Reykjavík, Ísland
Golden Circle Tour. The Golden Circle is a tourist route covering about 300 kilometres (190 mi) looping from Reykjavík into the southern uplands of Iceland and back. It is the area that contains most tours and travel-related activities in Iceland. The term for the "Golden Circle" was a marketing tactic developed by the Icelandic Tourism board to improve travel.
The three primary stops on the route are the Þingvellir National Park, the Gullfoss waterfall, and the geothermal area in Haukadalur, which contains the geysers Geysir and Strokkur, which erupts every 10-15 minutes. Though Geysir has been mostly dormant for many years, Strokkur continues to erupt every 5–10 minutes.. Other stops include the Kerið volcanic crater, the town of Hveragerði, Skálholt cathedral, Bruarfoss, Friedheimar Tomato Restaurant, and the Nersjavellir and Hellisheiðarvirkjun geothermal power plants.
Up and down at shuttle shop #6 at 08:00. Had some trouble finding it, but still made it before 08:00. Got a call at 08:20 asking where we were. Apparently, they thought we would be at the BSI bus station for some reason. Problem corrected and we were picked up six or seven minutes later.
Our first stop was Kerið volcanic crater. I even have photos of Grace and I here in 2019. It was still a technical hour before sunrise, but it was beautiful.
Grace August 2019
With Mary December 2024 - at the same time of the day!
The next stop was a place called Brú. If it is a place. Just a dirt parking lot off the highway where you can get up close to the Islandic Horse.
Gullfoss waterfall just jus a little further on. We got there just as sunrise was completing. It was cold. So cold that the spray from the waterfall turned into snow before it made landfall. Beautiful, but so cold.
11:45 in the morning on December 13, 2024
August 10, 2019 at 13:30 - Look no snow, but apparently still cold.
The geothermal area in Haukadalur, was next. This was our lunch stop. We got here just after noon and stayed for over an hour. Totally a waste of time. Nice gift shop, food ok, but after five minutes looking at the Geysers we were done.
The last stop was the Þingvellir Thingvellir National Park. No single place epitomizes the history of Iceland and the Icelandic nation better than Þingvellir by the river Öxará. At Þingvellir - literally "Assembly Plains" - the Alþing general assembly was established around 930 and continued to convene there until 1798. Major events in the history of Iceland have taken place at Þingvellir and therefore the place is held in high esteem by all Icelanders. Today Þingvellir is a protected national shrine.
This is also where the North American Tectonic Plate and the European Tectonic Plate Meet.
Then it was back into the van and back to Reykjavík. We had dinner at Rosso Pomodoro next to the hotel. Not bad. We had a garlic and cheese bread which was more like a small pizza, but very good. Mary had the spaghetti Bolognese and I had a Caprese salad.
Then it was off to bed.
Buonanotte e Ciao, Enrico e Maria
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