Day 3: The Golden Circle

Today was a VERY productive and exciting day so this is going to be a long post! Also this website tends to have a mind of its own and puts all of my pictures in random spots instead of where I upload them, so they're all there just not necessarily right below the paragraph describing them.

We decided to self-drive the Golden Circle which was by far the best and easiest way to do it (don't bother going on a guided tour- this way you can spend more/less time in the places you want to, plus save $$).

The first thing we noticed as we got out of Reykjavik and onto Route 1 (Iceland's equivalent to the Trans Canada Highway) is that you will

have the temptation to pull over every 5 seconds to take photos because EVERYTHING is picture worthy. I ended up with about 60 photos of very similar looking mountains by the end of today just from driving (all spectacular but I chose a couple examples).

Another note, the GPS was still very useful to us today but if you're good with maps you would definitely be able to navigate the Golden Circle without one. I think the rest of the island will be similar as long as you're mostly sticking to Route 1.

Our first stop was Thingvellir National Park which is the location of Iceland's first parliament, but more interestingly to us- the location in which two tectonic plates are splitting apart from each other causing a "rift zone" which typically looks like a flatter landscape with mountains on either side of it. These rifts also gave us amazing viewpoints of the valley below!

Our second stop was Geysir- a geothermal site in which two previously dormant geysers ("litli geysir" and "strokkur") that had been re-activated in 2000 due to earthquake activity in southern Iceland, frequently erupt due to a build up of pressure and hot temperatures below the ground. The first one barely ever erupts

anymore but the second one reliably erupts up to 40 meters every 6 minutes or so. This was amazing to see (especially for me as a chemistry major and my dad as a geologist) but this site won't let me upload videos so screen shots will have to do.

The next stop was personally my favourite- the waterfalls of Gullfoss (a max 10 minute drive from Geysir). None of my pictures do this justice so you'll just have to go and see for yourself!

I had read a few things online prior to our trip about Kerid Crater Lake being an optional stop on the Golden Circle tour if you had time. We decided to give it a chance and I am SO happy we did. We have no idea why this isn't a main stop on the regular Golden Circle tour (to be honest we enjoyed it even more than Thingvellir) because it was so cool. If you plan on doing the Golden Circle, definitely go to Kerid Crater Lake after Thingvellir and on the way to Geysir/Gullfoss!

Lastly, a couple who we had met during the Volcano tour on our first day told us that they went to a place called "Fridheimar Farm" after they finished the Golden Circle and highly recommended it. This place wasn't in any of our guide books but was on the way to our Air BnB so we decided to check it out and it was amazing! It is run by a local family who grow tomatoes, cucumbers and strawberries in a greenhouse that is actually connected to the restaurant that they run. The menu is pretty limited but revolves around their famous tomatoes and you could definitely tell that the food was made from freshly grown veggies. It had a very cosy atmosphere and it was tucked away from the noise of a main highway- it was a great way to end a very busy and exciting day.

We're staying in Selfoss tonight and our next stop along Southern Iceland is Vik tomorrow! Here's a map of where we've been so far relative to the rest of the island: