Day 7 Vik to Selfoss

Our hotel for the evening was called the Volcano Hotel and had beautiful views of  the ocean. It was the perfect distance from the town of Vic and we enjoyed an extended after dinner happy hour sitting in the makeshift lounge drinking wine and surfing the net. Best part: black out curtains! Finally a good nights sleep with little light shining thru. The next morning the owners son took good care of us and cooked us some scrambled eggs that accompanied croissants, meats and cheeses, yogurts and real orange juice! Enough to fill our bellies for a day of hiking and sightseeing. We set our sites on the Skógafoss waterfall, about a 40 minute drive from Vic. 

The volcano hotel, our room was the end right. Very cozy

Ocean view from our hotel 

We arrived at Skógafoss and promptly paid the $7 parking fee. All these sites have no entrance fee but paid parking instead. It’s easy to do thru their app called Parka and don’t think you can beat the system since they have cameras filming you entering and leaving and will send a bill to your rental car agency if you miss a payment! Skogafoss is widely considered to be one of Iceland's most beautiful waterfalls. It is situated on the river of Skógá, which originates from both Eyjafjallajkull glacier and the westernmost part of Myrdalsjökull glacier. The two sources merge by the Kambfjöll mountains, forming the river Skógá, which runs through the Skógárgil canyon until descending from-the edge of the moor as the Skógafoss waterfall. Skógafoss, and the river above and below the waterfall, was declared a protected natural monument in 1987.

As Skógá approaches the edge of the moor, the river runs over a layer of hard rock until rushing down in a beautifully shaped, 15 metre wide and 62 metre high waterfall. The cliffs are ancient coastal cliffs, which were formed by marine erosion at the end of the last ice age. There was along climb to the top of the falls which Andrea did while Bill watched from the safety of the parking lot. 

While taking photos Andrea spotted a fellowship Ohio State fan and quickly shouted O-H to which she replied I-O. They became fast friends and she ended up being from Green, Ohio not to far from where Andrea grew up. Amy and her husband were on their 30th anniversary traveling around Iceland via camper. We shared stories and took each others pics and enjoyed the waterfall. 

Andrea and Amy

The bottom 

The top! 

It was a long way to the top and probably would have done Bill in for the day, that new knee has been getting a workout! 

We left Skógáfoss in search of the volcano that wreaked havoc on our first around the world trip in 2010. If you recall the Eyjafallkokul Volano erupted late April 2010 and spread volcanic ash all over Europe. We had planned on starting the trip in Ireland but all flights had been cancelled. The best Delta could do was to fly us to Athens, Greece and then on the Paris for the start of our original trip. It all worked out.

We made a quick trip out to view the ocean and Westman Islands before stopping to view another waterfall. This one was less crowded and just as beautiful! 

You can reach these islands via car ferry. 

This was on private property but were allowed access as long as you didn’t let the sheep out. 

We ended the day arriving into Selfoss in search of a laundromat. The best we could find was in a campground that had one washer and one dryer. Great.. or so she said. The first load of clothes took 90 minutes to wash. They were washed and rinsed 4 times. Surely there was an issue. Andrea contacted the owner of the machines via FB messenger (the campground manager was sweet but those weren’t her machines) and luckily he was located about 15 minutes away. He came to us and checked out the machine and said he had programmed them wrong. Swiped his credit card and gave us a free wash. Great customer service!  Unfortunately the dryer only lasted 45 minutes and we had to hang our clothes in our hotel in Selfoss to dry. They dried fairly quickly since it’s hot as blazes here and the room only has a tiny window and no air con. We snatched up two fans from the front desk to at least make it bearable. Glad to have clean clothes for the next leg of our journey.

We followed these instructions and still needed assistance. 

Waiting and waiting and waiting. 

 

Makeshift clothesline