THINGVELLIR, GEYSIR, GULFOSS (& MT ESJA)

I'm driving in Iceland!! It's fun.

The first day with car was a bit cold, drizzly, and cloudy, so we had an easy day driving 30 minutes north to Mt Esja, which we hiked up! Unfortunately the panoramic views were absent after a point due to cloud cover, but it was still gorgeous!

Afterwards we warmed up at the massive Laugardarslaug pool complex- dipping ourselves in 42C pots until cooked, then plunging into 5C pots. Fun.

Yesterday the sun came out for our big Golden Circle trip, a must-do on the tourist itinerary. The drive to Thingvellir National Park was like a moonscape. The clouds were dark, gray, and low at that stage so it was an eerie feeling, like you're in the middle of nowhere. But by the time we arrived at the Thingvellir car park, the sun had come out and so had the tour buses! Thingvellir was the site of the first parliament in Iceland, where all the Viking chieftains gathered once each year to settle feuds, make laws (on the Law Rock), etc. It is the site where the Vikings (under pressure from Norway) gave into Christianity and 'converted' a bit reluctantly- the head pagan priest Thorgeir threw his idols over the waterfall. So that was that. AND Thingvellir is the site of the Silfra Fissure- the division of the 2 tectonic plates between America and Europe. The water is unbelievably clear (& cold!!) and you fill up your water bottles and drink straight out of it. Mmmmm! We thought you had to be 12 to snorkel there, so we (Buz!) walked to the info booth with a confident lie ("our 12 & 13 year old sons would like to snorkel") only to be told minimum age is 14!

Geysir (a geiser) was next - fun to watch it erupt every 5 to 10 minutes.

Finally, the big waterfall Gullfoss, with a huge rainbow over it. The boys had great fun angling photos to make it look like they could eat rainbows (among other body functions whose photos won't be selected on Find Penguins!!!)

We stopped by Bru farm on the way home to feed 'horse candy' to the Icelandic horses.

Quiet day today, lunch and cards in town and a short drive along the waterfront. Tomorrow is another hike to some natural hot springs.Read more