Flying over Iceland was one of most photogenic experiences I have ever had.
Aerial shot of the barren world of Iceland taken while flying to Denmark on Icelandair in mid-May.
Black sand and barren gold. Apparently there was a volcano on the right but I was sitting on the left and didn’t see it.
Written on the land; some places reminded me of the ancient rune stones left by the Vikings in these northern lands.
A month later we flew back over Iceland again, this time on a different route. This is a small part of the largest glacier in Iceland. 
Mountain ridges and lakes.
An electric turquoise river. (More shots of this electric turquoise river.)
In a month the land had changed slightly from gold and barren; it was still barren but now there was green along the edges. 
Fields of moss maybe? The dark lines are irrigation canals but I can’t think of what they might be growing here.
From the distance I couldn’t figure out what I was seeing, some sort of purple. When we landed to refuel I saw they were fields of lupins in bloom.
Last shot as we left Iceland and the clouds rolled in. 
From here on it only cleared a few times, once to reveal these frozen wastes. 
The trouble with commercial flights is they don’t usually bother with the tour guiding so I have no idea what we were flying over here! 
More of Nancy Merrill’s Photo a Week Challenge: From Above.
Albatz Travel Adventures 
Beautiful shots from above of a place in the world that is so different from ours. 🙂
It was so bleak and beautiful – next time we might stop for a week or so.
I would love to visit Iceland. It is so fascinating. Amazing pictures. How low was your plan flying to capture these? Thanks for joining the challenge!
I think it was flying at a standard flight level – the planes were a bit smaller than usual because they could stop in Iceland to refuel – that may have affected it. Now I definitely want to see Iceland at ground level although I didn’t see much in the way of gas stations and the like so am wondering how easy it would be to get out in the their wilderness!
The very name Iceland conjures something mysterious. I don’t know whether we will ever go there.Thank you for sharing.
There is a certain beauty in its bleakness – it seems though that it would be very difficult to live there without masses of imports from other parts of the world.
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