Marcel Burger - Third time's the charm

Seljalandsfoss waterfall, July 2025.

The western part of the Southern Lands of Iceland has some of the most fairytale waterfalls imaginable—sometimes hidden behind cliff walls, or with a cave behind. It really feels like stepping into a wonderland.

Like the other parts of Suðurland, one has to span quite some distance to visit the best wonders the region has to offer. While the mountains keep a watchful eye over you while navigating over Ring road 1, the route itself crosses a landscape best described as Nordic steppe.

DC-3 / C-47 plane wreck at Eyvindarholt

Iceland has a few cool plane and boat wreck spots. There is a relatively famous DC-3 wreckage on the Suðurland's black beach of Sólheimasandur—but it takes either an hour hike (and an hour back) in often strong winds, or a special truck ride to get there. Much better approachable, with its own compact car park in front, is the DC-3 "Dakota" plane wreck at Eyvindarholt. The military versions of the DC-3s were called C-47.

This particular aircraft (USN registration 150187) is one of the US Navy C-47Js that operated out of Keflavik International Airport/Air Base from 1961. This particular aircraft had an unhappy landing on 25 July 1969, with substantial tailwind, on a navy station at Mount Heidarfjall in the northeast of the country. The crew missed the change of winds on its final approach. A tailwind made the aircraft veer to the right, as the crew forgot to lock the tail wheel in the straight position. The aircraft ran off the airstrip. Nobody got hurt, but the airframe was in pretty bad shape.

For decades, the C-47 was left near the runway. The wings were later removed and in 2023 the fuselage was put on display where it is now by aeroplane enthusiasts. The C-47 at Eyvindarholt is of the older type DC-3. The one at Sólheimasandur is from the 1970 and has official designation C-117D—often called "Super DC-3".

Seljalandsfoss waterfall

The Seljalandsfoss is one of the most popular waterfalls of Southern Iceland for a good reason. It is almost at ring road 1, but even better: the cave behind the 60 metres (197 feet) high fall is quite easily accessible and gives an astonishing experience.

Seljalandsfoss waterfall, Iceland, July 2025

Rain clothing advised to experience Seljalandsfoss waterfall ...

... especially when taking the cave route behind it.

Seljalandsfoss waterfall seen from a little further away, with a second smaller waterfall on the further left of the photo.

Gljúfrabúi cave waterfall

Maybe an even cooler waterfall is just a stroll away from Seljalandsfoss. The Gljúfrabúi is truly hidden in a cave, and one has to navigate over wet, slippery stones forming a narrow path to reach it. But it is worth it.

Gljúfrabúi cave waterfall, Iceland, July 2025.

Þingvellir National Park (Thingvellir National Park)

It is not often that one can literally walk in between the tectonic plates of North America and Europe. Well, in Thingvellir National Park it is possible. The park is remarkable in another way as well: it is the birthplace of the state of Iceland—the Alþingi (The Althing), Iceland's first parliament, took place here from the 930s to 1798. This is also where the area established as a national park in 1928 got its name from, Thingvellir means "Assembly Plains". During that time, two weeks of every year the Icelandic laws were made here before the parliament moved to Reykjavik.

Thingvellir is a UNESCO World Heritage site since 2004. Still situated in the Southern Lands (Suðurland) it is one of the premier nature areas to visit near Reykjavik, with the capital an easy 41-minutes drive away. True, the park is beautiful, but for those who have travelled the entire island it might not be the most jaw-dropping one if one stays on the main touristic paths near the tectonic "abyss". But with 9,270 hectares of nature, you might find more jewels when setting out to discover areas beyond the main route.

The sizeable lake Thingvallavatn in Thingvellir National Park near sunset, July 2025.

A rocky and mysterious pond in Thingvellir National Park.

View at Thingvallavatn lake and its small peninsulas.

Logo and view of Thingvellir National Park.

Thingvellir is a great way to get some perspectives on mounteanous area around it.

Standing on top of where North America and Europe meet.

Walking in the "abyss" between North America and Europe.

An arctic tern performs a fly-over.

