DISCLAIMER: I am a picture taker. Not a photographer. There’s a big difference. Kind of like how I’m a traveler and not a tourist. 🙂 I have a good camera. I put it on auto, frame my shot the best I can (which usually means crooked or from some crappy angle), pray to Odin (or the coolest god of whatever country I’m in), push the button, and hope for the best. Then, push the button a few more times just in case. There is no time in all of my travels that I wished I was a photographer and not a picture taker than today. The scenery is stunning. Mind blowing. Awe inspiring. And I just don’t have the skills to capture it in a way that does it justice. Forgive me. I do the best I can. 🙂 Come see it for yourself.

I took my zzzz pills again last night because I had to make sure I slept. Got another full day of driving planned! This time, to the Golden Circle- kind of the holy of holies of Iceland! 🙂 Packed my lunch and water and got all my gear together (by gear, I mean all the clothes because lord knows what you might run into!) It was cloudy and grey in Reykjavik, but that’s about par for the course. Left about 7:15 in an attempt to beat the crowds (tour buses!).

What’s the first thing you have to do when you have a rental car and just spent 12 hours driving the day before? Get gas!! Ok. No problem! Pulled up to the pump, put in my card- hey, this is just like at home! Until the machine demanded a pin number. I don’t have a pin number on my credit card…. Befuddled, I went inside. I said I needed to fill it up and handed him my credit card. Um, yeah. That’s not how it’s done in Iceland. You had to pay inside with the credit card to buy a prepaid card to use at the pump. And by the way, you better guess how much you need, because it’s non-refundable. I didn’t worry too much about that part, since I knew I would need gas again, but I had no clue how much to even put on it. I had a little less than a half a tank of gas left in a tiny ass Toyota Yaris. The guy told me 5000kr should do it. WHAT?! $50 to fill up HALF a tank in a tiny car??? No one warned me that in order to get gas I had to have a pin number on my credit card, take out a home equity loan, and make sure I brought a defibrillator with me. I took the prepaid card, put it in, and the car took every bit of that 5000kr. Yowza. Side note: When I got back, I did the calculations. Gas is 225kr per liter. 1 liter is about 1/4 of a gallon. So I literally just paid about $9 PER GALLON for gas!! Dear Los Angeles: I will never bitch about your $3.50+ per gallon gas again. As I headed up the 36, I was cloaked in clouds, drizzle, and disappointment. Two days now of this. Sigh.
The first stop of the day was a waterfall. If you see the word “foss”, you know you’re about to see water falling off of some cliff somewhere! 😉 This one was Öxarárfoss. I pulled into the parking lot and not another car in sight…yes!! I didn’t hear a river or anything, but there was a path leading away from the parking lot, so I headed down it. In no time, I realized that I was on top of an amazing cliff!! And that there was a fantastic trail in a narrow canyon, with sheer rock walls with really ancient and cool looking formations. As I descended down into it, I literally felt like I was going back in time. That a Viking or an elf or anything unexpected and from a time long past might be hiding behind the next boulder. I don’t know what it was about that place, but it is the most magical feeling I’ve had while in Iceland. And being in there alone greatly enhanced the experience! Soon the rock path ended, and so did that magical feeling. I was on pavement now. The trail branched off in a different direction, and a lot more people were sharing the space with me now. Soon I reached the waterfall. It was beautiful!! On the way back, I read the sign about Gallow’s Rock. It is known that 15 men were hanged here, generally for theft, between 1602 and 1750.

The most magical place in Iceland to me- and that’s saying a lot!

