Golden Circle, Iceland

It's always strange arriving in a completely new place at night. What is even weirder is getting a full night’s sleep and waking up and it’s still pitch black. Conscious of the limited daylight we grabbed a quick brekkie at a bakery next door and hit the road just after 9 am. It was still as pitch black as when we arrived the night before.

The Golden Circle is easily accessible from Reykjavik and can be driven. A great choice for our first day. It’s the most famous and has a good variety of the highlights Iceland offers. The only challenge is avoiding the crowds from the many day trip tour buses. The weather forecast was for strong winds and snow storms but as we drove out and when the very first signs of light appeared it seemed to be fairly clear.

We arrived at our first stop, Thingvellir National Park, just as dawn was breaking. Here are the foundations of the oldest known Parliament Buildings in the world where the chieftains from the early Iceland settlers used to meet to establish the laws of the land. Besides that, Thingvellir sits directly on top of the split of 2 Tectonic plates! Just as we parked and went to start a walk along the tectonic plates we got hit by a wild ice storm and decided we'd give it a miss. To be dark, cold and wet would need something a bit more exciting than some old ruin foundations and a split in the earth 😆.

Our next stop on the itinerary was another waterfall and a hot seismic Geyser. As we started the drive further East the ice storm became thicker and thicker until we were completely in a blizzard. Allowing my ego to concede to commonsense, we turned around and took a road south towards the Coast. I figured we would need to give the waterfall and Geyser a miss. It turned out to be a great choice. As we turned south we drove out of the snowstorm and for the first time saw our surroundings. Holy! Surrounded by a bare landscape, we were driving along a valley with massive snow-covered mountains rising on either side of us. When we arrived at the next intersection the storm had cleared to the East again and we could swing back onto our initial plan.

We arrived at Geyser and immediately noticed the ground was venting steam from across the outskirts of town. There was one main erupting geyser to go check out but even the small vents that weren't erupting were boiling away in the ground. Just up the road was the waterfall Gullfoss. A large cascading waterfall surrounded by icy clusters and volcanic boulders. As we stepped off towards a walk along the canyon another snowstorm hit and we raced back to the car getting pelted by ice rain. If there's one thing we've learnt about Iceland today it’s that the weather turns abruptly!

Our next stop was the Secret Lagoon — a Geothermal pool with a spouting geyser behind it. Talk about the perfect afternoon stop. We settled in to finally enjoy something warm amongst the day of cold wind and snow. With the water a glorious 38C, we could comfortably kick back outside in the pool and even had another snowstorm blow through while we were in the water.

With the daylight fading quickly, we decided to squeeze in one more stop. Close by to our accommodation for the night was a 65m, volcanic glacier-fed waterfall cascading from a sheer cliff. Seljalandsfoss is known as one of the highest waterfalls in Iceland that you can walk behind. Unfortunately for us, the path behind the waterfall was closed but it was majestic nonetheless.
What a wild first day! Now to kick back at our aptly named Aurora Lodge Hotel and hope for some clear skies to see the Northern Lights!🫣🤞Read more