After the Northern Lights tour, I thought the rest of the trip would be a disappointment. I'm happy to report that I was wrong.
It was an early morning after a late night. I chose one of the smaller tours, which was a good choice because the smaller bus was able to get to some places that weren't accessible by the large tour buses. There were 11 of us plus the drive named Gummi (seriously, Gummi). There was a group of 7 Australian kids (men & women) in their 20s who were hung over from the night before. Two British women, a woman from Montreal named Maria (who became my buddy throughout the day) and me.
The Golden Circle tour is touted as a "must see" and I see why. It is beautiful. It takes about 45 minutes to get to the first site, which is the
Þingvellir National Park. Gummi gave some commentary about the sites along the way, but the Australians slept through the whole thing. We stopped off in a couple of spots along the way, including this spot which had a view of the lake and a bunch of these small towers of stones (called cairns).
I built my own little version.
It wasn't until we got back in the van that Gummi informed us that it was illegal. Seriously? You trying to get me thrown in the pokey, Gummi? Actually, after questioning him further to make sure I wasn't going to get in trouble, he informed me that it was only illegal if you dug up the stones, not if you found them just on the ground (which is what I did).
After my near-crime, we traveled on to the heart of the park, which is the site of Iceland's first parliament. Þingvellir means "Parliament Plains" and was the site of the Alþing general assembly from around 930 until 1798. They would convene on this site once per year to recite the laws (nothing was written down, so some dude was responsible for memorizing all the laws and reciting them ---- talk about a boring job!).
Since those times, Iceland has celebrated major events at Þingvellir. It is also where the American and Eurasian tectonic plates are pulling apart.
Because of the geothermal activity, the plates are constantly shifting. You can get pretty close to the edge of it. In the picture above, that gap is the crevice between the two plates. (Don't worry, Kelly, I didn't feel the urge to throw myself over.)
The hungover Australians got lost on this part of the trip. Gummi dropped us off in one area and asked us to walk down a bridge to this flagpole. He was going to drive the van around and pick us up at another parking lot in the park. Somehow along that straight line, they felt the urge to find some greasy food and wandered off. Mind you --- we are in the middle of a national park. Fast food places aren't exactly commonplace. Anyway, we spent about 1/2 hour tracking them down before we located them (in the exact wrong area --- nowhere near any flagpoles). One guy was apologetic, but the rest were too hungover to do anything other than scarf down the chips they were able to find.
Our next spot sobered up the Australians. We went to the Gullfoss waterfall.
Gullfoss (translated "Golden Falls" - hence "Golden" in "Golden Circle") is in the river Hvítá, which has its origin in the glacier lake Hvítávatn. It was frickin' cold, but it was beautiful.
The picture above doesn't do it justice. I tried to capture it on video, but it also doesn't do it justice.
The next stop was the geyser hot spot (pun intended) in the Haukadalur geothermal area. Along the way, we made a pit stop in this little town called Fontana, which is known for its rye bread. Rye bread, big deal, right? It's actually the way they made the rye bread that is unique. They wrap the dough in some material, bury it in the ground and leave it in there for 24 hours with a marker on top of it.
The geothermal grounds act as a natural oven and when they dig it up after the 24 hours, the bread is done. We didn't get a chance to try the bread because it was too hot to unwrap, but it was cool to see.
All in all, pretty cool. There were a handful of other stops and 100 other stories about the Australians (they had Gummi drop them off at a liquor store outside of town so they could get some beer before the stores stop selling it in stores after 6pm), but I realize that this post is getting excessively long. Essentially, after the last stop (a crater where Bjork played --- so cool), we drove back to Reykjavik. A long day (9-6), but well worth it.
Suffice it to say I think Iceland is wonderful. Except for the beach goer (it only gets to be about 75 degrees Fahrenheit), it has something for everyone. It has biking, shopping, scuba diving, snorkeling, golf, glacier walking, whale watching, spas, rock climbing, etc. It is really easy to get around because there are only about 4 major roads. Everyone speaks English because they realize that nobody speaks Icelandic (and it doesn't resemble any other common language). And everyone seems to be really nice. Not nice because they feel like their tourism depends on it, but rather that they are genuinely nice. (Kind of like the people at Trader Joe's. They always seem genuinely happy to see you, too.) Anyway, I digress. I highly recommend it. In fact, I'd love to go back in the summer when it is 24 hours of sunlight. Gummi told me about a golf tournament that anyone can join that kicks off at 11pm when it is still sunny. How cool would that be? Who's with me?
