Waterfalls in South Iceland

It seems as if one can’t drive in Iceland for more than 15 minutes without seeing waterfalls.  I have this crazy obsession with water so personally, I’m fascinated!  Whether it’s the ocean, lakes, waterfalls, glaciers, hot springs, Iceland has it covered.  Like I said, this is the perfect place for me.

I’ve always thought my love of water was quite the norm.  After all, who isn’t amazed by the power and strength of water?  When I initially perused my guidebook each and every waterfall made the list.

Day one.  I held off!

Day two’s itinerary – Gulfoss.
Gulfoss, Iceland

A huge, powerful, very intimidating waterfall that you can get oh so close to.  Unfortunately, as it turns out, my children have zero of my obsession (well, at least not when it comes to water in which they are not allowed to swim).  In that case “it’s boring.”  Bummer.

So it was on this glorious day two when I realize our itinerary is going to have to change….just a little.  I mentally start slashing the list to one waterfall a day.  Like I said, bummer!  Normally I feed them the line of  “hey, there are four in this group so too bad, don’t ruin it for everyone else, we all have different interests, blah, blah, blah”.  At which point they usually grumble only slightly under their breath and eventually find something exciting about where we are allowing me to have a secret, super satisfying “I told you so moment” all to myself.  In this case, no one bought it.  They did go, we did see, but other than the tale of the sheep herder on one side of the river finally making it across to his beloved sheep herder on the opposing side and living happily ever after there was NOTHING they were interested in when it came to waterfalls.

Gulfoss

 

Now, if you visit Iceland, don’t let the reviews of my children keep you from visiting Gulfoss (the sheer force and quantity of water that spills over every second is unbelievable).  It really is a stunning site and one of the “must see” waterfalls in Iceland but it quickly became apparent that mommy was going to lose this one – we couldn’t stop at each and every waterfall.  Bummer.

 

So, day 3 we wake up and head out, see an unbelievable crater, Kerid, stop for a 45 minute hike down to the bottom and press on for the next adventure.  Kerid - South IcelandWe sadly pass what from a distance appears to be a waterfall calling my name but alas, not stopping.  We continue towards, of all things, a bakery.  My children are fond of snacks – especially new ones.  Especially, sweet, delicious looking snacks.  Especially sweet, delicious looking snacks that mommy has never and typically would never let them try at home but know if they play the “oh, it’s all part of the culture card I’ll cave!  (I know, I know, they come by it all very honestly).    So, we stop for lunch, which, three days in, I’ve already realized is key to happy, long term travel and that delaying food for any reason results in grumpy, arguing, we don’t want to see anything children.

So, lunch…and then we are off.  Secretly I know there’s a waterfall coming up – and this one I can’t resist!
They see it from a distance, I can tell they don’t want to venture forth….but defiantly I pull off the famed Ring Road anyway.  This one I suspect they’ll love.  This one they even get to walk behind.  Click on the link.  I think this video tells it all.  A little tricky to hear but their excitement was contagious! Seljalandfoss, South Iceland

 Seljalandfoss in South Iceland

Spectacular Seljandlafoss, South Iceland

7 thoughts on “Waterfalls in South Iceland”

  1. Waterfalls are awesome and I am jealous! You can take me on your next trip around the world and we will leave the kids behind 🙂 I am so glad that you pushed through and got them excited about it. I hope, for your sake, that they will be happy to see more. Miss you and we are all excited to be following along.

    1. Sounds good! And right about now I’d love a little adult time – 14 months…then I’ll be ready for a girls trip. Waterfalls or not, right?!

  2. The video idea is cool but you can’t really hear what they are saying. Probably because of the rushing water behind them. Did they memorize a little script?

    1. We know it’s hard to hear….we posted it anyways because that’s truly how loud it was – quite astonishing really. There was no script – it was on the fly. We did a few “takes” however. We have others to post but typically everyone is so tired at the end of the day that everyone just heads to bed. Eventually we’ll get them up!

  3. Love this, because I’m obsessed with water too! This morning Simon wouldn’t drink his water because it was “old”and I got to launch into my speech about how all water is old and Maya and Mason were just rolling their eyes because they’ve heard my animated water speech so many times. Loving seeing all the amazing things you are doing and sure miss your face around here!

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *