8/20/2023

 

Breakfast at the Hotel was very good.  Typical European fare, cold cuts, beans, salmon, bacon, good bread and Skyre yogurt .   Met the bus to the other bus at 8:30 and off to the Golden Circle tour.  This is a tourist must see when in Iceland.  It hits the hot spots (pun intended).  We paid the obligatory stop at the place that tries to sell stuff (Fridheimar hot house tomato farm in this case.). But the tomato soup and bread and the Healthy Mary mocktail were really quite good.  We did not purchase anything else.

 

Most of the 8 hour tour was spent on the road viewing the varied landscape.  We saw mountains, lava fields, geothermal vents (they bore holes in the earth to capture the heat, then use the heat in various ways), lakes, rivers, field – no forests, very little agriculture,  very few towns and a few noteworthy sites (not including the tour stops).  Among these were the volcano Heckla, a volcano like Vesuvius in Italy – capable of explosive eruptions and pyroclastic flows.  The tour guide detailed the warning protocols for such an eruption using text messaging.  Another noteworthy site was the Glacier Skaftarhreppur.  The foreground in the pictures show the typical barren landscape.

 

                                                                 Hekla

 

                                                              Skaftarhreppur Glacier

The first hot spot we visited was the Geyser area – one in particular erupts every 5 – 10 minutes and so it is a photo opportunity.  We got a kick out of one couple – the man struck a manly pose while the wife waited patiently for the eruption so she could take the perfect snapshot.  He held that pose for 4 minutes before they were rewarded.  Sulphur was in the air, but the wind was so strong (15 – 20 knots) that we hardly noticed.

 

                                                                    The geyser

 

The next hot spot was decidedly cooler – the iconic Gullfoss waterfall.  The wind bore the mist up to the trails and parking lot.  And, while the sun was shining all day, the wind and the mist made us glad we were layered properly.  The falls were amazing – 2 tiers of glacial melt fiercely tumbling down the gorge.  Our geologist son and Daughter-in-Law would opine that this was relatively new as the surrounding country was pretty flat and inconspicuous.  

 

                                                                Gullfoss

 

Our third hot spot was a UNESCO world Heritage site – Thingvellir National Park.  In a way this was the most amazing site.  It is where the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates are spreading apart – and – that spread is evident.  They only spread 2 centimeters a year, so we did not feel the earth move (although it really was, and doing it where we walked.)

 

                                                                Thingvellir 

 

Back to the hotel, Mass with Father Charlie, Hawaiian pizza ala Hornid, blogging and bed.

 

 

                                                        Hornid’s Pasta and Pizza