Water everywhere

Lest you think Iceland is just fire and ice, think again. There are also beautiful waterfalls cascading down hillsides across the countryside. This one, Gullfoss, flows with turquoise glacial meltwater. As you can see, it’s two waterfalls. The water rushing down the bottom of this photo virtually disappears into a long, deep fissure to the right.

This is Seljalandsfoss, a waterfall of a different sort. Behind the bottom third of the waterfall is an overhang deep enough to create a passageway that allows visitors to walk behind the falling water. You might be able to make out people approaching on the right. There are a couple of people visible as specks in the mist on either side of the falling water.

Did I take the walk? Let’s just say I prefer to keep my camera dry.

And, at this waterfall, Skogafoss, keeping my camera dry was an unexpected challenge. You no doubt can see white spots across this shot. Although we left Reykjavik on a sunny morning, as we headed toward Iceland’s south eastern coast we drove into increasingly darker clouds…until — you guessed it — it started snowing. This was the only stop where it snowed steadily. By afternoon it was just a unique travel memory.

Our guide gave us an Icelandic perspective on snow: How can you tell it’s summer in Iceland? The snow is warmer. Sounds about right to me.