Hofn

Blocks broken off the glacier float on the lagoon before drifting out to sea. Salt in the water keeps it from freezing and seals swim between the pieces.

Ice carried out of the lagoon washes back up and scatters over the black sand. Waves polish the surface clear as glass, so light passes straight through.

In winter water drains from under the ice and leaves a cave that is entered with a guide. The shape differs every year and the same cave never forms twice.

A saw toothed peak stands behind black sand and mirrors itself in the shallow water. The land is private, so a ticket is bought at the farm shop before entering.

Water drops through a screen of hexagonal basalt columns. Reaching it takes 45 minutes of climbing from the parking area.

Crampons and an ice axe are handed out and a guide leads the party onto the ice. Crevasses shift from one season to the next, so the route is checked again the day before.

Grass grows in clumps over black dunes piled up by the wind. An old military base stood here and a few concrete structures remain.

Langoustine traps stack on the quay and the boats are watched coming and going. Each trap carries a colour that marks whose it is.

Photographs by year cover a wall showing where the ice used to reach. Layers of volcanic ash taken from inside the glacier stand in glass tubes.

Smaller than Jokulsarlon, it has the glacier wall standing much closer to the water's edge. A boat brings passengers within 200 metres of that wall.

Beside the Hoffell farm, a 20-minute drive out of Hofn, a handful of small stone tubs fill with geothermal water. Sitting in one you face the Hoffellsjokull glacier head-on. Nobody staffs it; you drop payment into a box at the entrance.

A glacier lagoon far less known than Jokulsarlon, where in summer you paddle a kayak with a guide between the icebergs. Without engine noise you hear the ice crack close by. A long gravel track leads in to the water.

A glacier tongue sliding down right beside Skaftafell, its crevassed ice wall coming almost to your feet. Science-fiction films and a fantasy series used it for icy-planet and beyond-the-wall scenes. A short path ends at a viewpoint; nobody walks onto the ice.

About 40 minutes east of Hofn an orange lighthouse stands where a long gravel bar runs out. The Eystrahorn peak towers behind it, a scene much like Vestrahorn but without the crowds. Swans and ducks crowd the lagoon inside the bar.

On the pier at the eastern harbour of Djupivogur, 34 granite eggs sit in a row on plinths. Each stands for one bird species that nests in the area. Their sizes and markings follow the real eggs' proportions, so you can tell the birds apart.

A low hill at the end of Hofn harbour with a walking path around it. In summer Arctic terns guard their nests by diving at people's heads, so walkers wear a hat. A memorial at the top honours fishermen lost at sea.