We left Reykavik on Sunday morning after another Scandanavian breakfast at the Foss Hotel. David almost did not fit in the bed. We made a reservation at the Hotel Reykjavik which was down the street for the night of July 10th. We are still in need of a room for the 11th but will manage.
We left town around 11AM. We stopped in Selfoss at the bakery to buy some buns and cookies for lunch. The rolls turned out to be of high quality and we enjoyed them very much.
The drive on Route 1 going counter-clockwise was beautiful. The area around Selfoss was very beautiful in a pastoral way.
Oyster catchers flying along as we were stopped along the road.
Stopped along the road we saw many bales of hay that had been covered in cloth/plastic. They are stored in these covers and look alienesque. I am reminded of alien eggs scattered about the countryside. David thinks they look like gauze rolls that have been scattered.
We stopped here to view this foss. It was not a long walk but we went around the falls and photographed it from behind. The spray was not too bad and there was a dramatic overhang worn away by the falling water. The farms around this area were pastoral and lovely as each had their own waterfall.
Pairs of Gulls nesting along the cliffs around the waterfall.
More waterfalls visible along the drive!
This waterfall is in Skogar. We hiked up to the right and we ate out lunch in a nice spot with a view. We would like to return to this place. It is a 60m high waterfall and it has a legend that booty was hidden behind it. The beautiful glaciers above it were enticing and it is called Eyjafjallajokull & Myrdalsjokull. There is an interesting folk museum in this town, which we did not visit on this trip. Litka the not shy dog visited us while we ate and later ran off with her border collie friend and was eating bones behind the restaurant.
David walked out to the edge to look into the water full pool. I stayed in the more conservative spot.
We pulled off the road a few feet and took this photo of the glacier between Skogar and Kirkjubaejarklaustur.
This is a view from the pass just above Vik (to the east). The craggy peaks are otherworldly.
The beautiful town of Vik. We purchased some locally made sweaters here and the drive down from the top of the pass into Vik was spectacular. The spires of rock (dragey) are in Vik and are quite spectacular.
The fields of lupines are spectacular, particularly this on with the cliffs in the background.
Laufskalavordur. The field of cairns is a stop along the road was started many years ago for luck. Now visitors add a stone to a cairn the first time they pass here for luck.
Just east of Kirkjubaejarklaustur there are moss covered fields of lava from the 1783 eruption (we think).
Systrafoss in Kirkjubaejarklaustur. It comes out of a lake called Systravatn, where the sisters of the cloister used to bathe. The photo on the right is where we stayed in Kirkjubaejarklaustur, Hotel Kirkjubaejarklaustur, an iceland air hotel. We ate dinner there and it was excellent. I had Arctic Char, caught locally, with cashews and vegetables. The desert was a syrcake with blueberry sauce, which was also excellent. It was topped off with a cape gooseberry at full ripeness. We took a walk to the falls after dinner to get some fresh air.
This page was last changed on 11 July, 2002 .