Thu Aug 21 - Touring the famous Golden Circle.
Today we’re doing the more traditional Golden Circle Tour. It’s a one day round trip tour from the city. We booked a private tour from East West, and YES!, Martin is our guide for this day also. It’s 8am and we head out.
This tour covers some great sights all within a single day's drive of town. This popular tour can get very crowded. Our private tour manages to stay one step ahead of the masses
We start with a quick pit stop at the famous (and excellent) Braud & Co for cinnamon rolls, then get on the highway. Highly recommend these giant rolls if you're here!
Þingvellir (Thingvellir) National Park. This was the site of Iceland's parliament from the 10th to the 18th century, chosen because it sits on two massive tectonic plates.
If you're a Game of Thrones fan, this is where Arya and the hound traveled through The Vale of Arryn and the Bloody Gate.
Fontana Springs. One of the many, many, geothermal springs found all over Iceland. This small bubbling sulfur springs heats a small local spa, which is very different from the massive tourist spas (more about that later). We enjoy some geothermal baked rye bread (they bury it and let the volcanic heat cook it). This Icelandic version of rye bread is sweet and closer to cake then bread, but very tasty.
Our desire to try new things stops at the idea of testing out a glass of Krap. ---->
Kerid – A massive 3,000 year-old volcanic crate. It is an easy hike up and around it.
It's lunch time! We break from touring and Martin takes us to the Fridheimar Tomato Farm. This farm grows everything on site in greenhouses, and almost everything is tomato based. Being Iceland, they of course use environmentally friendly methods. The heat comes from thermal pipes. They keep bees in house to handle pollination. It's fascinating. We also get our first chance to see the long haired tiny Icelandic horses at the farm.
The food itself is fantastic. This stop ruined us from ever eating tomato soup, since nothing will live up to this version. I didn’t even LIKE tomato soup, but this was amazing. I even tried the tomato beer.
<- Geothermal water pipes
Bumblebees! -->
Excellent lunch finished, we hit the last two sights of the day.
First is Gullfoss waterfall, one of the more famous ones here.
Strokkur Geyser is next. Icelanders aren’t known for creative names. Their language is very straightforward. So, of course the most famous geyser here was originally called, well, Geysir. That one has been dormant for 20+ years, but Strokkur geyser goes off every 8 mins and shoots water 100ft into the air.
Gullfoss. We hiked to the bottom, where it was VERY wet
You can see the steam coming out of the ground. A little geyser nearby is named... Litl Geysir. Of course it is.
Bonus! While driving, we pass by farmers herding horses along the road. Mel is in a great spot in the passenger seat to capture some excellent photos. Here's a slideshow
We end our tour with one last stop. It's the most 'farm to table' ice cream we've ever seen.
After 3 unbelievable days of touring, we say goodbye to Martin as he drops us at our hotel at 3:30 pm.
We packed a lot into the day already. You'd think we'd be done, but nope. We still have time to explore Reykjavik.
We eat dinner at the famous Íslenski Barinn (The Icelandic Bar) for some local food. Two meals a two drinks costs Ruth and I $120 USD.
In the mood to explore, we take a nice walk out of the main city to the RVK brewery to end our night.
We finally call it a night. Tomorrow we leave our hotel and board our cruise ship. We're amazed that we've seen so much already, yet still have a full tour of the country coming up.
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