We took a bus tour called “The Golden Circle” to see some of the natural sights of Iceland. Turns out, many of the natural wonders are within a short drive of the city. We travelled about 75 miles from Reykjavik and there is plenty of Iceland yet to be seen. Roads are beautiful and uncrowded and the drive was very pleasant. The landscape is generally bleak and mountainous but quite beautiful. Everywhere there are vista that go on forever and it’s difficult to not keep taking photos from the bus.
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| North America on the left, Europe on the right! |
First stop was their largest lake where the fault line that separates the North American and European plates is exposed and quite prominent. There are great views everywhere with lots of snow in the mountains and snow coming down on us as well.
Next, on to the Golden Falls, along a beautiful, glacier fed river running through a stunning canyon. The glacier was visible way in the distance.
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| Yeah, that’s a glacier sitting on top of the distant mountains! |
And our final stop – the nearby geysers. Again with the smelly water! These hot springs are all over Iceland and they supply everyone with their hot water. If I understood the guide correctly, hot water is pumped from the hot springs to Reykjavek and that serves as everyone’s hot water source. No heater needed! In fact, the difficulty seems to be that they have to get the water to cool off enough to become usuable! Geo-thermal is also the source for much of their power supply. Quite a place! Ted and Nan got caught downwind of the geyser in the photo and got quite wet.
Finally, when we arrived home, we got a quick bite to eat at a great Indian take out place and then right back on a bus for the fabulous Northern Lights Tour! What a bust! We drove around for 4+ hours hoping to see the Lights but nothing doing. We had about 6 buses trapsing all over the country and everyone freezing staring up at a cloudy night sky. Bummer… But, we have free tickets to return sometime in the next two years!
Following that fiasco, we returned home (now 12:30am) and promptly crashed until late the next morning. It’s easy to sleep in when the sun doesn’t rise until 10am!