Gallows Rock

I went back through the magical canyon, which had lost some of its mystique with the arrival of other people. Some things you don’t want to share… Back in the car and headed toward Þingvellir (pronounced Thingvellir). This is a national park, and wow but you could see why. The views were stunning!! And the best part? Blue sky was starting to peek out through the clouds!!I stopped at the little visitor center, and then drove down to the old settlement area. Here, I had to pay $5 to park. Got out and did a quick survey. There were little bridges and boardwalks meandering up the hills and over the stream, a church with some other buildings, and it was all surrounded by utter beauty! The sun was coming out! Birds were chirping! Angels were singing! 🙂 I headed up one of the paths, and saw that it also led to the path where I had just been at Öxarárfoss. So if you want a really good walk, the ability to experience that cool little canyon, and to not pay for parking (which I didn’t mind AT ALL, small price to pay for this place!), you could just park at the top of Öxarárfoss and walk down here. As I walked along the stream, there was a group of teens with a guide who was having them fill up their water bottles from the stream. Fun fact: You can drink any of the stream water in Iceland, no worries. However, there were a LOT of geese around. Lots of geese= lots of geese poop. Yeah, I’ll pass. 😉  From the top of the hill I could see that the boardwalk continued down the hill, across the stream, to the church, and from there I could go back to the parking lot. There are quite a few trails in this area to explore, though! I headed down to the church. There were a LOT of people in the area, and getting a picture without them in it was practically impossible. I pulled at the church door- locked. I was kneeling down in front of the church to take a picture (no other reason for me to kneel there! 😝). A guy walks up to the door with a large key!! Oooo! Could he be unlocking the church?? He WAS!! I looked at him with a “Can I go in?” look. He nodded. I was the first one in! But man, the rush of people behind me was crushing. It was ridiculous. I managed to quickly get in a shot before getting elbowed out of the way. The church is TINY and quaint, and there were no less than 30 people in there within seconds. By the time I got back out of the door, there was a line to get in. Oy. Near to the church there was a little graveyard, but you weren’t supposed to go in.

I walked back to the parking lot and up the road for a bit. I wanted to see something I’d seen advertised on tours, but would never do in 900 million years….Silfra. Why wouldn’t I do it? Because it’s snorkeling (or diving) in ice cold, crystal clear water between the tectonic plates! All of that sounds great except the ice cold part. I’m not even interested in getting into the natural hot springs, for fear of having to get out and have the wind touch my wet body, causing me to freeze in place like a troll caught in the sunlight!! So, this gets a big “hell no” from me. Yeah, yeah, yeah, they give you a dry suit. Who cares? Parts of your face are still exposed! When they start running glass bottom boats or have some kind of heated human hamster ball contraption they can put you in and toss you in the drink, I’m in. Until then, I’ll watch from the sidelines.

I love seeing weird wildlife signs all over the world. No real wildlife in Iceland, but I found a fun sign anyway!

Walked back to the car and headed out. There’s a ton of hiking and little back roads and such here, so you could probably spend days getting lost in the wilderness and beauty. But I was on a serious schedule!! I had to be in Laugarvatn by 11:15!! What’s Laugarvatn and why the hurry? Well, I’ll tell you….someone on one of the facebook groups had mentioned that they had a lava bread tour- where they would show you how they bake bread in the ground, using the heat from the earth! I am SO there!! But the problem was that I woke up this morning and realized that in my exhaustion yesterday, I had forgotten to book it!! ARGH!!! I emailed them before I left, but hadn’t heard a word. The tour started at 11:30, and I was hoping that if I got there a little early and it was full, that I could charm my way in, since it was only 1 little old person….and….I’m a TEACHER! (people across the world love that!!). As I was driving, I saw a sign pointing to a place called Laugarvatnshellar: The Cave People. How had I missed that in my research??!! Ugh! It sounded cool, but I knew I wanted to do the lava bread thing, so off I went. Upon later research, it does seem pretty interesting and might be a good add on for your Golden Circle trip! Pulled into the parking lot of Laugarvatn Fontana a little after 11. I walked very quickly to the front door and into the restaurant area. I asked the cashier if there was room on the 11:30 tour. YES!! WOO-HOO!! Gladly paid my $15. I had really been looking forward to this, and would have been super mad at myself if I missed it! I had about 20 minutes to walk around the grounds. The sun was out so bright now, that I stripped down to one, count them ONE, layer!! It was 17C (63F) and WONDERFUL!! Laugarvatn Fontana sits on a beautiful lake, and there is steam coming out of the ground everywhere! There are greenhouses over some of the hot springs, utilizing the geothermal energy for heating. So smart! I wish I could have gone in. I saw an AWESOME pair of birds, which later research revealed to be Haematopus ostralegus, an Oystercatcher. The tour guide later told me they are VERY aggressive when they have young. Yikes! It was time for the tour, and I was surprised that it was just me, and a couple from Philadelphia who had just flown in that morning. Our guide grabbed a shovel, and we headed down to the beach by the lake. Water was boiling out of the ground in places. He took us to a little area next to a boiling hole, and said they put the bread in the ground for 24 hours. We were going to dig up yesterday’s batch. It was marked with a little stone on top. He dug it up, and everywhere he put his shovel, boiling water would come to the surface. Crazy! He got the pot out- it was wrapped in some kind of plastic wrap- I assume to keep the water out of it. Using gloves, he unwrapped it, took the lid off, and wa-la!! There was a huge pot of lava rye bread! He then buried another pot for tomorrow’s tour, and we went back to the restaurant. There, he sliced the hot bread for us and gave us some butter to put on it. It was gooooooooood! So moist! Then, he gave us all HUGE pieces to take home!! Yay for tours that provide food!! It was a really interesting process, and I highly recommend it.

