May, 2014

We certainly have seen a lot of waterfalls on our travels. Seljalandsfoss was the first one where we could actually walk behind it – pretty cool!

Seljalandsfoss (I’ve double and triple checked the spelling and I’m still not sure it’s correct) is located in the south region of Iceland, not far from Skógafoss, on the Seljalandsfoss River, and fed by one of the same glaciers, Eyjafjallajökull. It’s about 80 feet wide and drops almost 200 feet.

By the way, the Eyjafjallajökull glacier is located by the volcano, by the same name, that erupted in 2010, disrupting travel plans in Europe and the Atlantic. Currently, another volcano near this location, Katla, is being watched because of increased carbon dioxide emissions. It will erupt someday, but no one knows how soon. Of course, Iceland is the land of fire and ice, so this should not come as a surprise.

We stopped at this beautiful waterfall late in the day, giving us some beautiful (almost) sunset views. In May, the sun doesn’t set before 10pm, but we were delighted to stay up late for this opportunity. We walked up a path along the side to reach the cave behind the waterfall, and then enjoyed the view from that perspective.

There is a human-made waterfall at Þingvellir National Park, Öxarárfoss, which was created in the Middle Ages to provide water for the members of and visitors to the Icelandic parliament that met there. We actually saw the waterfall from a distance, but were treated to its lower flow when touring the park.

And, of course, there were more waterfalls along the road.