I have this thing for waterfalls. I will definitely go out of my way to see one. This weekend journey might have been the ultimate go find waterfalls type trip. If I have any regret on this time we have had in Iceland, it’s that we did not have the opportunity to drive the ring road (all the way around the island). It’s three days if you’re going to rush through it, six days if you can take the time it deserves. That just wasn’t feasible since we both work during the week. So, we did the next best thing – we picked one area that we really wanted to explore that was outside of where we have been so far, and spent a weekend seeing it.
If I were asked what was the most spectacular sight we saw I’m not certain that I could give a single answer. There were too many “oh wow!” moments! The one thing we did not see was puffins. And I am sad about that, but we just could not make it work schedule wise. The puffins were out there (this is their nesting season) too. There’s never enough time for everything!
On with the journey: we got an early start – it’s not like it’s ever truly dark anyway! – knowing that we had a lot to do and see. The first stop was Seljalandsfoss. I think every waterfall here ends with foss as it, oh so surprisingly means waterfall. This one was a bucket list item for the Husband as it is a waterfall that you can walk behind🥰
Seljalandsfoss had the advantage of being the easiest to get to as well, it was just off the highway. But for true scenic beauty this might be the winner. Although there’s one up north I hear is quite incredible. We didn’t see it so it doesn’t count.
Just another half hour up the road is Skogafoss. It’s about the same height as Seljalandsfoss, however, it is fed by a much larger river so the falls themselves are quite impressive.
After all that exertion we were very ready for lunch. It is normally my job to figure out meal stops and I think I did outstanding on this one. So, if you find yourself in Vik, Iceland (🤣🤣) we cannot recommend enough Smiðjan Brugghús. Or, Smidjan Brewhouse. In fact, we liked it so much we stopped for lunch on our way back too! The Husband really liked their Stuck at Home milk stout. I don’t normally buy t-shirts from places but I had to get one here.
After lunch our main goal was to get to our hotel, since it was still at least two hours away. The drive was amazing. The terrain changed constantly – from chunky lava to flows of lava to glacial desolation to bright green grass and crazy hillsides! It was definitely not boring.
One stop we wanted to do was to go to this one look out point. It was nuts. I didn’t take any photos of the gravel road that took us quickly up this massive rock which is too bad. But what a view!
Eventually we made our way to the cute Hali Country Hotel. Supposedly there was another town up past it – we had enough of being in the car! Even this little country hotel had a fantastic restaurant. The property was still a working sheep farm.
The next day we began the return journey with a few stops along the way. The first one was the Glacier Lagoon. This is an area at the end of one of the arms of the Vatnajökull glacier, Europe’s largest. The lagoon did not exist in the 1930s. This means that so much of the glacier has melted in the 90 years it has created an extremely deep lake. Yes, the glacier would eventually melt, but this should have taken 300-500 years to happen, not 90. It is a beautiful place but it is sad.
Now it was time for the grand finale. Svartifoss. The waterfall is within Vatnajökull National Park, the largest national park in Iceland. We knew that we had a long walk to get to it (2 km each way) but that’s okay, we enjoy walking in nature. We had also heard that it was a “gentle slope”…no biggie. Yeah. We took one look at the start of the path and thought “well, this should prove interesting”. It wasn’t an extreme slope by any means but I would not call it gentle either. Intermediate slope is good. The views though! Oh my!
Svartifoss looks like The Giant’s Causeway in Northern Ireland got flipped upside down and put a waterfall on it! It’s the same type of hexagonal basalt columns. Except these have a nasty habit of breaking off. You are extremely discouraged from getting where the rocks could break off and fall on you. Understandable! It was absolutely worth the effort to get there too. Also, the nicest toilets I’ve ever seen at a national park – the ones over by the campground. Wow.
Now for the long drive back to Reykjavik.
I promise I will get to the post about visiting the volcano!! Better get it written soon – we head to London in the morning✈