We were picked up at 8 am for our tour from Your Day Tours, another company that came highly recommended. There are six stops on this 11 hour tour. The last one changes up whether you wanted to see a second waterfall or make a stop at one of the spa lagoons. We opted for the waterfall.

You might think that seeing this scenery would get tiring. It definitely does not. Small and large changes from one mile to the next bring new thrills, new vistas, and new information from our tour guide that continually keep it alive and exciting.

Our first stop, after almost 1 ½ hours was just a rest stop. We started late so it was about 10:15. But a mere 40 minutes later, we were at Skogafoss, a magnificent waterfall — but back to that in a minute. First, we were fascinated by our Greek guide, Dimitri’s knowledge of history, geology, and general world knowledge as he talked the whole way to our first stop, and beyond, teaching us much information about Iceland.

Among other interesting information we learned that Iceland is the 18th largest island in the world and second largest in Europe (Great Britain is first, Ireland is third).Reykja means smoke, so Reyjavik is " bay of smoke" - referring to the geothermic steam vents that occur naturally and can be seen all over this island. This powerful natural source prvides heat 85 %of the homes and 66% of all energy for the country.

There are over 10,000 waterfalls, over 130 volcanoes, and at least 269 named glaciers. The Icelandic people learn to live with the snow and rain, and even dark, dark winters. But the wind is a terrible problem, creating traffic hazards, destroying cars, etc. This would be a book if we related all the facts that he spouted off.

Here is a map of the South Coast Tour, courtesy of Rick Steves.

Ok, back to Skogafoss. It is a powerful and broad waterfall that is on a river that drains from Eyjafjallajökull—remember the volcano that stopped air traffic around the world in 2010? You can’t walk behind this waterfall, but can climb up about 800 steps to the right of it to stand over it. Jim started but decided it wasn’t worth it.

The next three stops were fairly close together. The town of Vik, at the most southernmost tip has a population of 400 people and a quaint church. Those winds, mentioned earlier are vicious here. On this quiet summer day, they were probably only 25 -30 mph

Down at the bottom of the road that winds up to Vik is the famous black sand beach, named Reynisfjara. The waves here are quite dangerous with signs posted everywhere about not getting close, but the main attraction, besides the beautiful sand, are the basalt formations- splintered hexagonal columns of volcanic rock. The Hallgrimskirja church architecture in Reykjavik (see Day 1) is said to be based on these. Earlier in the summer, there are usually colonies of puffins nesting above, but we didn’t see any🥲🥲.

Although getting tired, as it was now about 2:30 or 3, our next stop was the best— the Sólheimajökull Glacier. It is one of the more accessible places to get close to a glacier. It’s about a 15-20 minute hike along a large glacial lake to get there. It used to be much less, but, as we know, glaciers are receding. Glaciers are also dirty, and this one was no exception. It’s mesmerizing to watch the patterns made by the brilliant white snow and all the gritty dirt. There were several groups preparing their crampons and walking sticks for walking on the glacier, but we just said hello to it and walked back. It was probably 1 ½ miles each way.

Still one more stop, but this one was fun and not too taxing. The Sekjalandsfoss waterfall is high—210 feet, but not as powerful as the first one. But the fun part comes from buttoning up your waterproof layers and walking behind it to see the beautiful patterns from behind. We got pretty wet, and then maneuvered down the wet, slippery paths back to the bus.

A very long day including another hour of driving home, getting in at 8:00. We were too tired to go back to the baths and Jim was quickly developing a cold. We found a quick dinner, packed and went to bed since our taxi is picking us up at 4:30 am tomorrow.