In the morning, we ate breakfast at the hotel, packed our things, and checked out. We then drove across the street to the Katlatrack meeting point for our first guided tour of the trip: a walk through an ice cave at Katla.

We met with our guide, Tomas, and climbed into a super jeep with about eight others. Tomas gave us lots of great information about the Katla volcano and Myrdalsjokull glacier that it sits beneath. During the summer months, the Katla ice caves are the only ones that can be visited because of the layering between the ash from the Katla eruptions mixed with the ice of the glacier. It makes the ice melt slower, so the caves do not collapse as quickly. This is also why the glacier looks “dirty” and not as white/blue as other glaciers on the island. It is actually the volcanic ash mixed in.

After about a half hour drive, we arrived at a small parking lot. Tomas gave us helmets and crampons for our shoes, then we started our walk across the glacier to the opening of the cave. A makeshift wooden staircase was leading up to the cave, and Tomas took some time to make sure everything was safe for us, as we were the first tour group of the day. One at a time, we climbed up the walkway using ropes and into the cave.

Tomas said this particular cave had been available for the tour for about 9-10 weeks. It was a good size and an opening had formed at the very back, making it more of a tunnel. Within the cave, we could see the different layers of ash and ice, giving a history of the area. Someone asked how old the ice in this area was, and it was estimated around 800 years, though the cave itself was not that old.

Since the glacier ice is fresh, Tomas invited us to lick the side of the cave, which both Mr. Strange and I did.

We continued on through the cave/tunnel, down a steep embankment and onto a solid piece of ice. This led into a smaller cave/tunnel. Again, since we were the first tour group of the day, Tomas took time to set all the anchors and ropes that we used to keep our balance. I have terrible balance so I was a bit nervous at times, but it was not too difficult. We finally exited out the other side of the glacier, traveled along side it and then down an embankment and across the glacier back to where we had started.

I had been iffy about booking this, since there was a larger cave that had collapsed a year or so ago that this tour most of its great reviews, but some of the more recent reviews mentioned tiny caves that only a couple people could fit in. However, I was pleasantly surprised that we got such a large cave that we were able to travel through, and this turned out to be one of my most favorite things that we did the whole trip.

We headed back to Vik in the super jeep and had lunch at Black Crust Pizzeria, which is a relatively new restaurant in town. The pizza’s black crust is charcoal infused, and it was absolutely delicious. Another top meal!