Okay, we returned to Vik after our special adventure we had some time for a walk along the beach. Local folklore has it that these basalt columns are frozen trolls. A man and his wife were dragging a ship to land and got into an argument over which side of the mountain they should land on. The argument lasted until sun up when they were frozen in place. The one in front is the wife followed by the man and the ship.
The black sand beach is really beautiful. The sand is very fine.
After lunch we headed back towards the southwestern area. It’s a beautiful drive with majestic mountains on one side and the ocean on the other.
I love seeing the small white churches with the red roofs dotting the country side. They especially stand out with the snow covered ground.
We stopped at Skógafoss falls. It is one of the largest waterfalls in Iceland at 200 feet tall and 49 feet wide. Legend has it that the first Viking settler buried a treasure in a cave behind the falls. It was way too cold to go look for it. The mist off the falls was creating ice crystals and coating the surrounding sides.
When the sun is shining you can often see a rainbow around the falls.
This farm was covered in volcanic ash in 2010 when the Eyjafjallajokull volcano (NO I don’t know how to pronounce it) erupted shutting down airports all over Europe for days. We went to the visitors center and watched a documentary film about the eruption and how the farm family prepared for it and the recovery afterwards. It was very interesting.
Seljalandsfoss waterfall
We stopped by a farm to learn about the Icelandic horses. It is important not to call them ponies. An interesting fact is that no horses are allowed to be brought into Iceland and if an Icelandic horse leaves the country you can’t bring it back. This is to protect them from outside diseases.
This one took a liking to Susan.
The owner of the farm along with her husband.
Their daughter
We finally had a clear night which meant a better chance to see the northern lights. After dinner most of us went to our rooms with the promise that should the lights began to show during the night the hotel would give us a call. Well about 1/2 an hour later Peter (our tour leader) came running through the corridor yelling “Northern lights! Northern lights!” So we all quickly got our coats on and went outside. We were not disappointed. The pictures aren’t real clear but I am thrilled that I got to see them in person. It was a spectacular show for about an hour.
It was a fantastic and fun day that started with an unplanned adventure (see the other blog post) and ended with a special light show.
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