Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
incredible moment when a shockwave from deep inside the crater visibly blasts out
through the ash cloud.
Make sure you cross the road from the centre and look at
Þorvaldseyri farm
, the
red-roofed building directly inland from the centre, now running as normal - in fact,
the ash-fertilized fields gave them a bumper harvest in 2011.
Seljavallalaug
Some 5km east of Þorvaldseyri, or the same distance west of Skógar, the mostly gravel
Route 243 runs a few kilometres north to a parking area. From here it's a fifteen-
minute walk along a small stream to the head of a rocky, steep-sided valley and
Seljavallalaug
, a waist-deep, rectangular swimming pool fed by a hot spring. Though
you can't see it from here, Eyjafjallajökull's icy skirt caps the plateau above and the
rubbly slopes are strung with little waterfalls; the pool was choked by ash from the
2010 eruption and is still a little murky, but having a soak amongst the rugged
landscape is an intrinsically Icelandic experience.
2
Skógar
SKÓGAR
is an insubstantial, scattered collection of buildings set back of the
Ringroad beside
Skógarfoss
, the biggest of the local waterfalls and worth a look even
if you've otherwise had enough of these things. Other reasons to stop are the
entertaining
museum
and a superb
hiking
trail
to Þórsmörk via still-steaming lava at
Fimmvorðuháls. Skógar has no centre; a 1km road runs inland off the highway, with
the waterfall and most buildings to the west, and the museum of the end of the road
to the east.
Folk Museum
May & Sept 10am-5pm; June-Aug 9am-6.30pm • 1500kr
Skógar was settled by the twelfth century, and you'll find a detailed record of the
region's farming and fishing communities at the
Folk Museum
. Various types of
traditional
turf-roofed farm buildings
have been relocated to an adjacent field, while
inside the main building, the centrepiece is a 10m-long wooden
fishing boat
from
1855, tough enough to survive being dragged regularly over miles of sand and gravel to
be launched. Pick of the remaining exhibits include a Viking
jade cloak pin
, an edition
of Iceland's first printed
bible
, dating from 1584, and a fourteenth-century fragment
from the topic of David written in Icelandic on vellum. Ask to be shown (it's easy to
overlook otherwise) the
brass ring
found hundreds of years ago, said to have once
adorned a chest of gold hidden behind Skógarfoss by the Viking settler
Þrasi
- legend
has it he argued with his children and didn't want them to inherit his wealth. Guided
tours and folk-singing sessions organized by the charismatic curator, Þórður Tómasson,
are one of the museum's highlights.
Skógarfoss
Skógarfoss
is justifiably famous, looking good from a distance and nothing short of
huge, powerful and dramatic close-up, as the curtain of water drops 62m of the
plateau. Stand on the flat gravel riverbed in front of the rainbow-tinged plunge pool
and the rest of the world vanishes into soaking white mists and noise; in full flood,
the outward blast of air caused by the falling water makes it impossible to get within
50m of the falls. A metal staircase climbs to the top, beyond which a muddy trail
heads upstream to a much smaller but still violent cataract and brilliant views
coastwards and up across mossy moorland towards the distant glacier cap. If you're
properly prepared, you can follow the river in this direction right up to Þórsmörk
- see box, p.130.
