The Golden Circle is a lie...but just in the sense that it's not actually a circle, it's a line. The circle part is just the way back to Reykjavik. As we're moving on to a town called Hella after this, the "circle" becomes more of a "slightly obtuse angle".
Our first stop was not actually planned. There was some beautiful scenery along the way (as there constantly is), so we pulled over to take some pictures. There were two rather lovely horses that seemed to take an interest in us when we stopped, so I walked up to the fence and sure enough, they ambled right over and let us pet them while they sniffed and nipped at our pockets for food. Two other travelers from Boston stopped by as well, and we quickly chat over our hometowns, where we're headed, etc. Over the next couple days I come to realize that tourism is so rampant here that if you just sit down next to someone, they are likely a tourist as well, and certain questions like "where are you from?" and "where are you going?" become the new small talk.
Cresting a ridge we find a giant lake in front of us. It seems at least as big as Puget Sound, stretching for miles. This is our first view of pingvellir National Park, the first official stop on the Golden Circle. The park is HUGE, containing stories of several historical events that occurred there as well as a gorgeous waterfall, burial mound for two of Iceland's famous poets, and giant chasms where the North American and Eurasian continental plates are dividing. The walk here is stunning, and could easily take several hours...and does.
Eventually we remember there's more to see and make our way to...
Geysir/Strokkur
Geysir is, as you may guess, the geyser after which all geysers are named. Unfortunately, it stopped exploding after some volcanic activity some years ago. This may lead you to believe there's no reason to visit this stop of the circle. You'd be wrong.
Walking up you are greeted with that sweet sulfuric smell and come across an almost Yellowstone-like area with bubbling pools, giant pillars of steam, and warnings every few feet that the water is 80-100 Celsius and WE KNOW IT'S PRETTY BUT PLEASE DON'T TOUCH.
After about 5 minutes of walking through that you get to a spot where suddenly you're walking through those streams of supposedly hot water (don't worry, it is in fact safe to touch), and you see the new main attraction: Strokkur.
Strokkur is a geyser that goes off about every 5 minutes. You can watch from a fairly close but still safe distance as this pool of geothermal water bubbles and surges and subsides until the bubble suddenly grows and explodes into this tower of water about 4-5 times your size. It's a fun sight to behold, and since you only have to wait 5 minutes between each blow, you can keep enjoying it until it gets boring. When it does, 10 minutes away lies by far the best sight of the circle, and even one of the best we've seen in Iceland...
Gullfoss
Meaning "Golden Falls", Gullfoss is an astounding sight. In fact, I think there's little words can do to describe the pure jaw-dropping epicness of this waterfall. So you get pictures instead.
By this time it was getting late, and an optional crater we had meant to look at got passed by in favor of making it to our airbnb at least somewhat on time...
To be continued...
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