May 16, 2016: South Coast and Waterfalls

Our wonderful hostess at the South Iceland Hostel in Gaulverjaskoli, Oddny was very sweet to wish us all safe travels and to come back soon to her hostel.

Oddny had told us on our first evening at the hostel about a local ‘cave’. It turned out to be a sand dune that had been dug out and the roof with grasses was left intact. Historically, the local farmer dug them out to provide winter shelter for his sheep. He cut a hole in the top to drop down hay for the sheep. There were two caves but the first was collapsed.

Walking back to the car, you can see the tussocks, the large clumps of grass that grow together. Some of the girls thought they looked like hidden trolls, waiting to come out in the night.

We drove towards the southern tip of Iceland and stopped in Hella for groceries. After buying enough groceries for a few days we headed to Seljalandsfoss. The waterfall is 60 meters high and one of the most famous in Iceland.

Photo taken from behind the waterfall.

  

Coming off the cliff, there are numerous other waterfalls.

 

Gljufrabui is another waterfall with its source up on top of the cliff just north of Trölagil (Troll Gorge). It is 40 meters tall and falls into a deep chasm. You can either climb halfway up and look down into the chasm or walk up the river to view the waterfall. Most students did both.

We had a picnic lunch at a local campground. It was very windy and we ate in the kitchen area of the campground near Gljufrabui.

We continued our drive toward Vik and stopped at Seljavallalaug. This hot springs was originally built in 1923 to encourage local children to learn to swim.  It has not been maintained since the 1950’s but still fills with hot water and has become quite popular with people when they drive the Ring Road (route 1 which circles the entire island). It is located about a 10-15 minute walk up the river from the parking area. We all felt like we were walking into a canyon fit for Lord of the Rings.

As you can see it is ‘wild’ in that there is algae growing in the water. It was warmer than body temperature but not by much, except for the corner where the intake pipe was located. The changing rooms are just concrete rooms which get wet and sometimes muddy. 

 

Akemi and Michaela ran and jumped into the local glacial-fed river and then jumped back into the hot springs.

 

Overall, everyone seemed to really like these hot springs.

We finished the day with a quick 15 km drive to our hostel for the next two nights. We ate dinner at the local restaurant and all took much needed hot showers after the wild hot springs. This hostel is located next to Skogafoss, which is also a huge waterfall.