We left our friends after breakfast and drove to Víðgelmir, a lava cave, where we enjoyed a guided tour. All caves I had visited so far were caves dug into the rock by water; this one was made by a river of lava whose exterior cooled while the lava inside continued flowing and draining.

It was fascinating to see the differences and similarities of structures – fluid, whether lava or water, will still do similar things, but also leave different patterns – and different colors and geology too. Our guide was also very entertaining, and overall we were delighted with the visit.

Not too far away, there’s also the waterfalls of Barnafoss and Hraunfossar (both on the same site). Barnafoss is a powerful waterfall that goes below a stone arch, it’s impressive and very picturesque. But my heart definitely goes to Hraunfossar and its gazillion of waterfalls coming from the rocks – as far as I understand, the aforementioned lava river flew over the water, but water still had to go somewhere, and that’s Hraunfossar.

At that point we were both a bit hungry, so we got a couple of slices of cake at the Hraunfossar café – they were much appreciated!

We went back on our tracks to get back to the ring road and continue our way towards Laugarbakki where our next hotel is. We enjoyed the beautiful scenery on the road, stopped a few times for pictures, and arrived there around 5PM.

We made a small break in the room, and I debugged my photography backpack: I had in my mind that it was much easier to put the camera back, and after a few tries in a quiet place with a mirror, I figured out the trick again (I need to lift the camera pocket a bit so that it slides correctly in its place).

We had some time before dinner, so we decided to get out again for a little bit – initially, the plan was “get out, go see the horses nearby, and then we’ll see”. We did end up doing a much larger loop than that, following a path that had indicators but not much of a ground track: small hike, but large adventure 😛 But I managed to not hurt myself despite the fairly challenging terrain: yay me!

To end the day, we had dinner at the hotel restaurant; the selection of “icelandic tapas” and both our mains were excellent; the desserts were good but less memorable. And now we’re just chilling in the room – we have a fairly long road planned for tomorrow!

The photo album for this day is here: Iceland – 2025-08-17.