The Golden Circle!
Day 3
Our first stop of the Golden Circle was Þingvellir (Thingvellir) National Park. This park is really a very special place in the hearts of Icelanders. Thingvellir translates to “assembly plains” and was the site of Iceland’s parliament from the 10th to 18th centuries! It was at this Icelandic National Shrine that papers were signed June 17th, 1944 making Iceland its own independent country. Iceland had been part of Denmark, but with Nazi Germany occupying Denmark in World War II, Iceland voted to completely sever its ties with Denmark.
In addition, Thingvellir NP is where the European and North American tectonic plates are separating at the rate of 2 cm per year! It was super interesting to walk on the boardwalk between these two plates. What a unique experience, walking exactly on top of these two tectonic plates!
Our second stop of the Golden Circle was at Stokkur. Stokkur Geysir puts on a show every 6-10 minutes with a fountain of steamy hot water. Unlike Old Faithful, which progresses to its maximum height, Stokkur prefers to get it all out of its system with one giant explosion.
Another stunning stop was at the Gullfoss waterfall. Gullfoss translates to “golden water”. It is this feature that gives the name the “Golden” Circle to the drive. It’s referred to as a “circle” as, commonly, people complete this loop drive out of Reykjavik.
Our final stop on the Golden Circle was at a little spot Lauren and Maggie discovered nine years ago on their trip to Iceland. Outside of the small village of Hveragerdi you come to a parking lot that now has a tiny cafe. Leading up the mountain from that spot, there is a gravel trail. We followed the trail for about two and a half miles before finding a little bathing spot in a geothermally-heated river! There were wooden dividers set up beside the river which provided a false sense of privacy as you slip out of your winter coat and hiking clothes and into your bathing suit! Mind you, it’s a balmy 42 degrees F out! The experience of soaking the aches and pains away in this stream and watching steam rising from the water is firmly etched into my memory!!
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| The steam in the background is our goal! |
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| Stocking caps and swimming? A first! |
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| Diagram of the area |
On the way to our hotel, we stopped in Hveragerdi at a local pizza joint and filled our bellies. My pizza was topped with bacon, dates and feta cheese! Delicious! While waiting for our pizza, Emma completely tromped me in a competitive gave of penny hockey. Being how the only change I had was krona, the game has forever been renamed to krona hockey! Needless to say, I’m absolutely loving making these memories alongside Lauren’s family!
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| Emma wears victory well! |
Our rooms were in the small ocean side town of Eyrarbakki. I hesitate to call it a hotel because the building seemed much more similar to some sort of industrial building than what we think of as a hotel. The rooms were great; it just had an interesting curb appearance! After Emma and Evie had gone to bed, Lauren, Adam, Dick and I met up for a nightcap on the back side of the building where we sat on a bench above the rocky seawall. It was fun watching the water fowl on the coastline below us and toasting to another good day!
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| Don't be fooled by what appears to be a sunset! The sun set at midnight and rose at 3:00 am. |
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