Today was just amazing. We started around the Golden Circle, first visiting Lake Thingvallavatn, which is situated on the Icelandic rift zone (the mid-Atlantic ridge, which is mostly under the ocean, goes through Iceland). After enjoying a little picnic at the lake, we continued to drive and happened upon a stunning view of the rift; It was indescribably beautiful! Kenan and I mustered some adventurism and climbed up to the top to take a peak into it.
Me on the rift
After that we went to the Geyser Hot Spring area, which has multiple geysers, one of which faithfully erupts every 5 minutes or so- we saw erupt about 5 times during the 45 minutes or so that we were there! Also an interesting little tid bit is that geysers got their name from this specific one- the original geyser if you will.
The geysir!
We then visiting Gullfoss Waterfall, or the Golden Falls, which many believe to be the most beautiful waterfall in Iceland because of its dual-folding formation.
me and mama at Gullfoss
Then we saw Kerið crater, which was super eery but beautiful. According to Frommer's, this is a small but shapely scoria crater, formed 6,500 years ago by a collapsing magma chamber at the end of a volcanic eruption. The crater is 180 ft. deep, with stagnant water at the bottom. The sides are streaked in red, black, and ochre. Björk actually once held a concert from there, with her stage floating in the middle.
September is actually the sheep herding month in Iceland and we’ve witnessed this a bunch so far, which is pretty cool to see. The Icelanders ride on their horses, herding hundreds of sheep back to the farm. It’s a simple but unexpected part of Icelandic life that we happened upon as a pleasant surprise. By the end of the trip, oh really by like day 2 of the trip, we came to the conclusion that sheep are EVERYWHERE... lava fields, mountains, plains, glaciers, the middle of the road... freaking everywhere!
Another silly tid bit is that there are piles of stones all over Iceland, even in super desolate spots. They are obviously done on purpose, but I don't know the reason behind them. It is also general belief that mythical creatures such as elves and trolls live in Iceland (only 20% of Icelanders will admit to not believing in this) and I am convinced that elves are behind these rock piles...
elven mischief
Our farm house lodging for that night was actually at the base of the most active volcano in Iceland, Mt. Hekla, with the last eruption in 2000. Upon arrival in the evening it was super cloudy so we had no idea where the volcano was, but when I woke up in the morning and looked out the window, low and behold, we were literally at the base of a volcano! Pretty neat.
The weather today was basically constant rain. It does add a certain element of mysticism to the land, which is fitting indeed, but I felt like we were missing a lot of beautiful scenery that was hidden behind the thick, low clouds. The notion was verified the next morning with seeing the volcano and while driving and seeing mountains and such that were hidden by the thick cloud cover. Hopefully the weather will improve a bit.
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