The flagpole marks the location of the historic the Alþingi (The Althing), Iceland's first parliament.

Despite its beauty, Thingvellir was also the site of punishments. At least 72 people were executed between 1602 and 1750. Males were beheaded or hanged, and about 18 women were drowned in possibly this little pond.

The Icelandic Prime Minister's official summer house, known as the Thingvellir House or Thingvallabær, is located at the historic Thingvellir National Park, near the main trails. It was designed by Gudjón Samúelsson in 1930, in the style of a traditional Icelandic farmhouse, to celebrate the Althing. It was later allocated to the Prime Minister of the country, as his or hers summer residence. Nowadays, it is used as a place for official receptions organised by the PM's office.

The church next to the Prime Minister's office is from 1859, with the bell tower added in 1907. In front of the house is the national cemetery of Iceland, added in 1940. It holds the graves of the national poets Einar Benediktsson (died in 1940) and Jónas Hallgrimsson (died in 1845). It also holds the grave of the last parish priest, Heimir Steinsson, who died in the year 2000.

Greenhouses in Iceland

Some countries, like the Netherlands, grew economically and food-wise big with greenhouses. In Iceland, many were sceptic about the possibility of greenhouse vegetables or flowers becoming more than just a nice hobby. But, the concept worked.

It started with a Danish guy, Niels Tybjerg, who stayed on the island from 1931 to 1948 and pioneered with grow lights in greenhouses in the mid-1930s. Soffía Sofoníasdóttir was the first women with a plants' greenhouse for plants in 1933, reportedly getting inspiration from horticulture in Scotland and the Netherlands. Subsequently, in the 1930s, the first commercial greenhouses popped up in Iceland, with grow lights being introduced on a larger scale from the 1950s—with geothermal heat providing the necessary warmth.

In 1971 the first grow light system for year-round production is installed in two different greenhouses, with year-round production of herbs starting in 1989. Cucumbers and lettuce follow in 1992, tomatoes in 1996, and sweet peppers in 1998. Two years earlier, the first bees took over human-aided pollination of tomatoes in 1994.

In Reykholt, one can taste the tomatoes as fresh as they get, directly from the greenhouse, in an adjacent restaurant and bistro. In a soup or in other dishes. A visit to Friðheimar greenhouse and restaurant is highly recommended!

Friðheimar greenhouse and restaurant, Reykholt, Iceland, July 2025.

The restaurant at Friðheimar.

Greenhouse at Friðheimar.

The bistro at Friðheimar, a short stroll away.

Gullfoss and the bunnymen

Waterfalls are all over the place in the Southern Lands of Iceland, and to see them all on the first trip is, kinda, wet. But the Gullfoss waterfall is worth a visit. It is not as massive as Dettifoss in Norðurland, it still projects a tremendous force—and it is closer by Reykjavik, thus easier to travel to. At Gullfoss the water smashes 32 meters (105 feet) down in two steps, over a width of 20 metres (66 feet), and one can get quite close to the action. On average, the water passes you by with 141 cubic metres (5,000 cubic feet) per second in summer.

For the music lovers with some life experience: the Gullfoss waterfall is the scene of the album cover of Porcupine, by Echo & the Bunnymen, and featured in the music video Heaven by Live in 2003.

Gullfoss waterfall, Iceland, July 2025.

Geysir

The English word for spouting hot spring, geyser, is derived from the Icelandic location of The Great Geysir—nowadays simply marked Geysir on the map. The original one has been dormant for decades, but the whole concept is still active in Strokkur. This one lies in the same geothermal park, only 50 metres (160 feet) away from the big sleepy one. Strokkur does not reach as high as the big one used to do (60 metres (200 feet)) but with variety in is still a nice "wow" and—more interestingly—is active every few minutes.

Scenes at the Strokkur geyser, Iceland, July 2025.

Western Suðurland seen from the air

If you are lucky on your approach or on your way out of Keflavik International Airport, you can be a spectator of the dramatic Iceland landscape even before the wheels of your plane have touched the ground. A window seat and good weather are basic ingredients, of course. The following set of photos are taken with my mobile phone and needed some work. The colours are not exactly the way I would like them, and the phone cam plus aircraft window did not make it as sharp as I would like either, but then again ... welcome to the spectacle Kodak 1970s style.

