We woke up and headed out on Day 2 towards the Southern Coast of Iceland. We stopped at this yummy Gudni Bakari along the way and then made our way to Seljalandsfoss and Gljufurafoss. They were both packed with people, so we didn’t stay long. None of us are fans of crowds. You can walk behind Seljalandsfoss, so it is extremely wet. I opted not to take any pictures for fear of losing both my phone and camera. You can go a 3/4 of a mile further and reach Gljufurafoss, which is pretty awesome. You go inside a cave to view the waterfall. AMAZING!!
After leaving the falls, we continued south and came across this really cool turf cave along the road called Steinahellir cave. After reading the sign next to it, we learned that the cave was used by farmers to house sheep. In 1818, the cave actually became the area’s parliamentary assembly site and remained so until 1905. There are apparently many stories of supernatural happenings and enchantments connected with the cave. One tale warns not to pick the enchanted ferns which grow in the cave as bad luck will befall anyone who does. It is now a protected archaeological site. We stopped to get some pictures, but didn’t pick the ferns! Our next stop was Skogofoss. We could see it from the road, and we could see that there were a lot of people and the parking lot was full. Of course, the kids convinced me that we didn't need to stop because we would find something even better with few people. Of course- they were right.
We continued on and decided to veer off onto a side road (rt 221) off of route 1 towards the Solheimajokull Glacier. We parked the car and walked for a bit. You can also walk on this glacier with a guide. I think this place would be absolutely beautiful in the winter (but so cold).
Next stop was Dyrholaey where we were excited to see puffins. Unfortunately, we could only view them with the binoculars. Olivia was still very excited to see them. We didn’t spend a lot of time here because we were getting hungry and still wanted to get in a hike before settling into our hotel in Kirkjubaejarklaustur.
We stopped in the adorable town of Vik for a nice lunch at Suder Vik before we found this amazing hike. Before we ate, we had noticed a pull off on the right side of the road right before the town. We basically were the only people on the hike, which took about 3 hours total. From the top, we could see Reynisfjara beach (black sand), and the views were incredible. We met up with many sheep and one cyclist the entire time. It was well worth it for the views and lush green landscape, turquoise water, and jagged cliffs.
We continued on the coast and made our way towards our hotel for the night. On the way, it was getting late and we went through an area where both sides of us were total moss lands. You can not walk on the moss in Iceland because it will destroy it. The was one point where we were able to pull off and get some pictures. Incredible!! We had dinner at Hotel Laki- our hotel for the night in Kirkjubaejarklaustur.
