Gabi On The Go: The Golden Circle

The Golden circle is a must do attraction in Iceland. It's a 300 kilometers loop towards the southeast of Reykjavik. There are a few amazing things to see on this route and that's exactly what we experienced today... during an 8 hour trip.

People start in different directions, since it's a loop, but we began exploring the Golden Circle through the Pingvellir National Park a site of historical, cultural, and geological importance.

Here is the Pinvallavatn, the largest natural lake in Iceland.

From Wikipedia: Parliament was established at Þingvellir in 930 and remained there until 1798. Þingvellir National Park was founded in 1930 to protect the remains of the parliament site and was later expanded to protect natural phenomena in the surrounding area. Þingvellir National Park was the first national park in Iceland and was decreed "a protected national shrine for all Icelanders, the perpetual property of the Icelandic nation under the preservation of parliament, never to be sold or mortgaged.

The roads are narrow, without shoulders. But traffic is pretty good. In fact we drove for long periods of time without seeing another car. But this was our view for most of the day: cloudy, grey and rainy.

Sofia was so happy to meet a giant Puffin at a gift store.

Our next stop was at the Geyser. How to describe it? "A periodically spouting spring?"

Basically it is extremely hot water shot from the ground.

You can see the water boiling here at the Little Geyser, but this is not shooting anymore.

These small ponds are also filled with water which is almost 100 degrees celsius.

Interesting facts from Wikipedia about ownership of the Geyser: Until 1894 the Geysir area was owned by a local farmer. In that year the area was sold to James Craig (later Lord Craigavon), a whiskey distiller from Ulster and a future Prime Minister of Northern Ireland. Initially he erected large fences around the site and an entrance fee was charged for visitors wishing to view the geysers. The following year, however, Craig appeared to tire of his project and gave the area as a present to a friend, E. Craig, who dropped the entrance fees. Later Craig's nephew Hugh Rogers inherited the site. In 1935 he sold the site to film director Sigurður Jónasson who subsequently donated it to the Icelandic people in perpetuity.

The shooting happens ever 5-7 minutes. People stand in front of it, with their cameras ready to get the right shot. It's really fun when the water comes out. Such an spectacle! It can shoot up to 70 meters up in the air!

Here it goes!

And again.

We were soaked wet, super cold, but extremely happy to experience this amazing natural phenomenon.

Ten minutes away from the Geyser is the Gulfoss, this breathtaking water fall.

Yes, we went right up there!

From Wikipedia: Gullfoss is one of the most popular tourist attractions in the country. The wide Hvítá rushes southward. About a kilometre above the falls it turns sharply to the right and flows down into a wide curved three-step "staircase" and then abruptly plunges in two stages (11 m and 21 m) into a crevice 32 m (105 ft) deep. The crevice, about 20 m (60 ft) wide, and 2.5 km in length, extends perpendicular to the flow of the river. The average amount of water running over this waterfall is 140 m³/s in the summertime and 80 m³/s in the wintertime. The highest flood measured was 2000 m³/s.

As one first approaches the falls, the crevice is obscured from view, so that it appears that a mighty river simply vanishes into the earth.

Our best family shot at Gulfoss was accidentally shared by the faceless yellow jacket wearing tourist!

Iceland: the land of horses (and sheep). They are all over the fields. It was really intriguing, so I googled "why does iceland have so many horses" and her is the wikipedia answer:

The Icelandic horse is a breed of horse developed in Iceland. Although the horses are small, at times pony-sized, most registries for the Icelandic refer to it as a horse. Icelandic horses are long-lived and hardy. In their native country they have few diseases; Icelandic law prevents horses from being imported into the country and exported animals are not allowed to return. The Icelandic displays two gaits in addition to the typical walk, trot, and canter/gallop commonly displayed by other breeds. The only breed of horse in Iceland, they are also popular internationally, and sizable populations exist in Europe and North America. The breed is still used for traditional farm work in its native country, as well as for leisure, showing, and racing.

The best time of the day... just kidding (but not!)

Green houses are also common in this area. Less than 5% of the population works in agriculture today. And only 1% of the land is being used for cultivation.

From Wikipedia: Despite the cool climate and restricted growing season, a variety of food crops are grown, such as potatoes, turnips, carrots, cabbage, kale, and cauliflower. Other vegetables (such as tomatoes, cucumbers and green peppers), cut flowers and potted plants are grown in greenhouses heated with geothermal energy (of which Iceland has an abundance)—in some cases artificial light is required to supplement the shorter daylight hours at these northern latitudes. Even bananas and grapes can be grown in this way—but not usually on a commercial scale. Fodder crops are also important: this includes grass (which in Iceland is exceptionally nutritious as a result of the long periods of daylight in the short, cool summers), rye and barley.

The cool climate and northern latitude has certain advantages for agriculture: The lack of insect pests means that the use of agrochemicals—insecticides and herbicides—is very low, and the long hours of daylight in the cool summer allow grass to grow exceptionally well. The general lack of pollution—due to sparse population—means that food is less contaminated with artificial chemicals—advantages which have been exploited by a small but growing organic sector.

The last visit of the day was also breathtaking: the Kerid, which means Crater in English. This is one of several volcano craters in the area, but it's popular because it is the one that has the most visually recognizable caldera still intact.

I can't believe these guys walked down this steep hill to the bottom of the crater.

I couldn't stay behind and joined them. I loved it down there. It's so quiet and peaceful, maybe because finally we were outside but protected from the wind. I wish I could spend the whole day there, relaxing.