Friday, 3 February 2012
I woke up this morning feeling pain all over, especially from my thighs. My shoulders hurt too, from trying to rein Madonna the day before but my thighs and hips and legs? What did I do apart from trying hard to stay on the horse and not be thrown over? Strange but I would feel pain for the next few days.
After making sure that today we would indeed depart at 0830 with pick-up half an hour earlier, we left for breakfast at Scandinavia Café next door. Our pick-up arrived on time and again, we were driven to the Grayline office to ‘check-in’ and exchange our vouchers for tickets. Same procedure for all tours booked through Grayline.
We left at 0837 (had to wait for four other passengers). Today, we would go to the south coast and visit some waterfalls in between. We stopped for a brief while to view the mighty Atlantic Ocean before continuing on. We passed the town of Selfoss, the centre of Iceland’s dairy industry, and continued on before stopping again near Eyjafjallajökull, yes, the very volcano which eruption of ash cloud paralysed most of Europe’s air traffic for days back in May 2010. We even packed some of the ash conveniently placed in a container.
We drove on to Skógafoss, one of the biggest waterfalls in the country with a width of 25 metres and a drop of 60 metres. Due to the amount of spray the waterfall consistently produces, a single or double rainbow is normally visible on sunny days. Indeed, when we arrived, there was a rainbow; it didn’t last long though and disappeared when the day clouded over just minutes later. (There’s a local joke that if you don’t like the weather in Iceland, wait 15 minutes as that’s how long the weather takes to change). According to legend, the first Viking settler in the area, Þrasi Þórólfsson, buried a treasure in a cave behind the waterfall. A local boy found the chest years later, but was only able to grasp the ring on the side of the chest before it disappeared again. We spent some Kodak moments here before moving on.
Our next stop was Mýrdalsjökull (in Iceland, it means mire dale glacier). From the main road, we had to travel on gravel for about ten bumpy minutes before parking the bus and continuing by foot for another ten minutes on the rocky lava terrain to the glacier. As we neared the glacier, I could see someone ice climbing, watched by half a dozen other climbers. I went with some of the German tourists to check out a tunnel first before making my way down another way to a small glacier cave. Who knew glaciers are such beautiful creations? We spent about half an hour there before turning back and returning to our bus.
We continued with our drive, this time to Reynishverfi beach with its black volcanic beach sand. From here, we could see the beautiful columnar basalt formations (Halsanefshellir Cavern), Reynisdrangar sea stacks (Troll Rocks) just offshore and Dyrhólaey, formerly known as Cape Portland by English seamen, a small peninsular or promontory in the distance. We were informed that an Australian woman was swept away by the strong sea waves just a couple of years earlier and indeed the crashing Atlantic waves reminded us not to go close to the sea. We stayed for about fifteen minutes before continuing on to Vík (or Vík í Mýrdal in full), a pleasant small coastal village which is the southernmost village and wettest coastal area in Iceland. We stopped here lunch – I was quite famished after all that walking.
I so needed this then. I still do need a good massage now
To be continued
I woke up this morning feeling pain all over, especially from my thighs. My shoulders hurt too, from trying to rein Madonna the day before but my thighs and hips and legs? What did I do apart from trying hard to stay on the horse and not be thrown over? Strange but I would feel pain for the next few days.
After making sure that today we would indeed depart at 0830 with pick-up half an hour earlier, we left for breakfast at Scandinavia Café next door. Our pick-up arrived on time and again, we were driven to the Grayline office to ‘check-in’ and exchange our vouchers for tickets. Same procedure for all tours booked through Grayline.
We left at 0837 (had to wait for four other passengers). Today, we would go to the south coast and visit some waterfalls in between. We stopped for a brief while to view the mighty Atlantic Ocean before continuing on. We passed the town of Selfoss, the centre of Iceland’s dairy industry, and continued on before stopping again near Eyjafjallajökull, yes, the very volcano which eruption of ash cloud paralysed most of Europe’s air traffic for days back in May 2010. We even packed some of the ash conveniently placed in a container.
