Day 54 - Iceland’s Incredible South Coast
August 14, 2023: It was an early morning start to catch our mini bus near our hotel and head to the South Coast of Iceland. The first destination on the list was Reynisfjara black sand beach. It is also the location of the hexagonal basalt columns. There were thousands of puffins in the water, but we couldn’t get close enough to see their colors. From the black sand beach you can also see the cliff that was used for some of the scenes of “The Wall” in the filming of Game of Thrones.
Next, we stopped at the furthest stop of tour in Vik - the southernmost village of Iceland. From the church parking lot you can seethe back side of the sea stacks. Legend has it that the stack is in fact made up of the frozen figures of trolls who were turned to stone while playing in the sea 😉.
Then we loaded back in the bus and traveled to Solheimajokull. This fascinating glacier tongue stretches from the greater ice cap Myrdalsjokull, which covers the volcano Katla. It was a 15 min walk from the parking lot to the viewpoint to admire the glacier. There is now a lagoon in front of the glacier which only began to form in 2007. The lagoon is around 70 meters deep.
Skogafoss waterfall is was our next stop. Though as tall as Seljalandsfoss, it is many times wider and much more powerful; the scale of it is incredibly impressive, especially considering the amount of spray rising as the water smashes against the rocks below. You can’t get very close before you start getting wet from the spray!
Our final stop was Seljalandsfoss Waterfall. These falls, which are over sixty metres tall, tumble from a cliff that curves inwards; this meant that we could walk behind it. We were gifted with a rainbow when we arrived and our pictures were just spectacular and it made the experience even more surreal!
From our last stop, it was 1 hour and 45 minute drive back to Reykjavik. The whole trip took 10 hours, but it was well worth it. Our guide “Al” was very knowledgeable and make the trip fun along the way. I would highly recommend this tour!
As if that wasn’t enough for one day, we had make a reservation at Magic Ice Bar in Reykjavik. You can’t go to Iceland and not stop at their ice bar! There were a number of interesting ice carvings on the walls with stories about each carving. We were given a poncho and as part of our ticket we got a bottle of Prosecco which we drank out if ice flutes. It was pretty cold in there, so we drank fast and got out of there quick. Another fun experience. It was quite a day!
Jimm’s rating: *****