Our first day started off slightly chilly but we were ready to go and then the weather turned on us and the rain started beating down on us, but as we were not in Reykjavik for that long we were off to see the sites. We started off with the Golden Circle Tour and to kick it off we started through driving through Thingvellir National Park. As soon as we entered the park the landscape changed and we knew we were in for some interesting sites. Just driving through the park we stopped off at some viewing sites and then headed on to see what I was most excited about the Great Geysir.
It was quite freezing when we arrived and as soon as it exploded we headed back to the car to warm up which was a pity as the Geysirs were what I wanted to see the most.
Gullfoss falls was our next stop and the rain was still coming down so it was another freezing expedition. The falls was just incredible to have the falls moving so fast alongside masses of ice is just surreal. With hands that were red and freezing from the cold we headed back out and managed to go past the geyser again as the rain had almost stopped so got to see the whole thing again, and after recording for 2 min right before the geysir exploded I ran out of memory (how did I know that was going to happen). On the way back home again we headed through Thingvellir and made a stop to see law rock – This is where Parliament was formed and remained until 1798 making laws and having gatherings (and in the old days tying woman in sacks and drowning them if they broke the laws) I must say they couldn’t have chosen a prettier place for Parliament with a massive rock wall behind it is stunning.
Without seeing much of Reykjavík we left on Sat and made our way to the south of Iceland via Blue Lagoon. It is a Geothermal Spa and even though it was raining we weren’t to worried as when you are relaxing in 38 degree water it’s hard to notice the rain. This is quite a touristy attraction but it is quite fun.
There are over 10,000 waterfalls in Iceland we would just be driving and there would be small waterfalls coming off the mountains everywhere which adds a spectacular diversity to the scenery. On Saturday when the rain had finally decided to stop we stopped off at Skógafoss waterfall, and despite finally being dry and warm I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to walk, or rather run, around the back of the waterfall. The spray was a lot more than we thought but were laughing the whole way around and for this time being wet and cold was quite enjoyable.
The one thing we couldn’t get over as driving around was just how much the landscape changes. You will go from it being this lumpy mossy looking landscape and then all of a sudden it will be grassy and hilly and then all of a sudden there will be black volcanic beaches and I think our most used phrase was ‘this is so strange’. It was possibly the most unique place that I have been too. For me the craziest was when we stopped at Dyrhólaey. The sun finally played nice and came out from behind the clouds, from the top of the cliff you could see the 120m high cliff with a rich with bird life (but to my disappointment no puffins that I could see), to the other side of the cliff was a black volcanic beach and behind some green pastures and then a glacier, nowhere have I ever seen anything like that.
Thanks to an Iceland app we found out about an airplane crash remains that happened to be on our way out. In 1973 a US Navy airplane crashed due to running out of fuel, all people survived the crash but some were later killed in an recovery attempt (unfortunately luck was not on their side and the helicopter crashed). With the help of a very vague description (and thanks to Iphone GPS tracking) we drove to the site, and after finding out it was a popular place to film rock videos we obviously had to create our own.
The food was amazing. They are known for good seafood and Icelandic lamb. I had lamb 2 nights and then had some trout as I felt I should try the seafood even though I could have happily had the lamb again. It has such a different taste and doesn’t taste ‘lambie’ but is so soft. One thing we all commented on was how well the food was cooked and presented even in a small town where you would think there would be less presentation nothing was lacking. It seems in the smaller towns (at least the one we went to) the menu choice is a lot smaller but with the food being as good as it is I think a bigger menu would be a bad idea. And the water (which sounds like an odd thing to compliment) was amazing such a smooth taste and now water just does not taste as good.
If you can believe after an amazing hike it started snowing when we got to the waterfall
What most of the driving looked like, long roads of changing scenery
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