Iceland – Golden Circle

Whenever I have been to Reykjavik with the ship, it seems like everyone does the Golden Circle tour. I decided I had to check out this tour as well, but went for the option that also takes you to a thermal pool. After picking everyone up at various bus stops around town we headed out into the countryside.

 

 

 

The first stop on our tour was the Secret Lagoon, or Gamla Laugin in Icelandic, the oldest swimming pool in Iceland. The pool itself is located outside, and the water comes from the surrounding hot springs. The few meters between the changing rooms and the lagoon were really cold, but totally worth it once you got into the nice and warm water. At one corner of the pool there was a sectioned off area where there was a mini geyser. The water coming out of the ground here was close to 100 degrees celsius, and if you stood too close the water got almost scalding hot. After 45 minutes of complete relaxation it was time to head back to the van.

 

 

 

Continuing through the unique and special landscape our next stop was the Gullfoss waterfall. To be hones I was a little underwhelmed by this stop. The waterfall was impressive, and I did get some nice pictures, but the icy wind was blowing all the water mist right where we were standing. On the bright side this did give me more time for lunch!

 

 

The coolest part for me was a visit to the Stokkur geyser, the most reliable geyser on Iceland. As we got out of the bus and walked towards the geyser, it had the first eruption that we saw. As we were walking up towards Stokkur we passed some smaller geysers, and puddles with boiling water giving off steam. We then all gathered on the side of Stokkur to wait for the next eruption, which was really impressive. In the 20 minutes I was standing there it had 4 different eruptions, and in-between the water bubbles at the surface kept the suspense. We also walked past a few more boiling pools, and one which had the pretties milky blue color, before heading back to the bus.

 

 

 

 

We were then treated to a surprise stop to say hi to some horses, and later at another thermal lagoon. At the second lagoon we only stopped to have a look at the shore of a lake. While the lake was cold, there was a spa on its shore with a big outside thermal pool. There were also fissures along the shore line where boiling water would come out. The spa took advantage of this by putting bread dough in closed pots and digging them down in the earth. When they collect them the next day they have what is supposedly a really nice bread.

 

 

 

 

The last place we stopped was at the UNESCO world heritage site Thingvellir National Park. As this is where the North-American and Eurasian continental plates drift apart the landscape is unlike anything I have ever seen before. We walked along this pathway that brought us past a pretty waterfall coming down from this massive rock wall. Turns out that this waterfall was where they would throw women in to see wether or not they were witches. – If they died they were not witches and if they survived they were and were killed anyways. We also stopped at what is know as the site of the oldest parliament in the world. This is where all the different clans would meet once a year as early as year 930AD. Parliament still meets there once a year, and the church and houses just below belong to the Parliament.

 

 

 

We then continued on the path through a crack in the rock. This site has been featured in Game of Thrones, so it will be interesting to see once I finally start watching the TV series. Walking through here was a dryer and wider version of Silfra. At the end of the path we arrived at a lookout point with the most amazing view of the surrounding valley. You could also see Thingvallavatn, the big lake, with all the streams running off. While looking out I noticed the parking lot I went to yesterday for my dive and soon realised that all the turning bodies of water I was looking at was Silfra – I could even see the small landing where we exited the water!

 

 

 

 

After getting properly cold outside, it was back into the warm van for the drive back to Reykjavik.