A VERY full day — Lisa's (& Steve's) Travels

We are now setting off down along the south coast of Iceland, which is rich in waterfalls and other sights to see. Being the intrepid explorer, I had a “modest” list to check off. ;)

That was a common sight - white washed buildings with red roofs tucked back up against tall cliffs (as protection against the storms that blow in from the sea on the south), as well as “seasonal” waterfalls -

Many of these “ho-hum” waterfalls are taller than named ones that Americans get excited about in our country.

And then you get the glacier, on top of what you thought were tall cliffs -

A quick backpedal here… for those of you who might follow in our footsteps in the future… I almost left out a waterfall we visited on the evening after we came back from our Super Jeep tour. Seljalandsfoss is unique in that you can walk behind it, and I’ve seen some gorgeous photos of setting suns and twilight clouds seen through the falling water. Not quite like that when we were there on a cloudy, drizzly evening. The wind was blowing really hard, and the people venturing behind the fall were coming out drenched.

At least the low light helped me practice “softening” the water technique.

Now, back to our journey along the South Coast. The first named waterfall we came to was Skogafoss:

Since there were steps to the top (500+), we of course had to take them!

… plus there was a trail to still more waterfalls…

… and canyons…

…and sheep.

Moving right along…

… we got to climb our first stile, to visit an off-the-beaten-path waterfall, Kvernufoss.

It was really special for me, because you could get behind it…

… and not get wet!

Remember the gloomy Black Sand beach that we saw on the rainy day? This is the arch that we saw from a distance -

The basalt columns at the Black Sand Beach were awesome -

I liked this day much better -

… compare and contrast -

Ok, next on the agenda was a hike…

… to Feather River Canyon…

… with… you guessed it… a waterfall!

There are so many cliffs and waterfalls here, that some are even private -

Our final stop for the day (“you mean she’s gonna quit with all the waterfalls??”) was Skaftafell National Park, with not just one…

… but two glaciers…

… and a waterfall - Svartifoss (you didn’t really think I was done with the waterfalls, yet, did you?).

Basalt columns are formed when a smooth mixture of lava cools fairly quickly, and the “centers” cooling the fastest pull in the material into even shapes, usually hexagonal.

I was looking for a good closing picture, and happened upon this kinda wistful one: