Drive to Vik I Mýrdal


After a slower and later start to the morning, it was time to say good bye to Reykjavik with a quick drive by the church and another stop at the famous bakery in town for the kids’ Icelandic donuts. The later would put Chinmay’s expert driving skills to test with the car blocked by a large flower pot on one side and a parked car on the other side. The only way out was to drive on the pedestrian sidewalk. 


Driving through more awe-inspiring landscapes, we stopped at the Seljalandfoss- the waterfalls we could walk behind. The waterproof jackets came in handy again and made getting sprayed on by the fresh water enjoyable while climbing through the rocks 🪨 to get to and from the waterfall. 


A walking trail through the sprawling meadows with a couple of other waterfalls along the way would lead us to the secret waterfalls hidden behind the canyon- the Gljúfrabúi falls which we ended up naming the “Gujjubhai falls” considering our collective Icelandic pronunciation challenges! This hidden gem of a waterfall was one of the most unique and magical features with the sunlight passing through the tunnel like opening on the top casting an amazing glow on the falling cascade. 



Vistas around the falls


foss


Picnic lunch-location  beats any view restaurant 
Walking to the “Gujjubhai falls”


Gljúfrabúi



Seljalanfoss 

Kids hanging out in the creek
Cannot get enough of these falls


With the Gujju lunch picnic with Seljalandsfoss as our backdrop we were fueled up and pumped up for the next stop at Skogafoss. 


Anu’s friend, Breana who is an Iceland aficionado justifies her 25 visits calling it the Disneyland of natural worlds. The simile made perfect sense with all that we had encountered thus far. Skogafoss was no ordinary falls either with another vantage point after climbing 527 steps and tracing the origin of the falls with a 20km hike that leads to the famous Eyjafjallajökull volcano 🌋 that erupted in 2010 pausing air travel across Europe. Digish, Heli, Chinmay and I could have continued and finished the hike appreciating the Lord of the Rings filming locations along the way despite the drizzle , but we had to check in to our accommodation at Vik which was a 20

minutes drive. Chinmay wanted to return the next day for this beautiful hike but that didn’t work out.

Contemplating at the Skogafoss
Sibling love and Skogafoss

Skogafoss



Our home for a short day and a half, the Vik apartments were modern, spacious and offered the view of the church and the majestic mountain cliffs. We all loved the apartments and the charming town of 750 residents so much that we wanted to extend our stay by a couple of nights. After unwinding for a bit we drove to dyrhólaey for puffins sighting and admired rock arches jutting out of the ocean with the black sand. 



Dyrholaey

Puffins hanging out 

Dyrholaey

Dinner was take-away pasta and loaded fries for the kids and Hoco eatery spicy bhaji for CK and me. Post dinner hang out session with friends in our cozy living room over Scotch was the finale of yet another exciting Icelandic day. 


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