Summer in Iceland!

Today we took a full day tour of South Iceland, which (according to our guide) is the warmest part of the country.  Mid July and it was a sizzling 9 degrees (that's 48 fahrenheit for those of you who don't speak Celsius).   This scorching temperature was accompanied by a constant drizzle and wind that was so powerful that when it blew the rain in your face you felt like you were being slapped.

The scenery more than made up for the weather though.  It was a packed day and we began with a stop at Eyjafjallajökull (try saying that 3 times fast).  This is the volcano that erupted in 2010 and threw so much ash into the atmosphere that air travel over the Atlantic was affected for several months.  Sadly, it was shrouded in mist so I don't have any good photos.

Today I learned my first Icelandic word:  Foss.  This means waterfall, and there are an awful lot of them in Iceland.  We visited 3 altogether, starting with this Skogafoss.   You can actually walk all the way up to the top of the waterfall - but honestly the view is better from the bottom, that's my excuse anyway.

After that it was on to the black sand beach at Reynisfjara.  Don't miss this place if you get a chance to come to Iceland.  There were amazing hexagonal rock formations, lots of caves and also some rock formations out at sea (called the trolls).   

 

 

The beach also has some pretty impressive waves which can be dangerous.  Every so often a much bigger wave comes along and can drag some unsuspecting person who's ventured too close to the water off into the sea.  They've lost a few tourists this way!

 

 

 After the beach it was off to the small village of Vik (shown below from a vantage point up on the hill above the village) for lunch at a local brewery where we got to sample some Icelandic beer.

 After lunch we went to Myrdalsjokull glacier.(try saying that 3 times fast after you've had a beer for lunch).  

 Then on for a quick look at some turf houses.   This was the way the Vikings built their homes when they first settled in Iceland around 870AD.  But this technique was still being used as recently as 100 years ago. 

Finally, we visited 2 more waterfalls, Selajalandsfoss and another one that was unpronounceable but in English was called "The Gorge".  Then it was another  1.5 hour drive back to Reykjavik where we arrived exhausted and sodden and have now settled into our room for the evening.

Tomorrow we're taking the hop on hop off bus around Reykjavik to see the sights and do some shopping. Hopefully the weather will be better .....