Iceland Adventure, Part 2: The Golden Circle

Tours in Iceland tend to be a little on the expensive side, but The Golden Circle tour I went on today was well worth the money. Around 8:30 AM, I was picked up by the Bustravel tour company. 

We visited a number of sights. The first stop was a very old church on a hill overlooking fields. In the distance, I could see steam and horses. Icelandic horses are different than average; they are much smaller. Don't call them ponies though, I heard that Icelanders are offended by tourists calling them ponies.

I should also mention that in Iceland, steam rising from the ground is a very common occurrence. Iceland is a geologically active country. Located on the continental divide, Iceland boats a large number of active and inactive volcanoes.

We stopped by a smaller waterfall named Faxi. This was a very short photo stop. This waterfall was both beautiful and impressive until we saw a different waterfall a bit later.

We also stopped at the Gullfoss waterfall.  I don't think I have ever seen such a massive waterfall. The two levels were so powerful that I could feel the freezing spray from above. The temperature was so low in Iceland that the grass next to the waterfall was frozen with ice.

The geysers on Laugarfjall hill were amazing. There were a number of them steaming; many of these geysers looked like small pools of boiling water. The most famous geyser is Strokkur which can send boiling water up 20 meters. Strokkur erupts frequently, every 5-10 minutes. Nearby, Geysir erupts infrequently. When it does erupt, boiling water can be projected up 70 meters or more. Apparently, the English word "geyser" is derived from the name Geysir.

Strokkur geyser erupting

Our last stop of the day was at Þingvellir National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  Aside from a beautiful landscape, the park boasts the location of the Rock of Law, the site of the first Viking parliament. (Parliament was held in this location for many years before it was relocated to Reykjavik). Additionally, the park sits on two continental plates, the North American and the European plates. The bus driver explained that the west side of the island is actually American, and the east side is European.

By the time the tour was over, I was exhausted. It was all I could do to not fall asleep on the bus ride back to Reykjavik. Actually, I don't sleep on buses, but if I could have, I would have.  I was dropped off at my hostel around 5 PM, a great time to make dinner and relax.