SCENIC MARVELS & OLD WORLD MAJESTY You arrived in Iceland with high expectations: cinematic landscapes, ancient glaciers, geothermal wonders, quirky Reykjavik and waterfalls. Roaring, technicolour waterfalls. Seljalandsfoss is one of them, and it looms before you, but this is no ordinary waterfall. It’s a child’s drawing, a sublime exaggeration of hulking cliff and glowing green slopes with a white ribbon of water cascading 61 metres into mist. It only becomes real as you follow a path leading to a wide cavern behind the surreal scene, where gentle spray and a reverse waterfall-view confirm your Icelandic expectations were, actually, far too low. Such reality-stretching natural wonders and cultural treasures abound throughout Northern Europe. Cruise the canals in picturesque Copenhagen, trek among remnants of Scandinavia’s Viking past in Sweden, journey to gothic Kylemore Abbey in the heart of Ireland’s Connemara Mountains, tour the cobbled streets of Oxford and golden-hued villages of the Cotswolds in the UK, and more. 北欧 | 169