Iceland South Shore

We woke up at 7:30 this morning. Finished packing, got ready and left by 8:15 - 8:30. Our first stop was Kerið, which was a crater lake. The weather was overcast, a bit misty and very windy, but the crater was so neat! We walked the rim as well as took the trail down into the crater. The water had a nice blue color and was interesting that nothing flowed into it nor out of it!

We left and continued north to the Faxafoss. The weather was improving! The falls was behind a restaurant or more so a restaurants parking area was used to get to the falls. Therefore, they were charging to park there unless you ate at the restaurant, which is understandable. The falls were very wide and the flow going over them was amazing! It was really a worthwhile stop.

We now headed back to the Geysir in order to see it again with the better weather and to grab lunch. We got there at about 10:45. We watched Strokkur geyser for a few more times after we split a pinni and then hit the road again, though I could stay and watch the geyser all day!

We headed west and found the parking area for Bruarfoss. Bruarfoss is a beautiful waterfall that used to have closer access but was via private land and driveway. Now, there is a trail to the waterfall set up to provide tourist access. Be careful, because Google Maps and the like can lead you to the actual falls, not the parking area. Google Maps really wanted us to turn down private drives. We started the hike at about noon. It was about two miles to the falls and we passed two other smaller falls on the way. As we got further up river, the water got bluer and bluer. By the time we got to Bruarfoss itself, the water was a striking blue! We arrived at the falls by about 1:00PM. It really looked amazing against the black volcanic rock! We left about 1:30PM and got back to the car at about 2:15. The trail was relatively flat, but muddy in spots.

We then plotted a route to the airport, but went through back through Selfoss and then to Eyrarbakkiand and along the southern cost of Iceland instead of over the ridge and through Reykjavík. We did this just to see more of the country. The drive would have been very pretty, but it was very foggy for parts. We did find a very pretty little church to stop and see and that also gave us a chance to see the ocean there. This church was called Strandarkirkja and originated in the year 1200, though the structure was actually built in 1888. The church was near the settlement of Selvogur which used to be an old farming village that also had a harbor-less coast line. We didn’t stay long since it was petty windy and therefore cold, but the church was very pretty and we got to see inside the neat structure. We also walked up to the seawall to see the rough North Atlantic.

After the short stop, we continued on to the airport by getting to Grindavik then cutting up to the main road to the airport. We got gas and was at the drop off point for the rental car just before 5:00PM. After checking in the car, we realized that the big red suitcase’s handle would not come out... its partner, the little red suitcase did this same thing years ago, but when the handle was out so at least that didn’t happen. Pulling the big red suitcase now required an awkward bend over or to carry the 45 lb suitcase. The blue car rental guy said the airport is not a far walk so we just did that instead of wait for the shuttle. I man-handled the suitcase there and we got it checked in. We were through security by 5:30PM for our 7:30PM Norwegian Air flight to Bergen, Norway. We grabbed some dinner (chicken nuggets!) and then chilled by our gate for a while. When we started boarding, our plane didn’t come to a gate, they had to bus us out to it which took forever and wasn’t exactly organized, but we made it. The tarmac shuttle bus they put us on was massive though! Emily watched downloaded Netflix on her phone while I played Nintendo Switch. We landed pretty much on time at 11:30PM, got our bags and found the Flybussen bus into town. This dropped us off within about a 10 minute walk of the apartment on in downtown Bergen, which wouldn’t of have been bad except for the big red suitcase. I carried it about 2/3 of the way and Emily for a third. We got to the apartment on Strangebakken street at about 12:45AM. This walk was the only time we really saw darkness this trip. In both Iceland and Norway, we normally fell asleep in sunlight and woke up in sunlight. The apartment was very nice, modern and a great location! We showered and hit the sack at about 1:30 - 2:00AM. Norway as two hours ahead of Iceland so it was only about midnight to us, but still a very long day!

Safe Travels,
B&E

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