It was an early morning after a late night. I chose one of the smaller tours, which was a good choice because the smaller bus was able to get to some places that weren't accessible by the large tour buses. There were 11 of us plus the drive named Gummi (seriously, Gummi). There was a group of 7 Australian kids (men & women) in their 20s who were hung over from the night before. Two British women, a woman from Montreal named Maria (who became my buddy throughout the day) and me.
The Golden Circle tour is touted as a "must see" and I see why. It is beautiful. It takes about 45 minutes to get to the first site, which is the
Þingvellir National Park. Gummi gave some commentary about the sites along the way, but the Australians slept through the whole thing. We stopped off in a couple of spots along the way, including this spot which had a view of the lake and a bunch of these small towers of stones (called cairns).
I built my own little version.
It wasn't until we got back in the van that Gummi informed us that it was illegal. Seriously? You trying to get me thrown in the pokey, Gummi? Actually, after questioning him further to make sure I wasn't going to get in trouble, he informed me that it was only illegal if you dug up the stones, not if you found them just on the ground (which is what I did).
After my near-crime, we traveled on to the heart of the park, which is the site of Iceland's first parliament. Þingvellir means "Parliament Plains" and was the site of the Alþing general assembly from around 930 until 1798. They would convene on this site once per year to recite the laws (nothing was written down, so some dude was responsible for memorizing all the laws and reciting them ---- talk about a boring job!).
Since those times, Iceland has celebrated major events at Þingvellir. It is also where the American and Eurasian tectonic plates are pulling apart.
The hungover Australians got lost on this part of the trip. Gummi dropped us off in one area and asked us to walk down a bridge to this flagpole. He was going to drive the van around and pick us up at another parking lot in the park. Somehow along that straight line, they felt the urge to find some greasy food and wandered off. Mind you --- we are in the middle of a national park. Fast food places aren't exactly commonplace. Anyway, we spent about 1/2 hour tracking them down before we located them (in the exact wrong area --- nowhere near any flagpoles). One guy was apologetic, but the rest were too hungover to do anything other than scarf down the chips they were able to find.
Our next spot sobered up the Australians. We went to the Gullfoss waterfall.
Gullfoss (translated "Golden Falls" - hence "Golden" in "Golden Circle") is in the river Hvítá, which has its origin in the glacier lake Hvítávatn. It was frickin' cold, but it was beautiful.
The picture above doesn't do it justice. I tried to capture it on video, but it also doesn't do it justice.
We were able to wander around Gullfoss and have lunch overlooking the mountains. The Australians scarfed down some more food and got back to the van in time, thankfully.
The next stop was the geyser hot spot (pun intended) in the Haukadalur geothermal area. Along the way, we made a pit stop in this little town called Fontana, which is known for its rye bread. Rye bread, big deal, right? It's actually the way they made the rye bread that is unique. They wrap the dough in some material, bury it in the ground and leave it in there for 24 hours with a marker on top of it.
The geothermal grounds act as a natural oven and when they dig it up after the 24 hours, the bread is done. We didn't get a chance to try the bread because it was too hot to unwrap, but it was cool to see.
There are a number of geysers in the hot springs, but the most active was Strokkur. It shoots up 98 feet every 4-8 minutes. The water is boiling when it comes out, but cools quickly, which is good because I got sprayed a handful of times. Below is a video of one of the eruptions. I feel like Barney Stinson when I say "Wait for it..."
All in all, pretty cool. There were a handful of other stops and 100 other stories about the Australians (they had Gummi drop them off at a liquor store outside of town so they could get some beer before the stores stop selling it in stores after 6pm), but I realize that this post is getting excessively long. Essentially, after the last stop (a crater where Bjork played --- so cool), we drove back to Reykjavik. A long day (9-6), but well worth it.
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