Today’s adventures took me to The Golden Circle.
First stop was at pingvellir National Park which is the site of Iceland’s first parliament established in 930. It is also the site of a rift valley that marks the crest of the Mid Atlantic Ridge and is the east side of the North American plate. The west side is the San Andreas fault in California. We also saw the Oxarafoss waterfall.
Next stop was to see Geysir which is of course a geyser, however, Geysir no longer erupts, its nearby cousin, Strokkur, spouted every few minutes and if you were standing on the wrong side of the geyser you would get wet. I knew that because as we drove up, Stokkur erupted and we saw a whole bunch of people running away.
From here we went to Gullfoss which is a two-tiered waterfall. It was magnificent! The tour guide warned us that the rocks close up to the falls were slippery and we may not want to walk up there. However, when I got to the falls and saw all the people I had to get a closer look. I am so glad I did, it was spectacular that close up. Away from the falls you could see some mountains and a glacier in the distance. On the way out we even got to see a rainbow.
On the way back to the city, we drove through Hveragerdi which Icelanders call Capital of Hot Springs. There are many greenhouses here which are heated by the geothermal area. They can grow anything here including bananas. We also stopped at another waterfall, but I don’t know the name of it.
Once back in town the sun started to come out so I headed up to the top of Hallgrimskirkja church to take in the view of the city. From there I stopped in some shops (didn’t buy anything) and then down to the harbor. I then walked through the Harpa Concert Hall. I am so glad I did this with the sun out. The reflection on the glass was amazing! Next, I walked to see Solfario – The Sun Voyager which is a statue along the seaside of Reykjavik. The statue was unveiled to mark the 200th birthday of Reykjavik and was to give the city something that inspired dreams and imagination and symbolizes light and hope
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