Headed off down the road again, one layer, window down (and then up, and then down, and then up….) loving the warmish air and sunshine!! Instead of the lava fields of the Reykjanes Peninsula, I was now in lush, green, beautiful farmlands, surrounded by jaw dropping mountains, still holding on to the last bits of winter. Icelandic horses (which in my opinion are the PERFECT horse- short, strong, and friendly!) lazily grazing in fields and rolling in the sunshine. Baby lambs bouncing alongside of their mothers. You seriously can not imagine a more gorgeous setting. And it was in this setting that I pulled into my next stop- another suggestion from a facebook group- Efstidalur II Dairy Farm. There’s a lot going on here. There’s a hotel, a restaurant, horseback riding, and the reason for my visit….and ice cream barn!! I figured I needed a tasty snack treat on a gorgeous day such as this, and ice cream right out of a cow’s teat (yep, it comes out frozen- this is ICEland 😜), was just the thing! I walked into the ice cream barn and saw why it was named that. The windows by the table all looked into the barn, where you could see cows happily munching away on hay and turning it into ice cream! There was a wonderful array of flavors. I chose green apple because I had never heard of such a thing as green apple ice cream! It was soooo good! Just the right amount of tart, sweet, and unusual! And sooooooo creamy. Mmmmmm. Highly recommended at $4.50 for a small scoop.

On the road again, heading toward my one “office” stop for the day- the geysers at Geysir. Geysir, the big geyser at this location, was first named that back in 1700s, and the name has become synonymous with similar features around the world. In it’s hey day, it would erupt several times a day, shooting boiling water 60-170 meters (200-550 feet) into the air! 😮 Now, it rarely erupts, but it’s little brother, Stokkur, puts on a show about every 5-8 minutes- with water shooting up to 30 m (100 ft) high. I pulled into the WAY overcrowded, commercialized, touristy parking lot. Oh boy- it was PACKED. Ugh. I walked around the various steaming hot pools for about 20 minutes, and Stokkur erupted a few times- you’d hear the “whoosh” of water and screams of the crowd, but by the time you’d turn around, it would just be a pool of hot water again!

Inhaling the breath of the earth….

After I looked at everything, I went over and found a prime place to video Stokkur from. Held my camera in place as steady as I could for almost a minute, and then BLAM! Off it went! I got so excited, I hit the button and ended the video before it finished! Ugh! But here are the pics that I pulled from the video.

So it’s this totally flat, hot steaming pool….every once in a while a little wave or something will lap at the edge….

Then, all of a sudden, this huge dome shaped bubble rises up!

And WHOOSH! It erupts!

I stuck the first and third videos together so you can see it. The 2nd eruption was a burp, much to the disappointed crowd who collectively went “awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww”. 🙂

Made a quick bathroom stop in the gift shop area (when in Iceland, see a klósettið, use a klósettið…#Allison). I hadn’t driven very far, when I saw some cars pulled off to the side. That’s better than any informational sign with 37 consonants and 4 vowels that there’s something cool to see here! And oh! It was! People were petting an Icelandic horse!! There was a little parking lot and a sign that said “Icelandic Horses”. I walked up and petted the one who was by the fence and seemed to be enjoying the attention! The mane is sooooooooooooo thick! Oh my gosh! What an awesome creature!

