Golden Circle Drive

After two nights in Reykjavik, we checked out of our hotel, and took a taxi to get our rental car that we'll be driving for the next week. The Budget is located on top of a local supermarket chain called Bonus, so we stopped there to get some food for our time on the road. Very convenient!

Our first stop was Þingvellir National Park. Before we walked into the park, I needed to use the bathroom, and immediately noticed the view from the sinks:

Beautiful view!

So more about the park, in the 10th century, when Vikings first settled here, it was where the first government of Iceland was located. It's also located on the Mid-Atlantic ridge, and you could see where the rivers were formed along it. It's a huge park, with well paved paths and wooden walkways. The sunny weather was perfect for seeing across the whole valley:

Next, we drove about 30 minutes to our next destination, Kerið Crater. There are a series of volcanic craters in the area, and this one's the closest to the road, so they made an attraction out of it:

It costs 400 ISK per person to go in, but it's a cool thing to see. We didn't spend too much time there, as we still had a couple of other places on our itinerary, but you can walk up around the whole crater, and also down into the lake.

Next was Geysir park, the birthplace of the word 'geyser.’ Neither of us have been to Yellowstone, so this was our first experience with geysers, and it did not disappoint. On our walk from the parking lot to the park, we saw one eruption, and it was impressive. Like everyone else around us, we were concerned that we missed it, but it turns out that the really active geyser, Stokkur, erupted every 5-7 minutes, so we got to see quite a few while we were there:

We stayed upwind from the geyser, because the really tall ones sprayed sulphurous water on the poor people downwind. Fortunately, the water cooled in the air by the time it hit them, or else they’d be burned by the boiling water. We continued to walk around a bit, seeing some various sulphur vents along the way, but we could always hear and see Stokkur erupting wherever we were.

Ironically, Geysir itself is now dormant.

Our next stop was only a 5 minute drive away: Gullfoss. Basically, the Niagara Falls of Iceland.

So, as a general observation about the places on this drive is that the main attraction is a short walk away from the parking lot. We’re used to going to national or state parks in the US, and having to hike at least an hour to see anything noteworthy. But here, they’re really close.

Anyway, back to Gullfoss, from the upper parking lot, you’d have to walk like 3 minutes, and then take a staircase down and you would immediately see it:

The force of the waterfall when hitting the rocks underneath was so strong, that it caused a continuous spray of mist above the falls, and with the sun shining behind us, you could see a rainbow all day. Iceland really does show it’s LGBTQ+ pride 😉.

Another cool thing about Gullfoss is that the path that goes down takes you to this rock platform that’s basically in the middle of the top of the falls, so you feel like you’re surrounded by waterfalls, which was an amazing sight.

It was 6pm, and we needed to check-in to the guesthouse we’re staying at, Fagrabrekka Guesthouse. It’s a cute, family run place near the city of Hella, with four small individual guest homes. The view from the back is amazing, and breakfast is included. The host, Ragnhildur, greeted us as we were parking and gave us some information about the place. She also suggested some additional places to see that weren’t on our original itinerary, such as Gljufrabui, as well as recommendations for dinner in Hella.

Our dinner was at a lovely little place along the Ranga river, though this town only has about 4 options to eat at.

And that was it for today. Next will be more waterfalls and nature!