August 27 - What's all the foss about?

We had a lot of distance to cover in the car today as we needed to cross the entire southern coast from Hvolsvöllur to Höfn. This was made even longer by the fact that we made a ton of stops along the way, some planned and some spontaneous.

First was Keldur, one of the oldest settlements in Iceland, first settled over a thousand years ago. It wasn't terribly exciting, but it was literally five minutes from our hotel. Also, it was FREE! (Everything in Iceland has been disgustingly expensive.)

Next we spotted Seljalandsfoss from the road and pulled over for a walk. It is distinctive in that it falls over a bit of an overhand and thus you can do a loop entirely around and under the base of the waterfall. (Fun fact: This was also FREE!)

We made another unplanned stop twenty minutes later when we spotted Skógafoss, a massive waterfall that you could walk right up to the base of. Apparently I'm the only person who bothered to read the tourist information sign daring you to "test your mettle" by walking right up to the base of the falls: all the other visitors hovered fifty meters back, which allowed us to get terrific photos unspoiled by "The Uglies". (Price: FREE!)

Another hour down the road, the weather had turned cold and windy by the time we reached the black beach of Reynisfjara. This didn't bother me, though, because it was FREE!

For lunch we grabbed some sandwiches at a gas station and drove until we found a roadside picnic table. These turned out to be a stop for walking to see some Dverghamrar ("Dwarf Cliffs"), made of the same basalt columns that dot the entire coast. Not terribly exciting but the price was right: FREE!

The basalt columns (and the sun) made a return appearance an hour later when we got to Skaftafell and hiked up a few kilometers to see Svartifoss. This waterfall was the smallest we've stopped to see today, but certainly one of the most unique in terms of the surrounding rock formations. Also, both hike and waterfall were FREE!

The final stop along the way was to see the icebergs that fill the lagoon below the glacier at Jökulsárlón. We didn't bother taking a Zodiac tour of the lagoon since we've done rides among icebergs a few times (like here and here). Also, Zodiac rides cost money whereas looking at the icebergs from the shore is FREE!

We finally rolled into Höfn in the early evening, tired and weary. This small town is primarily a fishing port and the restaurants in town specialize in high-end dishes of local seafood, especially langoustine. (This is the only time you'll see me order Surf and Turf, as I'm not a fan of steak nor lobster. Here the dish consisted of a reindeer burger with tempura langoustine.) Fittingly enough for the day we've had, our meals were completely FREE SOUL-CRUSHINGLY EXPENSIVE.