South Iceland is famous for its massive waterfalls, never ending glaciers, and black sand beaches.
The speed limit here is 90 km/h. There are posted signs and cameras everywhere. If you are pulled over for speeding they make you pay on the spot. Apparently too many tourists used to leave the country, never return and never pay. If you are caught speeding on the camera they send the bill to the car rental agency and they tack on another fee before they send you the bill. Needless to say Jon is trying to stay very close to the speed limit.
Our first stop was SELJALANDSFOSS – a massive waterfall we could see from the road. The spray we could see a good mile away. A unique waterfall not only for it’s size but you can also walk behind it. Good thing we brought our rain jacket and pants because when they say you’ll get wet they are NOT kidding!
Most people leave after Seljalandsfoss but there are 3 more waterfalls along the walking path. The one you really want to see is Gljúfrabúi. It’s at the very end and looks like nothing special. But it is spectacular! You have to walk through a slit in between two lava walls, walk a little bit in the river and climb over some very slippery rocks. It’s a waterfall inside a cave. I can’t explain the thrill of seeing these waterfalls, hearing them and getting sprayed with the water coming off them, It’s a bit like an amusement ride. So fun!!!
The ring road is the only way around the island. It’s not a freeway, it’s not a highway or even divided. It’s a two lane road that barely has a shoulder. If your car broke down you would back up traffic! The other interesting thing is the scenery is beautiful. Everywhere you look – mountains, glaciers, the ocean or lava fields. So far we’ve only seen 2 pull-outs to stop and look at the scenery or take a photo.
you see scenery like this all the time.
SKOGAFOSS is another Impressive waterfall with a height of 200 feet and 82 feet wide. Its name means “the Forest Fall”. There’s a legend that says the first Viking settler at SkĂłgar stashed a chest of gold coins in a cave behind the waterfall. The spray was so intense we couldn’t get behind it to even look for it.
KVERNUFOSS is a waterfall on land owned by a Folk Museum. We payed for the museum, briefly looked around and hiked 15 minutes to the waterfall. Along the way were some adorable sheep. We’ve seen sheep in the fields on our drive yesterday and today. I was hoping we would get to see some up close. Not as cute as the Valais sheep in Switzerland but a very close second.
DYRHĂ“LAEY is a rock arch that sticks out into the ocean meaning “the hill island with the door hole”. It started to rain when we got there but we have rain suits, remember? We didn’t let it stop us from walking around the lighthouse or exploring the scenic views down to the ocean. After about 15 minutes the rain stopped. Apparently that’s common here. They have a saying that if you don’t like the weather just wait 5 minutes.
Finer than the black sand beaches in Hawaii.
We arrived at our AirBnB for the night at ~6:00 and were met by Garnar. He looks just like you’d except with a name like that. The house doesn’t have an address – just “drive up a small hill and you’ll be there!” The description said it was tiny and may not fit all of your luggage, depending on the size. None of that scared us because it was located on the beach! The most famous beach in Iceland: Reynisfjara, the black sand beach. We wanted to be there for both sunset and sunrise – without any other people. And by the way it fit not only our luggage but even had a table where we ate dinner.
It was still cloudy so no sunset tonight but after dinner we headed for the beach. It’s literally right out the door. We almost had it to ourselves. Just a few others strolling the beach.
Jon really wanted to see Puffins. We asked Garnar if we’d be able to see any on the beach. “Yes in the morning before they go out fishing. They’ll be on the basalt columns,” he said. He went on to tell us he used to hunt Puffins with a net on those same columns when he was a young boy. His record was 430 in 9 hours. I couldn’t ask what he did with them. I didn’t want to know.
We didn’t have to wait until morning. They were all coming in to their nest after a day of fishing. Jon was so excited he ran back to get his bigger lens. The light was not ideal but I think they turned out great. Wait until morning when we have better light…
Total steps: 14825 or 10.1 kilometers
Halfway Round the Planet, Part 2 