Iceland has more than 400 glaciers. Vatnajökull is the largest one, while Langjökull is number two. In Langjökull, a very special tourist attraction has been created: They have dug tunnels in the glacier, so you actually can walk inside it. Correction: They dig tunnels every night – with a mini excavator, otherwise the tunnels will be flattened in no time.
We took the glacial tour in 2020, during the corona, and the number of visitors were very low. The whole trip is spectacular: You are driven in special minibuses, with large tires that can be filled or deflated depending on whether driving on road or on ice. On the glacier, they release air from the tires so that the car can float on snow. Then a bumpy ride starts, on the ice, where next to the ‘road’ you can see crevasses here and there.
Once inside the glacier, you put on ice crampoons, and then time is just right for enjoying the moment in a completely foreign world.
The glaciers are formed from snow that is deposited layer upon layer every winter. They are therefore a chronological journey through time, and studies of glacial ice can tell a lot about the conditions on earth a long time ago. We could see ‘annual rings’ in the ice, and a clear black stripe contained ash from Eyjafjallajökull’s eruption in 2010.
The Italian news consequently referred to Eyaflallajökull as ‘Il vulcano con il nome impronunciabile‘ – The vulcano with the impronunciable name.
The ice tunnels covers a total of 800 meters, and there are several rooms that have been excavated. You can get married inside Langjökull! Our guide entered the ‘cathedral’ alone and sang for us. The acoustics were incredibly in the ice.
Water is a big problem in Langjökull, it flows everywhere. If it rains outside one day, this is noticed as an increased amount of water inside the glacier 3 days later. Here and there there are crevasses, in one spot they had built a bridge over. Another crack went down from the tunnel wall. They used it as a drainage – and this drain roared like a troll! Because of this, our 3-years old British companion cried of horror all the way out.
The Icelandic glaciers are in decline. If the trend continues, they will all be gone by the year 2200. This was easy to see near the glacier, where they have put up signs showing the glacier limit in previous years.
After a glacier expedition, time is just right for a bath, and preferrably a warm one. We went to the Krauma spa. This bath gets its heat from the hot spring Deildartunguhver. Here, 180 liters of boiling water flow per second! The spring heats the villages of Borgarnes and Akranes, which are up to 100 km away. Krauma opened in 2017.
Krauma is an absolutely beautiful facility, almost entirely black. Wonderful!
A bath or three at Krauma is just right. They also have a small ‘cold pot’, for those of us who like to alternate between hot and cold baths.
If you need something to eat before driving on, you can buy food at the kiosk by Krauma. The meat soup is very good. But this is not lamb soup, here they probably cook it on the ewe itself. And the soup, it is to be consumed in the greenhouse!
