Restaurant food is so expensive so we went to the Bonus Supermarket and bought lunch and snack stuff. I loved seeing all the different foods and was surprised at the large number of American brands. You can get Oreos here, Kellen. We can make our own picnic for three days for what one Subway lunch cost us! It was fun to shop there and our picnic later was a treat.
Our travel company marked many attractions on our big map, so we can pick and choose what to see. After our fun stop at the grocery store, we got on Highway 1 which goes around the island. We were looking for the Seljalandsfoss waterfall. In the distance we could see something lighter against the huge cliffs and wondered if it was the waterfall. Yes! The water comes from the glaciers and drops 197 feet to the valley. There are steps that take you up and behind the waterfall. Rick climbed part of the way up and got soaked. There are only minor attempts at safey here. You're supposed to have the sense to be careful. The steps were super slippery and steep, so I stayed at the bottom and was dry
I remember the volcanic eruption in Iceland in 2010 that put so much ash in the air that planes all over Europe were grounded. We stopped at the Volcano Eruption Visitor Center and watched a movie about a family who owned a huge farm just below a glacier which was on the edge of the volcano. When it erupted huge portions of the glacier melted and rushed down the cliffs onto the farm and highway. Extensive close up filming of the lava flow, the clouds of ash, and the flooding made this almost too real considering that there is an eruption here every 2 - 3 years.
The area along the south coast has many huge glaciers and lava fields. It's a very stark landscape without trees or buildings. One portion of the flow, though, was covered with a bright green moss that was a couple feet thick and made all the jagged volcanic rocks look like fuzzy green pillows. We drove to the ocean in Vik where the beach is fine, black sand, similar to ones we saw in Hawaii. There were warnings everywhere to watch out for "rogue" waves which are a huge and common danger to tourists. Vik is the most southern point of Iceland so tomorrow we are heading Northeast.
Our stop tonight is at an Icelandair Hotel which is just beautiful. It seems empty, but apparently it gets filled by bus tours. I am just loving all the spare, clean and colorful Scandinavian design everywhere. Bathroom fixtures, lights, door handles, chairs, textiles - all just elegantly simple. We have found the beds very comfortable and made up with a duvet for each of us. We've been very cosy - even too warm at night. We each bought along a small bag to bring into the hotel each night so we don't need to lug the big suitcases in. The back of our SUV is our "closet." We are pulling out our short sleeved t-shirts as we expect another warm and sunny day tomorrow.
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