We drove on to Skógafoss, one of the biggest waterfalls in the country with a width of 25 metres and a drop of 60 metres. Due to the amount of spray the waterfall consistently produces, a single or double rainbow is normally visible on sunny days. Indeed, when we arrived, there was a rainbow; it didn’t last long though and disappeared when the day clouded over just minutes later. (There’s a local joke that if you don’t like the weather in Iceland, wait 15 minutes as that’s how long the weather takes to change). According to legend, the first Viking settler in the area, Þrasi Þórólfsson, buried a treasure in a cave behind the waterfall. A local boy found the chest years later, but was only able to grasp the ring on the side of the chest before it disappeared again. We spent some Kodak moments here before moving on.
Our next stop was Mýrdalsjökull (in Iceland, it means mire dale glacier). From the main road, we had to travel on gravel for about ten bumpy minutes before parking the bus and continuing by foot for another ten minutes on the rocky lava terrain to the glacier. As we neared the glacier, I could see someone ice climbing, watched by half a dozen other climbers. I went with some of the German tourists to check out a tunnel first before making my way down another way to a small glacier cave. Who knew glaciers are such beautiful creations? We spent about half an hour there before turning back and returning to our bus.
We continued with our drive, this time to Reynishverfi beach with its black volcanic beach sand. From here, we could see the beautiful columnar basalt formations (Halsanefshellir Cavern), Reynisdrangar sea stacks (Troll Rocks) just offshore and Dyrhólaey, formerly known as Cape Portland by English seamen, a small peninsular or promontory in the distance. We were informed that an Australian woman was swept away by the strong sea waves just a couple of years earlier and indeed the crashing Atlantic waves reminded us not to go close to the sea. We stayed for about fifteen minutes before continuing on to Vík (or Vík í Mýrdal in full), a pleasant small coastal village which is the southernmost village and wettest coastal area in Iceland. We stopped here lunch – I was quite famished after all that walking.
After lunch, we retraced our journey and drove back to Skógar, stopping at Skógar Museum (quite near Skógafoss), a museum established in 1949 by Þórður Tómasson. The museum is divided into a couple of parts filled with interesting items related to Iceland's history. There are tools and instruments used for fishing, farming and cooking; old textiles and papers/books; footwear; children’s toys; music equipments... Outside and behind the museum are some turf houses which help visitors visualise a typical rural Icelandic life which still exists in some parts of Iceland today.
We left just before 4 pm and less than half an hour later, stopped at Seljalandsfoss. It is possible to walk up some stairs and walk on the path behind the curtain of waterfall but even the spray was enough to soak us so I didn’t. Besides, my thighs were steadily beginning to hurt and throb so I had to make do with just capturing shoots of the waterfall before making my way back to the bus. And in any way, we were only given about twenty minutes here and I’d definitely need more time if I wanted to climb up and walk behind the waterfall.
We left and headed back to Reykjavík.
We reached our hotel two hours later and decided to walk around, seeing it was only about 7.30 pm. Most shops were already closed so we walked along with the partying Friday evening crowd. We did manage to find some bookshops still opened and browsed the postcards, magnets and bookmarks stocked.
It started snowing for a while and when it became such an effort for us to walk in the snow and strong winds, we decided to call it a day and return to our room.
We left just before 4 pm and less than half an hour later, stopped at Seljalandsfoss. It is possible to walk up some stairs and walk on the path behind the curtain of waterfall but even the spray was enough to soak us so I didn’t. Besides, my thighs were steadily beginning to hurt and throb so I had to make do with just capturing shoots of the waterfall before making my way back to the bus. And in any way, we were only given about twenty minutes here and I’d definitely need more time if I wanted to climb up and walk behind the waterfall.
We left and headed back to Reykjavík.
We reached our hotel two hours later and decided to walk around, seeing it was only about 7.30 pm. Most shops were already closed so we walked along with the partying Friday evening crowd. We did manage to find some bookshops still opened and browsed the postcards, magnets and bookmarks stocked.
It started snowing for a while and when it became such an effort for us to walk in the snow and strong winds, we decided to call it a day and return to our room.
I so needed this then. I still do need a good massage nowTo be continued
|