Sólheimajökull

Sólheimajökull Glacier is a part of the Mýrdalsjökull glacier, the largest glacier in Europe. This leg of the glacier is easy to get to off of the Ring Road. We hadn't planned to stop here but after seeing the edge of it while driving towards Vik we decided to take an impromptu left turn and see how closed we could get to this thing. It turns out you can get really close, like touch it, or if you want to spend a little $$$ you can pay to go on a glacier tour and hike on top of it! When we first got to the glacier it was raining so we ran inside the little resturant and enjoyed some asparagus soup and fresh bread and enjoyed the view of the valley and glacier beyond. About 20 minutes later the weather started to lift and we headed out towards the glacier. The valley you hike through to get to the base of the glacier is amazing and it's crazy to think about how a glacier carved the very valley. In the distance there were canyons where you could faintly hear a rushing river, most likely flowing form another part of the glacier. Little glacier melt waterfalls also dotted the canyon sides. It was truly amazing to see in person- neither of us had ever seen glaciers up close and personal. The weather was starting to break so depending on whether the light was shining through or not effected the color of the lake and surrounding water. Some of the pools of water at the base of the glacier were bright blue and green! 

This was one of my favorite things we did on our first day which is surprising because I had really been looking forward to the waterfalls. Glaciers are so beautiful.

Learn a little bit more about this amazing glacier here.