Puffins, trolls, and Bob. More adventures in Iceland.

Day three of the grand tour of Iceland and Norway. Our third day and second tour was to the south of Iceland. This time our guide was 180 degrees opposite of the first tour guide. This guy talked and talked and talked. And his name was Bob. Bob from America came to Iceland and fell in love with the country and then an Icelandic woman and never left. We got some great background on this tour and met a few really nice couples who shared our bus.

Our first stop was the magnificent waterfall called Seljalandsfoss. The guide told me I would not be able to go on the path behind the waterfall to which I replied, “Huh, we’ll see.” I got up to the path and wondered how anyone—bum leg or not—got up and down the treacherous path. So I went the other way and got a great view on top of a tall platform. I stopped when the mud started but got a good laugh at the two Japanese dudes in suits who navigated the path down—arms flailing to their sides. Hilarious. The entire area was a vision of green carpeted cliffs, wildflowers, and water. While Amy and Jen scoped out behind the falls, Butter and I took photos in front. I scooped out some crystal clear water from the creek that flowed from the waterfall that flowed from the glaciers above. It was drinkable so I had some and then brought it home for a time when we will not have any drinkable water. The last of it will be in my bottle on my shelf.

That was some of the last sun we saw that day. On the way to the next stop Bob pointed out the volcano Eyjafjallajökull and we asked to stop there. We could see the glacier above the volcano in the background of a sprawling farm. It was very cool standing in front of this famous glacier/volcano and Bob gave everyone a lesson in how to pronounce it. I already knew how—you know from those geeky science shows I was watching prior to the trip. No one was impressed. Oh well.

Next up, we were going to the coast to hopefully see some puffins. By now the wind was howling and the rain was pounding. I managed to click a few shots in the vicinity of where the puffins were nesting. The sea was beautiful despite the rain but the van was a welcome refuge. There was a unique rock, Dyrhólaey, standing up and out of the sand. We took some quick photos and made our way to the comfort of a warm lunch.

After lunch I walked to a beach with black sand. The waves were rough and there was a river of water cutting through the black sand that looked stunning with the green background of the hills behind. There were some cool sea stacks in the distance. We moved on to the town of Vik and some of our group ventured out over some tough terrain to sea some caves, trolls, and basalt rocks that form from the volcanic eruptions. If you are interested, they make some beautiful formations—some of which we saw the next day and in other areas of Iceland. (More geeky stuff that looks beautiful.)

Moving on, we stopped at the glacier snout of Sólheimajökull. In our minds we were thinking of bright white snow like expanses. This was more like what D.C. looked like about a week after snowpocalypse in 2010. Mounds of dirt covered ice and snow. Okay, it wasn’t that bad and there were some really cool formations in the ice. But next time I’m going to one of the big glaciers they have there.

The rain lightened up a bit and we finished our day at another gorgeous waterfall called Skógafoss. This one had a path that went way up to the top. I chose to stay below and see how close I could get to the falls. As everywhere, I kept seeing some funny faces in the landscape—this one was a big troll like head. I’ll post photos of all the funny faces in another post so you don’t think I’m completely crazy.

Once again, a big two thumbs up for the natural beauty of Iceland. And this time, our tour—Go Travel Iceland (gti) was very good. I do recommend them!

Back at Inga’s we decide to go out to have a nice meal. On our way to dinner, a nice couple passed by us and gave a hearty hello to Amy. I asked her who they were and she said, “Oh, that’s [Cindy and Dave].” When I asked where she met them she said they got to know each other at the bottom of that volcanic crater the other day [Kerid].” Yes, Amy can make friends in three seconds with anyone, anywhere.

Back to dinner…we ate at a swanky type place called Domo’s. I had a very expensive and delicious meal of lamb and some lobster meat. The lamb was very yummy but I could pass on the lobster stuff they had. The other girl’s liked their meals as well. Then on to home base. Many people have asked me if I could sleep while I was there. My usual reply is I don’t sleep much anyway, but yes, I did have trouble going to bed. I think I just didn’t want to miss anything and it felt like I might since it never quite got dark. But I loved it all the same.

Next time we go exploring with our pals at Goecco!