The Þjórsá River, with 240 km Iceland's longest, streaming into the Atlantic Ocean.

The Ölfusá river estuary and the bridge of road 34, Suðurland, Iceland.

The town of Þorlákshöfn, Suðurland, Iceland.

The solidified lava landscape of Southern Iceland

Hellisheiði Power Plant & The Geothermal Exhibition

If you would like to know more about how it all works down below Iceland's surface with geothermal heat and such, the Hellisheiðin Power Plant enriched with The Geothermal Exhibition is a great stop to upgrade your brain.

The plant and the museum are located on top of the Hengill volcanic system, which means there is a concentration of magma underneath the ground. Water from rain and melting glaciers, that has sunk into this ground, passes relatively close by the magma. By drilling holes and pumping that heated water up, one can generate electricity.

At Hellisheiðin the production wells are about 1,500 to 3,000 metres (4,920 to 9,843 feet) deep, meaning engineers drilled all the way down to get the heated water. Cold water that made it through the first layers of the earth is taken from other wells, 100 to 300 metres (328 to 984 feet) deep, and injected to so-called reinjection wells down to 2,000 metres (6,562 feet) deep to provide fresh water to the production.

Note that the extracted water is that hot, it needs to be cooled down before it is transported via pipelines to the capital of Reykjavik to heat up homes, schools, hospitals and businesses. From there, the cooled down water is released into the ocean. It will later evaporate, form clouds and will come down as rain or snow on Iceland—where parts of it will make their way again into the soil at Hellisheiði.

The power plant here started operations in 2011, and produces 303 megawatts of electricity, plus 200 megawatts of thermal energy (hot water). The power production is equivalent to what 300,000 homes need; that is almost three times more than the number of households in Reykjavik.

Apart from providing a great learning on the geothermal works, the museum also displays a cool collection of rocks from underneath the surface. Moreover, it tells on how Icelandic engineers—with help from US scientists—have managed to turn CO2 emissions into rock and store it forever in just two years time.

Hellisheiði Power Plant, Iceland, July 2025.

A three-headed drill.

Section of a tube similar to the ones transporting geothermal heated water to Reykjavik. It is delivered at about 85 degrees Celsius.

Pyrite ("Fool's gold")

Apophyllite

Jaspis

Scolesite

Barite

Calcite X - SulFix

Eyrarbakki

For a very long time, the village of Eyarbakki (570 inh.) was the main port of Iceland on its southern coast. But from 1925, the settlement lost its importance as a trade hub. These days, nearby Þorlákshöfn is the main southern gateway by sea; and Eyarbakki's main job engine is Iceland's biggest but modest prison of Litla-Hraun (55 employees). Eyarbakki itself is a sleepy village, but shows it legacy heritage. Houses are kept in a nice state here, and the main street is therefore worth a stroll.

A historic Norwegian dark wooden cabin in Eyrarbakki, Iceland, July 2025.

Statue of a fisherman

The Eyrarbakki church

A tilted stone and a red cabin in Eyrarbakki

Part of the main street of Eyrarbakki, with the church.

Historical houses of Eyrarbakki

Trading (Verzlun) post

More homes in Eyrarbakki.

One of the very few biggest buildings found on a stroll through Eyrarbakki.

Details of Eyrarbakki.

The oldest timber bigger house of Iceland, now the Árnesinga Folk Museum.

A historic Norwegian wooden cabin, now part of the Árnesinga Folk Museum.

Work in progress.

A small statue in a private garden.

A little green house.

Street view in Eyrarbakki

Details in Eyrarbakki.

The coastal landscape of Southwestern Suðurland

The emptiness of the landscape south of the mountains is probably the most noticeable in Southwestern Suðurland. Grassy plains with arctic seagulls, rocky cliffs—partly from solidified lava, and here and there a building, a small settlement or a lighthouse.