanity, and they quietly carried on with their \u201cextreme sport\u201d. Brrr\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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2014<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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2025<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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We get closer to the glacier wall and the captain slows down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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We cruise gently among the icebergs, keeping a safe distance. Because, as it turns out, it can be extremely dangerous to get too close to them. Why?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Icebergs can reach up to 30 meters above the water, but let\u2019s not forget that 90% of their mass is under water! A spectacular phenomenon you can witness here, if you\u2019re lucky, is an iceberg flipping upside down!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This phenomenon happens for several reasons:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Once detached from the glacier, the icebergs float in the lagoon. And slowly but surely, they melt. At the base, at a corner\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the other hand, the saltier and warmer water underneath melts the submerged part faster than the surface part.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And one more reason: icebergs can have internal cracks, air pockets. In this case, the pressure changes, suddenly shifting the distribution of weight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No matter the cause, the effect is the same \u2013 the center of gravity of that chunk of ice shifts. And as the center of gravity changes, the iceberg seeks a new position of balance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The phenomenon is wow \u2013 overturns with sounds like powerful thunderclaps! But as spectacular as it is, it\u2019s just as dangerous!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A strong wave can be created, like a mini-tsunami, which could literally toss a nearby boat! Plus, chunks of ice can break off and hit the vessel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s why those who run the tours know very well that they must keep a distance of several dozen meters from the icebergs. They also know which ones have already flipped, by their color and surface.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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We didn\u2019t witness any spectacular overturns \u2013 and honestly, being on the boat, I don\u2019t think I would\u2019ve wanted to\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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(I did see one from the shore, not a big one, and I heard that thunder-like sound which I had also heard in Greenland, when I was on a glacier tour. Really eerie!)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SEALS<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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If we weren\u2019t lucky with the iceberg overturns, we did get lucky with seals! Yes, yes, quite a few of them!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Like lazybones, they lie in the sun, on chunks of ice. They lift their heads toward us, looking bored, then go back to their beauty sleep.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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One crosses our path! Curious, it follows us, coming very close to our boat, staring at us as if discovering humans for the first time in its life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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