Iceland ~ The Golden Circle
“I’ve walked a lot in the mountains in Iceland. And as you come to a new valley, as you come to a new landscape, you have a certain view. If you stand still, the landscape doesn’t necessarily tell you how big it is. It doesn’t really tell you what you’re looking at. The moment you start to move the mountain starts to move.” -Olafur Eliasson
When you’re in Iceland, the Golden Circle and Blue Lagoon are must do activities. They capture the beauty and essence of this sparsely populated country. The Golden Circle takes about three hours to hit the three top destinations in Iceland. However, I would suggest planning a day trip with one of the numerous tour operators that pick you from your hotel in Reykjavik and bring you back in the evening.
When planning these excursions in my home in Los Angeles, I had classified my Day 1 or the South Island as waterfalls and beaches and Day 2 as volcanoes and geysers. Intellectually I knew that we would be visiting a waterfall, but little did I imagine that Gullfoss would put Day 1 waterfalls deep in the shade. I am so glad that I structured my Day 1 to be South Island and Day 2, the Golden Circle.
As it turned out, we first visited the Faxi waterfall which the locals classify as small. It’s a wide river, single tier waterfall classified as a mini Gullfoss. We pulled into a parking lot that let us view it from above and then walked down to the falls while our guide drove our minibus and met us at the lower parking.
Since we were the only people there, we were able to walk right up to the edge of the waterfall and enjoy the beauty in close proximity.
There were no salmon fisherman amongst us and nor was there fishing time built into our itinerary, but we got and education into the fish ladder that is built next to the Faxi falls and the fisherman that are attracted to it for guaranteed fishing results.
All the waterfalls that we had seen so far in Iceland had hardly prepared us for the immensity and magnitude of the Gullfoss waterfall. A two-tier waterfall with a surge of up to 140 cubic meters of water per second.
As you see the visitors milling around in the above parking lot and gift shop and walking the pathways to take pictures and view the falls it is hard to imagine that if not for Tómasdóttir there might have been a hydroelectric plant here.
On the lower level there is a picture and a plaque recognizing Tómasdóttir’s contribution to the preservation of the falls, so visitors should stop and say a quick thank you to Sigríður Tómasdóttir for the beauty that you behold.
We saw Icelandic horses grazing in the many areas around the road that we traveled along with sheep and cows. A highlight for our group was a visit to a farm that raises these horses.
Just west of Gullfoss is Haukadalur, a geothermal valley, home to hot springs and geysers. This area reminded me so much of Yellowstone National Park in the US with its share of bubbling, steaming mud pots and water holes.
Geysir, sometimes called The Great Geysir, is the source of the English language word geyser. The name comes from the Icelandic verb geysa, meaning “to gush”. So, all of the famous gushing eruptions around the world that we know as geysers have Iceland’s Great Geysir to thank for their name.
Geysir was active for thousands of years but doesn’t erupt too often these days. Strokkur is the gushing geyser currently which gushes more frequently and more predictably than Old Faithful at Yosemite.
“Bubble bubble toil and trouble” is a misquoted line from Macbeth but it seems so appropriate as you walk past bubbling mud pots and steaming pools in the ground.
All in all, with the earth opening up and exhaling all around you, you’ll feel like you’ve stumbled to the edge of the earth, or into another world entirely.
Pingvellir National Park has remarkable geological and historical significance. It is considered the birthplace of democracy since the world’s oldest existing parliament first met here. The open-air gathering occurred in 930 AD and the site continued to be used as a meeting place until 1798.
In fact, the park got its name from these parliamentary meetings, since Þingvellir translates to parliamentary plains.
Iceland’s fascinating geology is on full display here with the exposed tectonic gap between the Eurasian and the North American continents. With this fascinating landscape it is no wonder that Game of Thrones used this as a film location in the popular series.
It is fascinating to understand that the ridge here marks the boundary between the Eurasian and North American tectonic plates. When standing in this Pingvellir National Park, you can stand on two continents at once if you spread your legs 7Km wide.
In fact, it’s the only place on earth where you can stand on dry land between two continental plates. Take it all in as you behold the unique landscape made up of picturesque rock formations and numerous bodies of water.
The Pingvallavatn lake in Golden Circle is the largest in Iceland. It covers an area of 85 Km, slightly bigger than Manhattan. It is a popular fishing destination due to its Arctic Charr.
Homeward bound we crossed valleys with steam rising from the ground and white pipes snaking through the landscape capturing the steam and bringing it to Reykjavik to provide running hot water for its residents.
We paused for a quick moment to admire the scenic beauty on display and snap some quick photos.
A trip to Iceland wouldn’t be complete without sampling the famous Blue Lagoon. The whole place runs like clockwork as thousands of tourists make their way here for a soak.
I’m told, there are times when the water is so full of people that there isn’t a lot of room to move but fortunately the water was not overcrowded when I was there. One of the downsides of being completely solo is the sense of isolation in a place like this where you wish you had at least one person you knew.
Nevertheless, I enjoyed my soak and felt like a new person especially after I slathered on the freebee cream liberally over my arms and legs.
While the night was supposed to be a good candidate for the Northern Lights, I was leaving too early to be able to view them. The driver was joking that perhaps I’d be lucky to catch them from the windows of the aircraft. Well, the Northern Lights did not happen, but I did get to experience a spectacular sunset on my drive to the airport.