Woke up around 0700 despite the late night and watched a movie while Song continued to sleep, then attacked the breakfast. Left the hotel at about 1045 and set off for The Golden Circle – a route that goes past the major Icelandic sights. These are the Geyser, the Gullfoss waterfall and the tectonic plates. Once again the scenery was amazing – driving through snow fields surrounded by the mountains. The landscape changes as you go – volcanic rocks covered in snow slowly gives way to grassy fields. After about an hour we saw a full car park and decided to pull in to see what all the fuss was about. It was Kerid, a place I had read about that was on the way – an extinct volcano which has a lake in the crater. Pictures were taken.
Hopped back in the car then pushed on to the Geyser. It erupts to about 20 metres about every 10 minutes but you don’t get much warning, so everyone is standing around pointing cameras and trying to anticipate when it will go. Song was much better than me and got some great photos.
As we drove along I noticed my throat was a bit sore, and later on began to cough – obviously standing by the waterfall in the rain and snow and outside looking at the Northern Lights was going to take its toll – I was going to be ill soon.
Next stop was Gullfoss, the waterfall.
It didn’t disappoint – magnificent. I won’t try to describe it, look at the photos.
One thing I have noticed is that the Icelandic people are not very health and safety conscious – the crater had no ropes or guides, you just walk around the rim, and are free to fall 50 metres into the freezing water below. Likewise the Geyser area – it did have ropes but they were knee high and you were welcome to hop over and play in the 100c bubbling superheated water and steam.
Same with the huge, powerful Gullfoss waterfall. A thin rope separated us from certain death were we to slip or try to get a closer look. The path down to the edge of the waterfall was closed off with a chain that said there were falling rocks so it was closed. But everyone simply hopped over the chain and happily wandered along the path to get better photos. Including us.
We decided to skip the tectonic plates and visit the waterfall again tomorrow and call in on the way.
Drove back into Reykjavik and went back to the Icelandic restaurant we visited before. We decided that if we were going to have to spend a lot on dinner we’d go somewhere we liked and not spend it on something like fish and chips.
I had cured Icelandic beef with mushrooms and cranberry on toast, Song had a seafood soup. Both were good. I then had confit of goose leg on mash, Song had char, which the waiter said was like salmon, and he wasn’t wrong, it was indistinguishable from salmon.
Again, both meals were good. I decided to forgo the beer and went for a gin and tonic for a change.
Throat and cough getting worse, went back to the hotel to await the inevitable cold.
