I have a friend back home that consistently teases me for my choice in footwear. He stresses that I need to wear “real shoes” not my pretty little flats or sandals that aren’t always the most practical. Today is one of those days I wish I had worn real shoes.
Today our glass had the opportunity to go on the Golden Circle Tour of southern Iceland. I didn’t know what to expect, but I was blown away. It was an eight hour adventure, and we got to see and do so much, without a drop of rain!
Fist we stopped at Skalholt, an old village from the 11th-18th centuries. All that remains of the original settlement is an old church. I have seen my fair share of churches over the years, and this one was simple and beautiful. Inside the church was a beautiful mosaic. Outside the church was a turf chapel, which were very common at the time. Surrounding the church are the remnants of an old farming market, which were nice to wander through. The view of the mountains and countryside were beautiful, but when are they not when traveling through Iceland?
We then went onto the Geysir geothermal area to see the Stokkur geyser go off. It was incredible, it had to have been at least 30 feet into the air. The hot springs were really cool to walk around too. There was this (I’m going to call it a mountain) mountain nearby that people were climbing so I thought why not. This is where the shoe problem came in. We were in a wet hot spring area, so the ground was pretty muddy. My flats had very little traction on the mountain. I was not about to let my footwear stop me from getting up there! I made the climb all the way to the top, and the view was fantastic. If you didn’t have to be fluent in Icelandic to move here, I would really consider it. (The whole only 2 hours of sunlight in the winter would also be an issue, but not now).
After wandering around the geyser, we had a great buffet lunch at the Geyser Hotel across the street. They had a great spread with salmon salad, two different types of herring, and so much more. I was in heaven!
Our next stop was to Gullfoss (The Golden Falls) waterfall. It is along the White River, which is a glacier river, not a mountain river. The difference is in the color of the water, mountain rivers are much clearer. I got to walk down to the falls, and the view was beautiful. While the falls are impressive, it is even more impressive to hear how they were saved. The falls were almost sold in the early 20th century, but the daughter of one of the owners fought the sale. Sigirour is considered one of Iceland’s most important environmental activists. Had the falls been sold, they would have been destroyed and turned into a power plant of source, and their beauty would have been lost.
Our final stop was the Thingvellier National Park. We wandered through and the site was a lot to take in. This was the location of the Law Rock that the Vikings used to visit every year to recite their laws and decide on new changes. One of the most important parts of this park is that it is set on the American and Eurasian tectonic plates. So basically I walked to America today. It was pretty cool to say the least. I also found out that a Game of Thrones scene was filmed there last summer. Unfortunately, there was no filming going on today, so I will have to rewatch the last season to find the Thingvellier scene.
After a nice nap back in the hotel, we went exploring for dinner and ended up at a place called The Laundromat. It was delicious! A night spent wandering around the city was a great end, and once again it’s an early to bed kind of night. I will be asleep before the sun is down and wake up after it is up. What I wouldn’t give for twenty hours of sunlight every day all year!