Day Two: Driving The South Coast
- Antonia Quinn
- Apr 10, 2018
- 6 min read
The morning of day two we set off on our long drive along the South Coast, but not before we had a delicious breakfast at the Lindartun Guesthouse (Included with the room price!). We filled up on fresh made waffles with Nutella, fruit, and lots of coffee, then set off to our first destination of the day: Skógafoss.
The drive there was incredible, we had the views of the ocean on one side, and the mountains on the other. We were also blessed with amazing weather this day so the drive was especially nice. On the way we saw this really cool house that was built into Volcanic Rock!
When we got to Skógafoss we were instantly blown away by the views. I mean we saw a lot of great destinations on day one but this was just incredible. This waterfall was enormous, and because it was so sunny out we saw these amazing rainbows at the base, and at the top of the falls. We took a bunch of pictures at the bottom, and you can see them all in my full photo tour. But here's just a taste...
In the picture above the clouds hadn't fully cleared up yet, but 5 minutes later it was totally clear skies. We then put the camera tripod back in the car and began the trek up what seemed like a million stairs to get to the top of the falls. If you look really closely you can see those tiny dots at the top of the mountain to the top right of the falls and yeah those are people at the top. I won't lie, that walk up was long... I mean it was absolutely worth it, but be prepared to get in a workout. The view from the top though.... just, wow. You can actually walk a long way further up the mountain, which we did, but it's not too steep so once your up there it's not a bad walk. Definitely would suggest taking the time to go to the top if you can!
After we got back down to the bottom we were definitely ready for lunch. We saw this Fish & Chips food truck right near the entrance road to Skógafoss so we decided to try it out. The place was called Sveitagrill Miu (Mia’s Country Grill), and they fry the fish and fries right there when you order.
Ok, so Nick and I are both from New England so we've had our fair share of delicious fish & chips, but I am telling you this was BY FAR the best fish & chips I have ever eaten. It was these huge pieces of Cod battered and fried as it typically is, usually I think fried food like that is too greasy, but this was so not greasy. It was perfectly crispy and beyond delicious. And the fries they served with it were equally incredible! So crispy and perfectly seasoned and I'm honestly drooling just thinking about it. But arguably the best part of the entire meal was this Icelandic Tartar Sauce they served with it, completely out of this world.
Honestly if I have one regret about the entire trip it would be not getting a second order of this meal. Also, they have picnic tables right outside the truck so you can sit outside and enjoy the scenery while you eat! Side note, we were so hungry we ate the food so fast and I didn't realize until the last bite that I forgot to take a picture... whoops. But here's a picture of the truck!
With full stomachs we set off to our next destination, the cliffs at Dyrhólaey. Now we were seriously getting into the breathtaking views. I mean just when we thought we couldn't be more amazed, we were! The drive to Dyrhólaey was almost as beautiful as the views from the cliffs. You drive on this road with water on both sides to get there, which was definitely a highlight.
Next we drove to Reynisfjara Black Sand Beach, which is only about a 10-15 minute drive away. It's crazy how different every place we went was, as you can see in the pictures below the landscape of the beach was incredible, like nothing I've ever seen before. You can take pictures on the huge rocks jutting out, and take a walk along the famous black sand beach. We had so much fun here taking a walk on the beach and taking in the views. I would definitely say this was another one of my absolute must see destinations.
Now we were off to embark on our longest drive of the day to our hotel on the Southeast coast, The Fosshotel Glacier Lagoon. The drive itself was unbelievably beautiful, we saw so many different landscapes, including these huge moss fields, all different kinds of mountains, and lots of glaciers!
On the way, about 20 minutes away from the hotel we came across this huge structure with graffiti all over it. We found out it's actually the Skeiðará Bridge Monument, made out of a piece of a bridge that collapsed. We pulled over and climbed on top of it, which was SO much fun. What an awesome find and such a good break from our long drive!
Finally we drove the rest of the way to the Fosshotel Glacier Lagoon. Such an incredible hotel, with the ocean on one side and a waterfall on the other. We were really looking forward to staying here, and were even more excited because the Aurora forecast was looking pretty good for that night. When we were planning our trip we were doing a lot of research about when the Northern Lights would be visible. Basically you have the best chance of seeing them from September to April, but it totally depends on the clouds that night, the solar activity, and other factors that are beyond my scientific knowledge... But what that means is it is really hard to predict if you're going to be able to see them or not. The prediction can be good for that night, but it could totally change within the hour. So since it has always been on my bucket list to see them, we really wanted to go out and try to see them, and photograph them. That was our plan for later that evening after dinner...
We had an amazing dinner at the restaurant in the hotel, I mean it was really incredible (but expensive!) We had this incredible table next to the window, and it was just such a highlight of the trip.
As we were getting on our heavy snow gear to go search for the lights, Nick went downstairs to ask the concierge something... but just then he called me and told me to get down there as quick as possible. I went downstairs and right outside the hotel the Northern Lights were so incredibly bright there are no words to describe how beautiful they were! I mean we seriously could see the green, pink, and purple and they were dancing all throughout the sky. Obviously we didn't have the camera set up yet so we didn't get a picture right then... but we hopped in the car and went to a darker area to photograph them.
I kid you not they completely disappeared after that which was so disappointing. We waited on Diamond Beach for over an hour with the camera and tripod set up, hoping they would come back. Nick was willing to wait all night out there, but it was below zero out and I was so cold we finally decided to go back to the hotel. When we got back, Nick kept asking me if we could just go out to the front of the hotel and take some long exposure test pictures so we could have the camera set on the right settings in case they came back. I agreed, even though I was pretty sure I was getting frost bite on my fingers and toes at this point. Then the craziest thing happened, they started to show up just as we got the camera set up!
We took a test picture and they came out even brighter on the camera than we could see them (because we shot using a 25 second exposure). Nick wanted a picture of us in front of the lights, and it's really hard to stand still for 25 seconds but I was like, sure why not try. And then as we were posing for the picture...HE PROPOSED! I was so surprised it was honestly the most magical moment of my entire life. Obviously since I was surprised, my head is turning in the original picture and it kinda looks like I'm a ghost, but we took another picture after that and it came out so well. BEST NIGHT OF MY LIFE!
