On our way out, I couldn’t help but giggle at the modeling session that was going on in front of the waterfall. This woman clearly didn’t care how the waterfall looked as much as she cared about how she looked in front of the waterfall. HA.
I had read that there is a “hidden gem” waterfall, Gljúfrabúi, which we didn’t make it to. It’s in a cave just off the beaten path. We did find this other beauty just down the road though.
From there we drove for about a half hour more and stopped at the next waterfall, Skógafoss. This one was much higher and had a LOT of steps you could climb to go to the top… I think I read 527 or something. Ken and I did it and of course took photos at the top. One the way up, I said to him something to the effect of, “I’ve learned that the difficult ascent is almost always worth it - and usually always.” This waterfall is known for having rainbows at it as the mist and sun meet, but it was overcast today and raining off and on, so sadly no rainbows to be found.
After leaving Skógafoss and continuing the drive to Vik on the coast, we passed by a glacier viewing point! There wasn’t a place to stop for pictures, but I got some pretty good ones from the back seat of the car. This is the south side of Eyjafjallajökull glacier.
We continued driving to Vik where we had lunch at the Black Crust Pizzeria. I was unsure about black crust at first (would it taste burnt?), but it was delicious (and no, it didn’t taste burnt!).
After the pizza lunch, we had some time to kill before our next afternoon activity, so we headed to the black sand beach, Víkurfjara, that was literally right there. We walked just a bit, took some pictures, and then decided to move on because we’d be going to another black sand beach later.
It was close to time for our 3:00 lava show! This is supposedly the only live lava show in the world. The couple who founded it witnessed a volcanic eruption here in Iceland in 2010 (I think) and decided there must be a way to recreate what happens so others could see it. The show starts with an intro, then has a video about volcanic history and info in Iceland, and then they pour lava into a trough sort of container in the room! The room got VERY hot, but it was fascinating to see, and I learned so much.
After the lava show, we drove up to the cute Vik church on the hill. A noteworthy point is this church, since it’s so high up and so easily seen from all over town, is their volcano eruption evacuation meeting point. We were told that if a volcano under a glacier erupts, they have 15-30 minutes to get to higher ground before the floods come and destroy everything in its path. One volcano typically erupts every 40-50 years and hasn’t done so since 1918. There are usually warning signs of earthquakes ahead of it erupting, and they’ve had those. I think it would be scary to live near that! Here’s the Vik church and the view of town from it…
We went from there to Reynisfjara Black Sand Beach. This is one of the more well-known black sand beaches in Iceland. It was gorgeous… and is also dangerous. We immediately saw a sign (and had read about it in advance) about the sneaker waves. You aren’t supposed to go near the water because the sneaker waves could take you out - more dangerous than a rip tide. We stayed far away from the water and enjoyed the scenery.
Then it was time… for the puffin search! Pauline had read in a Facebook group that they had been sighted at Dyrhólaey. Once I knew we were going there, I read there was also a lighthouse there. I have a thing for lighthouses… almost as strong as my thing for cute churches. :) We parked and looked at the map, trying to decide what direction to go in the nature refuge. Where would the puffins be hanging out?
We started off to the right and soon realized that we’d be hiking up a mountain. Ken and I continued on (and a mountain it was!) while Pauline went back the other direction to see if she heard any talk of puffin sightings. Ken and I got almost to the top when he spotted one! Just one, but we’d be happy with one if that’s all we saw. Here’s a photo…
I told Ken that during that hike up the mountain, I was thinking about what I said to him earlier about the ascent almost always being worth it. And this time, I didn’t think it was going to be. It was foggy and we couldn’t see a thing. We’d get to the top to say we did, but there would be no beautiful view to reward us. But then he spotted that puffin and it made it worth it.
And then! We finished hiking our way to the top and found the lighthouse! Another thing to make that hike worth it.
Here are some sights along the way… It was VERY foggy with little to no visibility, so at times we didn’t know how much of the trail was still in front of us to get to the top! Then on the way back down I snapped a photo of where we’d been. See if you can see that faint line in the mountain - that’s the trail we hiked!
We got back down and walked over to where Pauline had landed. She told us she had seen a puffin! Still not more than one… and so we waited. And before we knew it (we had heard they could be more easily seen at dawn and after 6pm), 6pm arrived and so did the puffins! It was like clockwork! They are adorable and so fun to watch. Photo overload here…
After we had our fill of puffin watching, we hit the road to head back to our hotel. We knew we had a two-hour drive ahead of us. About 45 minutes in, since it was 7:30pm by now, I started googling restaurants on the way back (we knew we hadn’t passed many!). I found a food truck, Hekla Street Food, in Hella, Iceland, with google reviews of 4.8 stars! Definitely worth a stop. We arrived 20 minutes before they closed, and the two people in the truck could not have been more kind. We got burgers and fries, all of which were delicious.
I wrote my own google review to add to it; I try to do that on yelp/google whenever I find a place on there and find the previous reviews helpful. It was chilly outside, so we opted not to eat at the picnic tables and instead ate in the car. Then we continued the drive home for another hour. We will all sleep well tonight, I think!
As banner days go, this was one of the bannerest of them all. Another banner day, indeed!
Check out Ken’s musings over at worshamsgotoiceland.blogspot.com.
I love the puffin photos!!
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