We got up in time to get ahead of the crowd on the Famous Golden Circle Circuit ,which consisted of Þingvellir National Park, Haukadalur (or the geyser area) and Gullfoss. This circular tourist route was probably the most visited part of the entire island.
On our way to Þingvellir National Park, we stopped at a branch of ‘Braud & Co’, the delicious bakery that we had discovered yesterday. We absolutely wanted to taste their artisan bread and have another treat of cinnamon rolls. The weather was not exactly great, but so be it. It would not be the first and certainly not the last time during our 3 week stay.
We drove with some fog and drizzle to the park. It seemed that we were one of the first since the visitor center car park only had few cars. The infrastructure, especially the building containing the toilets, appeared to be new. In that building you could also purchase the obligatory parking ticket via a machine. This was valid for a day and for all the car parks in the park.
The site itself is historically very important to Iceland because it was here that the first parliament was created. It was composed of clans that had moved to the island. It also served as a courthouse and is now the prime minister’s summer residence (less fancy than we might expect). Many place names in the park were based on the harsh punishments that were handed out here.
The park is right on the boundary of the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates and is, in our opinion a must-visit. Really beautiful ! We walked first to the Öxarárfoss waterfall and then to the viewpoint from where we could observe the entire area.
During our walk it started to rain a little harder and our pants had gotten quite wet… We regretted not having decided to put on our rain pants! A mistake we would not make again :-).
We walked back via the church to the car park (all in all a walk of 5 to 6 km). It was not that far from where Koen wanted to go snorkeling at the end of our trip.
Then we set course for Gullfoss (the golden waterfall), a beautiful waterfall that could be seen from both above and below. We had read that it was a good place to see rainbows when the sun came out, but unfortunately that was not the case. We parked the car at the visitor center. There was also a large and very nice shop along with a restaurant. We decided to first walk down the stairs to see the waterfall from the lowest observation point. What a power that water had! Then we went up the stairs to view this natural spectacle from above. Really beautiful .
Then we drove to Haukadalur, the geyser area. Nothing compared to Yellowstone, but the spectacle of the Strokkur geyser spewing water could still enchant. I took way too much time to make videos and photos, so Koen decided to leave it to me and to walk to the information point in the meantime. He would pick me up afterwards. Apparently the restaurant on site was the one where the buses dropped off the tourists. It was completely overcrowded. We walked past the Konungshver and Blesi pools, before going back to the car park via Geysir (the inactive geyser).
We ended the day with a drink at Friðheimar, the tomato farm world famous for its soup. There was no free place to eat (even though it was already after 2.30 pm). We were able to enjoy their bar. We reserved a table for the day after and ordered a tomato beer and a cup of soup. Very tasty!
Then we drove to the supermarket for some drinks and food because we were staying for the next 2 nights in Inni apartments (in Hveragerði). It was close to the warm water river that we had planned to visit the day after. The studio we rented was really nice. The kitchen had even coffee, salt, pepper and many other herbs, so we were very pleased with our choice. There was also a hot tub and under the studio’s there was a place to wash and dry our cloths. During the apéro, we recovered from a beautiful but wet day.
