A magic place: the glacier lagoon

Vatnajökull has many glacier heads and they are all impressive, but one is really special. At the base of the outlet Breiðamerkurjökull is not a shallow muddy pool, but a deep clear saltwater lagoon named Jökulsárlón. This is such a beautiful place, and right by the ring road, so that every traveller going around Iceland must and will make a stop here.

They take the tourists in special robust diesel engine powered boat-cars (that are an attraction by themselves) into the lagoon, where many icebergs are floating around in all sizes and shapes which have calved off the glacier.

Everybody knows what an iceberg is. But hands up, who has actually already seen an iceberg in real life? And who has touched one?

Some of these icebergs are "dirty" with ash while others are whiteish or striped, some are crystal clear and some are blueish. These latter are definitely the most beautiful.

The lagoon is big and deep. They told us that it was the deepest lake in Iceland, and that it extended under the glacier to a depth of 200, 300 or 600 metres below sea level -- the glacier head is actually afloat the lagoon like an ice shelf. The depths of the basin seem to be still unexplored, that's why there are such different figures of its size and depth. In any case, what you can see on its surface is wonderful enough.

Hollywood film directors used this location as a set for four movies already: James Bond "A View to a Kill" and "Die Another Day", "Tomb Raider" and "Batman Begins". The Wikimedia Commons gallery of photos of the lagoon is worth checking out its miraculous beauty.

The Jökulsárlón (which means glacier lagoon) flows out to the open sea through a one-kilometer short river, which is bridged by the ring road, and you can stand by this river and watch smaller icebergs (up to 3-4 metres) as they float by. To the left and right of the river's mouth, some of them are washed onto the black sand beach where they slowly melt.

The boat tour guides gave us small pieces of the clear ice to let them melt in our mouth, to demonstrate how clean this 1000 year old water is. They even use it for beer brewing now. This girl at the restaurant found it yummy to combine drinking her hot chocolate with licking the cold glacier ice. :)