#685 Seljalandsfoss, Iceland

When I was a child we used to joke that Greenland was icy while Iceland was green, and I think when I went to visit Seljalandsfoss that green epitomy was at its height. It was a rainy, misty, miserably wet day, and it was my first day driving around Iceland -- I wondered what I'd gotten myself into because it wasn't really that much fun to drive in, even if it was beautiful (what little you could see).

Seljalandsfoss comes up out of the mist after driving along a flat boring plain for hours. It is a 60m high falls tumbling off a cliff rising from the flats, and you can see it from the ring road, along with the other cars and buses at the parking lot right below it. I stopped because it was the first waterfall I'd seen that day (I would go on to see around 15 more), not really realizing how magical it was. It's one of the most famous waterfalls in all of Iceland and adorns many postcards and calendars. A really great sunny day photo of the waterfall can be found here. The waterfall is located between Selfoss and Skogafoss just off the Route 1 Ring Road on the track going to Thorsmork.

When I was a child I watched Robin Hood bathing in a waterfall (I think that was the gossiped about naked Kevin Costner scene!) and thought how cool it was that there were waterfalls that you could go behind. I finally got to experience that magic at Seljalandsfoss. It was the fairy tale, dream-like secret path that could lead to hidden caves and mysteries... except it was just a path... although it was magical.

Wet-weather clothes were something I'd bought at the last minute before leaving for Iceland, not really having packed wisely when I'd left home several weeks before. Into dry pants and jacket I scrambled for the rain, but I would have needed them for the waterfall anyway. Going behind a waterfall is wet business!

Here are some videos where I tried to catch the magic (or at least try and catch the wet before it splashed and fogged up the camera!).

Source: http://onebigphoto.com/seljalandsfoss-waterfall-iceland/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seljalandsfoss

#714 Seydisfjordur, Iceland

Although most visitors to Iceland arrive by air into Reykjavik, some lucky travelers ferry in from the Faroe Islands/Denmark and arrive in the idyllic bohemian hamlet of Seydisfjordur, on Iceland's eastern coast. I have to say it was one of my favorite places in Iceland, though as I was very lucky with the weather there, I'm sure that helped!

With pretty multicolored wood houses (built by Norwegian merchants), only two restaurants and one supermarket, and a handful of hotels, one would never call it bustling, but its spectacular location can't be beaten. The sheer snow-capped mountains surround it on all sides, with beautiful waterfalls cascading down creating lovely gushing water music, but also causing a large avalanche threat (an 1885 tragedy killed 24 people and in 1996 a factory was flattened). The steep mountain pass leads the only way out of the valley, snow-laden even in mid-summer, and the only way to get to Egilsstadir and the rest of Iceland.

 

The fjord is 17km long and a rough dirt track winds its way to the end. The main settlement began in 1848 as a trading center and it found a boom product in herring. During the second world war it was a British and American base (an oil tanker suffered a close German bomb sinking to the bottom of the fjord), but now bases its economy on fishing, the ferry and a growing artist/musician/crafts community.

Seydisfjordur is a technology leader as well as being the connection with the rest of the world, offering the location for the first submarine telephone cable to Europe (1906), the first high-voltage hydro electric power station (1913). Skiing, kayaking, bird-watching, hiking and even Settlement Era archaeology (at Skalanes on the mouth of the fjord) are just some of the possible pursuits available.

Source: Lonely Planet Iceland 7th Edition, 2010

#979 Preacher's Rock, Norway

Known as Preacher's Rock, or Preikestolen, this phenomenal rock sits 600m high above the Lysefjorden. Originating in the last ice age when the glacier that formed the fjord touched the edge of the rock and broke off large chunks. Ice formed cracks in places that remain. After a walk of around 3km, tourists emerge on the flat rock surface, daring to go as near to the edge as they can! What a beautiful spot.

I have not visited this beautiful place -- these photos are courtesy of my father, Brian Marquand. 

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preikestolen