Itinerary - Part 2

South Iceland - Day 2

http://www.hotelhvolsvollur.is/en/  As we left Hotel Hvolsvollur, we followed the hotel clerk's advice and drove down the F-road which can only be accessed by 4x4 because you are driving on the riverbed crossing streams.  Please see Journey versus Destination post for a summary of that adventure.

We stopped at Seljandsfoss with the water coming from Eyjafjallajokull glacier just above the cliff..

Having ventured on the north side of the Eyjafjallajokull glacier in the morning, we continued on its southern ridge which had spectacular scenery - glacier ridge (cliff) on our left and the ocean on our right.

We passed by the B&B we were originally going to stay in but unfortunately no room at the inn...  It's called Hotel Anna.  I had Googled it and was enchanted by the story of Anna, a very independent woman for her time. Click on Who is Anna? on their website.  http://www.hotelanna.is/efni/hotel  Much to my disappointment, we were not destined to stay there.  The setting of this little inn was amazing, nestled in the side of the cliff, above it the glacier.  Here's a photo from their website.

Our next stop was Skogafoss.

 

Then we stopped at Dyrholaey which reminded me a little of Rocher Percé in the Gaspé.  The farmer nearby had an amphibious vehicle that went on the beach and on the sea through the hole, but they no longer go on the sea so we decided not to do that.

On the other side of the bay from Dyrholaey (in the background in the photo above) is a black sand beach with the basalt rock formations.
                                    
Along the way we saw yet another waterfall call Foss a Sidu (Waterfall at Sidu).

We then stopped at Kirkjubaejarklaustur. 

Kirkjugolf (Church Floor) - a basalt rock formation eroded to become flat over years

Our next accommodations were at Horgsland which is a popular fishing lodge and it's also common for hiking groups to stay.  Of all the accommodations along the way, this was by far the smallest and simplest.  There was a shared living room area with television where we ate a hamburger which was brought to us by the front desk.  I believe it was the best choice because you got fries and a salad for much less price than their evening meal selection.  The cabins looked rather cozy but unfortunately there were no more available.  Watch the video on their site http://horgsland.is/english/

Discovering Glaciers in South Iceland - Day 3

The next morning we took a little jeep path in the lava fields and found another little waterfall I don't remember the name.

Then we crossed the Vatnajokull glacier floodplain with black sand and glacial outwash and no vegetation.

At the foot of the above glacier, we stopped at Skaftafell National Park and there was no shortage of activities.  This is where we took our glacier walk, one of the highlights of our visit, and hiked to Svartifoss (Black Falls) which looks like it's surrounded by organ pipes.  There are plenty of hiking trails here.  We spent the whole day and what a beautiful warm day it was!

Svinafellsjokull (Pig Mountain Glacier) with its small lagoon




  



Svartifoss





Just before checking into our next accommodations, we stopped for our boat ride on the Glacier Lagoon which was spectacular, albeit one of the most freezing parts of our journey (the most freezing coming on our whale watching tour in Husavik - to come in a later post).

Even though it was an hour past our guesthouse, we had supper in Höfn.  Much to my surprise and delight, Humarhid (Lobster Feast) was a week earlier than I'd originally thought (I'd researched it and it's usually the first weekend in July but it was June 22-24 this year) and darned if we were not going to participate!  They decorate their houses in orange (it kind of looks like Halloween - very wierd) I gather because that's the color of lobsters (which are actually big lagoustines not lobsters like you find in the Maritimes).  

We ate at Humarhöfnin; you can see our lagoustine plates in the Icelandic Food post.

While we walked around the streets of Höfn, we saw this ball of ice that was being measured as to how it was melting!  It had started on June 16th at 3 meters high at the red marker way over Nick's head and had more than half melted only one week later, June 23rd.

That night we stayed at a farmstead called Guesthouse Gerdi.  Once again, like most of our hotel stays in South Iceland, the setting was outstanding with the ocean at our feet and the Vatnajokull glacier cliff at our backs.  http://gerdi.is/

We woke up to fog which stayed out on the water the whole way to our next destination, the Eastern Fjords.