Day 4: The Golden Circle

We planned a tour for today because it did everything, had special admissions, and came with bus driver stories. The price was actually reasonable—though, warming—Iceland is pricey!

While waiting for our 20-person bus, John chatted with a private guide who was waiting for his party. This guide was quite the geologist. He and John talked extensively about geothermal and Iceland. He said that because John was so knowledgeable, he would invite his seismologist friend to come with us—if we ever wanted a tour. I took his name and number for “next time” (so let me know if you’d like to take his tour—small van, 2-6 people).

Our tour guide, Olin, looked just like a summer Santa Claus, with a red shirt and red beanie—easy to find in a crowd. He even had a picture of himself as Santa—Shall not forget Olin! We had one more stop to go before our bus was full. I made quick friends with the Scottish family across the aisle from me and asked the boy to take several pictures from his side of the bus. He was very helpful!

Cute small forests are frequent. Makes the joke even funnier.

An example of an Icelandic forest— lovely basalt above with strata indicating periods of lava flow.

Olin had one joke: How do you get out of an Icelandic forest if you are lost?

Answer: Walk in any direction for 5 minutes OR just stand up! (Icelandic forests are small and short.)

Our first stop was Thingvellir, the place where North America separates from Eurasia. The name comes from the Viking word for Parliament, since this is the neutral ground where the different chieftains met (900 AD) while their families partied! It’s a point in a vast rift valley, with North America on this side and Eurasia on the side way over there. The geology makes for great photos!

Here is the North American side of Thingvelir.

From the North American side, the Eurasian side is 4 miles to the right.

Looks like piles of rocks, but this is indeed the big “Thing!” As Iceland spreads apart, the rift valley moves the Eurasian plate further from the North American plate. Comes with running water and a waterfall (that we missed).

The next stop was Geysir, and just like it sounds, there was a spot in the lava where boiling water shoots up every few minutes. We photographed it from many angles. Super cool—and so glad I had my boots for the rough terrain!

Here’s a burble.

Here’s the full show!

Every two or three minutes, the boiling water below bubbles up and explodes, just like a covered spaghetti pot!

The next stop was even more amazing (what a tour!) Gullfoss is a waterfall that, if harnessed, could light up the whole country. But they don’t need the power. And water is everywhere. This is a huge and gorgeous waterfall, with crowds lined up on the tourist side and others hanging off scary precipices way up high. Ooo, scary!

Gullfoss was the biggest waterfall we saw in Iceland on this trip. Huge and loud!

This is as close as we got—close enough for me! But look at the person on the far cliff!

Our next stop was the Kerid Crater, which was indeed a deep, round hole in the ground. But it was just the right size to see down into and walk all the way around. We took lots of pictures and marvelled at the steep roundness.

This is taken from the highest point around the perimeter. Small, but clear.

This is a view across the top of the crater to mountains far beyond.

Here it is—easy to walk all the way around—especially in my “new” boots!

While all the stops were fabulous, the Blue Lagoon was the one that added $$ value (The Blue Lagoon is hard to book and expensive this time of year). This was a destination stop made more difficult by the recent lava flow. This is the type of lava that seeps out of a fissure, rather than spewing from a mountain top. There wasn’t a single vent, just lots and lots of seepage. The most recent flow ended just 4 months ago. Olin said that Icelanders get together to do the work to redirect or contain the flow. In this case, they built a giant berm from gravel mined from the quarry we had passed just a mile back… there were still several bulldozers around, ready to push around more gravel, if needed.

The milky blue color was just wonderful. It was as restful to float in as to look at.

John would love to tour the power plant, but we didn’t know anyone with a way in.

The Blue Lagoon comes with a geothermal power plant in the background! How cool is that? We brought swimsuits and did the whole thing. Great place!

So, all safe to go, in we went. The thing that impressed John and me so much was the milky white color of the geothermal water. John was also quite excited about the geothermal plant right next door, which provides the water we basked in. Sorry, no pictures of us floating, steaming, basking in the sauna, or wearing mud masks. We didn’t bring waterproof phone cases.

It was another hour drive back to the hotel, where we had a late dinner and off to bed. Lovely, lovely day. Goodnight.