More driving through impossibly beautiful landscapes to the next stop- Gullfoss. Remember what I told you- when you see the word foss, there’s a waterfall! And my oh my, was this a waterfall! But first, let’s talk about me falling in love…. See, as I was driving along, I had a fabulous view of the mountains to my left. And they had this really weird, flat, bright white cloud on them. Not in front of them, but on them. And blue skies above. It was a super weird phenomenon, so I pulled over (for literally the 10,000th time that day. Always add triple the time google maps says, because you will be stopping CONSTANTLY to take pics!). I zoomed in and wait……could this be what I thought it was…….a glacier??

I had myself 94% convinced that that’s what it had to be. Then, I got to a fork in the road. There was a sign pointing to the left saying “Gullfoss Parking”. DON’T FOLLOW THAT SIGN!! Go to the right, unless you enjoy climbing a ton of stairs for no reason. Of course, I tell you this in hindsight. I went left and parked. There were signs, and yes!! This was a glacier I was seeing! It was so amazing and so emotional and visceral for some reason. I was just mesmerized by it, in awe of it. I climbed down the ton of stairs to see Gullfoss– arguably the most famous of Iceland’s waterfalls (and that’s saying a lot because there are waterfalls EVERYWHERE!!). It’s fed by Iceland’s 2nd largest glacier- Langjökull- henceforth known as MY glacier! 🙂 The falls were pretty impressive, I must say. Huge and powerful. The amount of water going over them was almost unfathomable.

I headed back down the road I had come in on (Gullfoss was basically a deadend, because the road into the highlands was closed). My next stop was Faxifoss (I bet you speak enough Icelandic now to know what it is!). I looked at the map and decided to take a detour off the main roads- and take the 30 to the 358 over to the 35. Oh, what an excellent decision! I basically had this gravel road all to myself. Well, me, the Icelandic horses, and the sheep! Gorgeous, gorgeous farmland without a tour bus in sight. I was staring at the views, and noticed someone else staring as well. There was a majestic Icelandic horse, standing in this very “I am king of all I purvey” stance, staring off at the mountains. He seemed as much in awe of the view as I was. Then, there was this very narrow bridge. I was kinda sketched out by it, but it was fun to cross. So….beautiful and perfect.

Soon I reached Faxifloss. What a gorgeous little waterfall! And the coolest thing was that there was a fish ladder for the salmon!! Oh my gosh, I was in heaven! Honestly, I liked this waterfall better than Gullfoss. There were only about 4 other people here. Plus, I was finally able to get a good shot of a Motacilla alba– the White Wagtail!

Last stop of my Golden Circle tour was the Kerid volcanic crater lake. It’s a collapsed magma chamber that filled with water after an eruption about 6000 years ago. You had to pay $4 to park. After that, you could walk around the entire crater, and even take stairs right down to the water. Very nice spot! If you start your rim walk to the right of the office, BE CAREFUL as you descend the hill on the other side! It’s very small, loose gravel, and I slipped and busted my butt! Fortunately I wasn’t at the crater rim when that happened…

And for all intensive purposes that was the end of my Golden Circle tour! But looking at the GPS, I was going to get back to Reykjavik at about 5:15. Free parking on my street starts at 6. What to do, what to do… I looked at google maps and found an alternate route back. Perfect, since I didn’t want to backtrack roads I had been on yesterday anyway. So my new plan was to take the 35 to the 36 to the 350 to the 435 to the 1 and back to Reykjavick. Best. Decision. All. Day!! The roads had so many tour buses and tourists on them. It’s hard enough to just find a place to pull over for a picture. It’s even worse when there are cars and buses on your ass! I saw hardly any cars for the next 40ish minutes. A gorgeous lake. Beautiful mountains. My glacier. What an unexpected delight!! I highly recommend adding this section of road to your golden circle tour!! Most of it is gravel, but easy to drive on and pretty flat. Once you start climbing up into the mountains, it’s paved.  Honestly, I can’t even describe this day. The weather. The landscape. The stops- all quadzillon of them! Everything was simply perfect in every way. Now I see why this is the most famous tourist area in all of Iceland! 11 hours after my departure, I arrived back in Reykjavik. Tomorrow would be my last adventure with the car…

CONTINUE TO DAY 10

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