I chose to stop in Iceland for about 48hrs on my way to meet up with a group in Europe because I have always been interested in Scandinavian history and Icelandair offers free stopovers in the country. The beauty of the country is absolutely stunning with diverse geography from lava fields to thunderous waterfalls. Because of my limited timeframe, I chose to rent a car and drive to the sights that interested me the most. 

The foremost among those was the Seljalandsfoss area. Seljalandsfoss is a waterfall that is well known as “the one you can walk behind” and walking behind it is an incredible experience. 

While Seljalandsfoss was amazing, my favorite waterfall was Gljufrafoss a short hike away from the main attraction. Obscured by cliff faces, you can follow some well placed rocks in the river to a small cave that allows you to see the waterfalls in its full glory. 

My waterfall trip was actually one of the last things I did in Iceland, and I drove about two hours each way to do it. I’m not a huge fan of driving in general, but I loved driving in Iceland. I rented a manual transmission, my first time driving one in nearly a year. Not only had I missed driving a manual, but the traffic and roads were actually really nice. Additionally, the views were incredible. I couldn’t get many pictures because there weren’t many places to pull over - but it was truly beautiful! 

I still managed to hit some of the tourist highlights as well! The Sun Voyager, the viking ship art piece,  was really neat to experience. I also went to the top of Hallgrimskirkja, a church in the central of Reykjavik, and got to see the surrounding city from one of the tallest points. 

Reykjavik and Iceland in general are full of small wonders that don’t show up in travel guides and websites, and I want to leave you with a few of the ones that I got to see and love. This is a country that I loved getting to explore and I definitely hope to get to go back too. The first photo is of some fantastic street art in Reykjavik, and the second is two giants guarding the ocean and allowing children a platform to view the ocean.