Iceland's Golden Circle

Ted. A very popular drive in Iceland is the 150 mile loop to the east of Reykjavík, dubbed the Golden Circle. It is easy to do it in a day if you just make a few stops. 

Rather than rent a car, Judy and I joined a small group organized by a tour company called Gateway to Iceland. Our driver/guide, Starri, teaches history at a local university and, like lots of Icelanders, has a part-time gig in the tourism industry. Multiple streams of revenue are increasingly necessary for families to cover the rapidly rising cost of housing which now takes over 50% of one's income. 

During our drive, we enjoyed the ever changing landscape and wonderful stories about life in old Iceland and the 21st century. One fun fact we learned is that JR Tolkien was fascinated with the culture and language of Iceland and actually hired an Icelandic au pair at one time. Many of the ideas and words found in his novels have Icelandic origins.  

Here are a few highlights of our tour. 

Thingvellir National Park 

Our first stop was at this UNESCO World Heritage Site. The geology here is fascinating because this is the area where the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates collide to create a rift valley.

The North America plate on the right and the Eurasian plate

At one point, the river Öxará drops into the rift creating a famous waterfall called Öxaráfoss. 

The largest natural lake in Iceland, Thingvallavatn straddles the rift. 

The rift is in the foreground

Thingvellir is the area where the Allthingi began to meet in the year 930. An annual gathering of chieftains, it can be thought of as an early parliament making this a very special place to all Icelanders.

Gullfoss 

The Hvítá (White) River flows out of the Hvítárvatn glacier and drops over a gorge to create Iceland’s second largest waterfall, Gullfoss (Golden Falls). 

You can just make out the distant glacier

The name comes from the rainbows that often appear

Geysir 

The Great Geysir from which we get the word "geyser" spouts off every 4 - 6 minutes in a very geologically active part of the Haukadalur valley. 

Secret Lagoon 

I didn’t risk taking my phone into the water so just downloaded a photo from the internet. The air was around 55 degrees F and the water around 110-150 F, providing a soothing end to a lovely day.