I didn’t realize until I settled in this evening how many things I did today! I think it’s because on the south coast, so many things are packed in so close together that there isn’t nearly as much driving to do between pit stops. I started the day at the Reynisfjara beach, which has the black sand that Iceland is famous for. It wasn’t too busy because I got there at 8:30am, but luckily there were a few other people around so I could get someone to take my photo sitting on some basalt columns. It was really nice to walk on the beach a bit and see/hear the waves crashing down. I was very careful not to go too close, and to keep myself facing the ocean, because of some cautionary signs regarding “sneaker waves”. The name kind of made me laugh, is this a phrase people actually use or is it a strange translation? There was also two news stories on the sign regarding people who died at the beach because they turned their back on the waves, got taken into the water by a “sneaker wave” and then drowned. (It made me wonder if maybe Peggy’s Cove in Nova Scotia would be better off adopting an aggressive sign strategy like that, because “keep off rocks” doesn’t seem to make an impression on tourists looking for photo-ops.) The cliff with the hole in it you can see below is called Dyrhólaey, which was my next destination.
On the way back to the main highway from the beach, I stopped at this church. There are churches that look virtually identical to this all over Iceland, but this was the first one I was able to get a photo of. I’m not sure why the white building and red roof combo is so popular in Iceland; is there a story to it like the reason for the blue roofs in Santorini? (If you know, please comment!) There were also really unusual red flowers growing on a lot of the graves by the church. Something I hadn’t thought of either was that since Iceland is so rocky, it would be difficult to dig graves deep enough to bury people – all of the graves in the graveyard were raised up in a distinct rectangle about the size of a coffin, and there were little skinny pathways between the graves that weren’t raised.
On the cliffs at Dyrhólaey, the view was amazing! When I first looked at the photos on my computer, I had to laugh because they look SO FAKE! It looks like someone took photos of me in front of a cheesy unrealistic backdrop at a photo studio, or someone photoshopped a painting into the background! I swear I didn’t even edit these at all, that’s actually what the view was!
I realized earlier while I was at the beach that I’d left my delicious sandwich for lunch at the guesthouse I stayed at, but luckily I had to drive back by it to continue on my journey so I stopped to retrieve it. On the way out, I took a photo since I’d neglected to the day before. The buildings you can see in the distance are Eystri Solheimar, a guesthouse and farm.
Next I headed to a nearby glacier, Sólheimajökull, which apparently has retreated 1km in the past decade! Crazy drastic. There were companies in the parking lot offering walking tours of the glacier and loads of people were walking in groups armed with intense crampons and ice picks, but I took the regular path just to a nearby viewpoint. The walking was really easy, which was good because I was trying to be less intense today. It was super cool to see the glacier from pretty close up, since I didn’t manage to get a close look at Vatnajökull yesterday. And there was a distinctly cold wind coming off of it, which was fun to experience!
Next, I stopped briefly at Skogafoss. It was very crowded there, as you can see in the photo below. The waterfall was really impressive, but I’m not a big fan of swarms and everyone jostling to take photos right next to things, so I didn’t stay long.
My next destination was honestly one of my favourite things I’ve done while in Iceland. Everyone I know who has been to Iceland who did the touristy/sight-seeing thing kept aggressively telling me to go to the Blue Lagoon near Reykjavik, but I had heard that it’s super crowded, super expensive, and overrated. There are hot springs EVERYWHERE in Iceland, and most of them are free and not crowded. The one I most wanted to go to is called Seljavallalaug, and it’s so sneaky that Google Maps couldn’t determine directions to it at all. It’s Iceland’s oldest pool, and was built in 1923 in order to teach Icelanders how to swim. Nowadays, Icelanders have to pass a swimming test before they graduate school, but in the 1920s not many of the fishermen actually knew how to swim. The pool is no longer officially running, but it’s still maintained on a casual basis by volunteers and donations, and people can still swim there. The water levels were quite low, but I’ve seen other pictures since it was officially closed with high water, so I think it’s just based on the time of year. There were a few other people there, but it was really pretty deserted and peaceful. The water was REALLY warm – there was some leaking near where it came out of the earth and I tested it and nearly burned myself. Luckily by the time it passed through long pipes into the pool, it was the cozy temperature of your average hot tub. I think the original path to the pool has been altered because of the 2010 volcanic eruptions, but it was still pretty easy to find since I knew it was there. Conveniently, the changing building is still there and accessible, so I had a place to hang up my backpack off the ground and change into my bathing suit in private. There aren’t any showers or toilets, but I didn’t expect that anyway. Highly recommend making it a priority to come here if you are in this area of Iceland!
After I left the hot spring, I was feeling muuuuch less stinky and gross which was a huge plus. I headed next to Seljalandsfoss, which is famous because it’s the waterfall you can walk in behind. I have to confess that when I read about this whole thing, I was like, this sounds cool but pretty gimmicky, I bet it won’t be that great. But it WAS. It was so fun to stand behind the waterfall and see it crash down and get soaked with mist! What can I say, sometimes things are popular because they’re awesome!
On the first full day I was here, I ran out of time to do a couple of the things on my list, and I managed to get to both of them today! The first was Geysir. It’s funny, everywhere online says you should go to Geysir and see it erupt, but the geyser that actually regularly erupts is Strokkur. Geysir is much bigger but only erupts after earthquakes (which, luckily is not now). Strokkur, on the other hand, erupts every 8-10 minutes – or more frequently: today I saw it erupt four times and I was only there for 15-20 minutes. I really loved the sign at the entrance to the area. The person writing it had clearly had enough of stupid people being like, “ok I know it’s hot, but plz can I touch it? I wanna feel how hot it is.” The last three checkpoints are golden. There were a few smaller pools around the area, which was cool to be able to see the deep hole inside them where the hot water was coming from. The first time I saw Strokkur erupt, it wasn’t a huge eruption, and I walked around to see the other parts of the area before coming back to try to take photos of the next one. There was this moment during the first eruption where the water turned really electric blue and bulged out of the ground, and I was hoping to be able to capture that moment. This is when I investigated and discovered that my camera has a burst shot mode, so I turned that on. And I got it! I didn’t include all the intermediary shots that I got, but it was huge eruption and was too tall to fit in my photo! And I captured the blue bulge that I loved at the beginning. Admire and appreciate the bulge in all its glory.
My final stop of the day on my way back to Reykjavik for the night was Þingvellir National Park. There are multiple rifts there because of the continental drift between the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates, and I took a quick walk in to see one of them. It was getting late in the day, so I didn’t do a huge exploration of the park, but it was nice to be able to see it before I passed through the area. There was also ANOTHER small waterfall nearby.
I’m not sure what my exact plan is for tomorrow! I want to go to a bakery in town because I’ve been craving cookies or cake or pastries or something, and I want to see Harpa (the concert hall!), but other than that I think I’ll decide over breakfast tomorrow. I want to leave to go to the airport by 2pm, so I will have a bit of time in the morning! And then my trip comes to an end. 🙁 Below is the map of where I drove today!
