Padinago's trip to Iceland in 2023

Day 18 - Exploring the Vík í Mýrdal area

Breakfast around 7.30am… we take our time as it is raining. Then we leave for the Sólheimajökull, one of the glaciers from Katla (one of the biggest vulcanoes of Iceland, next to little sister Eyjafjallajökull who everyone knows from the eruption in 2010). Then we drive to the Kvernufoss, a beautiful waterfall where we walk behind it, we are all alone as everyone is at the Skógafoss where we go later. Then we drive to the Skógafoss where it is very busy. It is raining very hard but we have our gear so we start hiking up the foss. After 465 stairs (!) we are on top of this foss… we walk further to Hestavaðsfoss, Fosstorfufoss and we stop our hike at Steinbogafoss at 1/3 of the normal hike as the rain is terrible and it gets slippery. We hike back down and drive to Dyrhólaey,, a beautiful lighthouse and amazing view on the rocks sticking out of the sea at black sand beach. Unfortunately the weather is against us so limited view. We decide to come back tomorrow... On our way to the Black Sand Beach at Reynisdrangar, we pass a little church 'Reyniskirkja'. The Black Beach of Reynisdrangaris the most dangerous/deadly beach in the country where every year people drown because the waves are coming up very quickly and washing people into te sea! Even this year some people died here according to our guide 'Sie' from the glacier hike a few days ago. There are lights indicating if it is safe or not to walk on that beach. Today it is orange which means to be careful, but still you see people taking risks and going up to the water line and then have to run away… very important to follow these lights! Then we are frozen and completely wet so we drive to the small mall accross the hotel and apparently all tourist are there to buy warm and dry clothes. Then to the hotel, put some dry clothes on, and a hot drink at the bar. Then a nice shower and dinner at the hotel.”

Sólheimajökull

Sólheimajökull
We at Sólheimajökull Sólheimajökull Kvernufoss Kvernufoss

Kvernufoss

Behind the Kvernufoss
Skógar

The walk to Skógafoss
The 465 small stairs to the top of Skógafoss At the top of Skógafoss Hestavaðsfoss Fosstorfufoss Steinbogafoss Dyrhólaey Reyniskirkja Read the signs at Reynisdrangar!

The Black Beach of Reynisdrangar
The Black Beach in Reynisdrangar

The Black Beach of Reynisdrangar
The Black Beach in Reynisdrangar

The Black Beach of Reynisdrangar
Dinner!

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