Nature highlights of South Iceland

Yesterday I borrowed the car to explore some secret nature highlights in the neighborhood. Gudny Halla was so kind as to give me directions on how to get there. My first stop was some woodland located on one of the foothills of the volcano Tindfjallajökull.

I was hiking up the hill through the forest without meeting anyone for over 2 hours. The atmosphere was rather mysterious and I actually got a sense of why people here believe in the huldufólk, that is fairies, elves, trolls and other creatures.

Funnily, there is the office of the 'elf representative' in the building department of the city council in Reykjavik. Whenever someone wants to build a house or a road, this elf representative is consulted whether the building projects are tolerated by the elves. Apparently, there have happened to many mishaps that even people who do not, in fact, believe in the supernatural, play it safe by clearing it with the huldufólk. Well, I was looking for them very carefully but unfortunately didn't see any. I'm obviously not gifted enough.

My next stop was the waterfall Gluggafoss. There again I was all on my own, no tourists far and wide. I had a lot of fun climbing the waterfall which offered great views and had some rather steep and unexpected cliffs in between; thank God my dad didn't see me, he wouldn't have been amused. (But hey dad, no worries, I made it home safe ;-)