Day 7: The Golden Circle

As there had been snow recently, today's tour was on a 4x4 bus truck. From the front, before you saw the windows down the side it could have been a bin lorry or large wagon. We headed from sleet in Reykjavik to roads covered in snow as we drove further north and inland.

Our first stop of the day (in the snow and wind) was Thingvellir National Park. We walked down a canyon and reached law rock, they believe this is the site where the first parliament occurred and the law would be read to people. We also learnt about their trees and animals (or more appropriately, the lack of both). At this site there was also a drowning pool. Men who had done wrong were beheaded but they felt it was kinder to drown women. They were dressed in a thick wool sack, tied to rope and then dragged across the pool (for adulterating, having children out of wedlock etc). Apparently if they saw God before they drowned then they were innocent and pardoned (however no one ever knew as they were always dead by the other side).

We then stopped for coffee in a little café on geological no man's land between the North American and the Eurasian plates. We then headed off to Gullfoss. This waterfall was also our lunch stop so whilst the rest of the bus headed down to the waterfall, we decided to go in the café and get lunch before the rush. We had a delicious traditional lamb meat soup, really tasty. Wandering down to the waterfall we found that a large proportion of it was frozen over, it was beautiful!

Next stop was Geysir and Stokkur. Geysir gave its name to what we now call geysers. Geysir itself is no longer spouting but there is still activity and they believe that one day it will begin to spout again. Stokkur is currently active and we stood, camera in hand, poised, waiting for the signs that it was about to blow. Just before it went the water would swell then form a bubble that would then spurt up. With the camera on burst there were a lot of false alarms but eventually we caught the action. There were also a few less active geysers and hot pools. There were even a few areas where water was bubbling up on the ground.

We made a short (and very windy) stop to see a collapsed volcano crater. There was frozen water in the bottom of it but in the summer when it is dry it has been used for concerts due to the acoustics.

We visited Skáholt church, a very important place in Iceland as for many centuries it has been the official seat of one of the few bishops in Iceland. The current church is around 50 years old and the mural behind the altar and the stained glass windows were both designed by Icelandic artists.

Our final stop was at Hveragerði. It's a small town focused on horticulture with many greenhouses making use of geothermal heat and the midnight sun. Here we visited a greenhouse with a gift shop, coffee shop and some art within the green house.

In the evening we were set to go on a northern lights bus tour however there was a storm brewing so it was cancelled. Instead we headed down the street to a local tapas bar. On the menu were delights such as foal, puffin and minke whale however we opted for more traditional dishes.