Bláskógabyggð, Ísland

Day 4:

Go ahead, try to pronounce this one... Okay, to be fair, the area is more commonly called the Golden Circle (not a translation). This was another day we spent side by side with tour buses filled to the brim with Chinese and American passports. We had quite the introduction to the extreme nature of the Icelandic environment too...

Our first stop after leaving Reykjavik was Þingvellir, a national park and the site of the parliament of Iceland for over 850 years. This place is jaw droppingly beautiful and we could spend weeks writing out the history and significance and barely be scratching the surface. Using the widest of brushes, we'll try to paint a little history from the beginning...

When earth was a little baby planet and the surface began to cool and solidify, this developing crust began to crack, forming what we know of as tectonic plates... kidding. Not really, but the brush was looking a little too fine on that path! Anyway, this park is situated right where two of those big plates come together. They bump, grind, slide, and crush each other, causing a myriad of physical phenomena, all the while being pressed apart by those same forces. In summary, we parked in North America and walked to Europe. It is super rare for one of these fissures to be over land, so it is a very unique experience. When the first parliament in the world was created in Iceland in the year 930, Þingvellir was chosen as the the location for the parliamentary sessions. This continued until a hiatus in 1800 until 1844, when they moved the sessions to Reykjavik. For literally centuries, citizens from all around Iceland would gather at Þingvellir for a sort of week long farmers market and trade fair and to be honest, that sounds awesome!

History aside, Þingvellir is home to the largest lake in Iceland, littered with waterfalls, and has an adorable little church. Unfortunately, that is about all we saw of the park since the main road through it was closed for improvements. With the recent increase in tourism, the small country roads are having trouble handling the high traffic. That in conjunction with the merciless and ever changing landscape puts Iceland's roads in a near-constant state of construction.

The next stop was Laugarvatn, a nice little lake with 3 geothermal springs along its edge. We had the awesome experience of watching (and tasting!) geothermally baked rye bread. Our tour guide/baker, brought us to the edge of the lake, where there were areas of intensely boiling water. He dug out a pot that had been buried the previous day and buried one for the following day and covered it in sand. The bread was sweet, hearty and baked so perfectly it's hard to believe it was just thrown in the ground for a day! There was a spa on the lake, as well, which has steam rooms directly above one of the springs. A completely natural sauna... so wild. Of course, saunas and pregnancy don't go well together, so we all skipped out on it this time around. But have no fear, there is a list forming for the next visit!

Another short drive down the road, we made our way to the Geysir Geothermal Field. At this point, the infamous Icelandic wind was making itself known. The geothermal park is home to the Great Geysir, the root of the word geyser in English. This particular geyser, through earthquakes and some human influence (putting soap in it to make eruptions more dramatic), rarely erupts anymore. However, Strokkur, a few steps away, erupts every 6-10 minutes! It wasn't a massive eruption, but definitely fun to see. In the rest of the field were dozens of hot springs and a few ADORABLE little geysers. Little as in like 3 inches high... amazing.

The last stop on the golden circle was Gullfoss, or Golden Falls. It's a really powerful waterfall, which made it a great prospect for hydroelectric energy, but considering that we visited a waterfall and not a power plant, there's a story behind that... as told by our Airbnb host later: Tómas Tómasson owned the land that the waterfall was on and offers came in from English investors, to which he said "I do not sell my friends", a polite middle finger. Later on, when his daughter, Sigríður Tómasdóttir, was in charge of the land, she sold it to some financiers (we're not sure if the family was having money troubles or what). These financiers were frantically looking to develop the hydroelectric plant when Sigríður realized that she wanted to save the falls she grew up with. Now here is where legend and truth get blurred... she apparently would walk to Reykjavik to protest the plant being built and at some point threatened to jump off the waterfall. Legend has it that her dramatic exhibitions saved the falls, but it seems that her lawyer got the contract to build revoked and the land sold to Iceland, then became the first president of Iceland. They sing her praises, but it seems that Sveinn Bjornsson was the real saving grace for the waterfall!

We're staying at a show horse breeding farm called Jaðar. It's downstream from the very river that forms Gullfoss. Right now, the river is in the transition from the summer white, milky, mineral-filled water from the glacier runoff, to the clear, green, oxygen-rich water from rain and snow of the winter. It's lovely having kind hosts who share about their homes or we would have no idea! On the property, there is also a 6,000 year old arch from an old lava flow. Simply amazing. Aside from that pesky wind, the location is perfect. Clear skies, vast farmland, massive river, horses, sheep, stars... idyllic.

Next up... more geothermal action!Read more