Iceland: Þingvellir, Geysir, & Gullfoss

Here's my first post about day 2 of our Iceland stopover. My plan was to post daily, but sketchy wifi and jet lag are making it hard - so posts will happen as they happen. Subscribe by email to get notified when new posts are up!

Day 2 in Iceland involved a Reykjavik Excursions tour of a portion of The Golden Circle; this included Þingvellir National Park, Geysir, and the Gullfoss waterfall, which took about six hours total.

First stop was Þingvellir (Thingvellir, in English).  The guide explained to us how this park is a massive part of the Icelandic identity because it is home to Althingi, their parliament established in 930 that marked the beginning of the Icelandic Commonwealth. Iceland went through a few periods of switching kingdoms and rules – Dutch, Norwegian, Dutch again – so this is a place native Icelanders can identify with. Educational session over – here’s some nice pictures.

 Next, we drove to Geysir. Though The Great Geysir itself has not been active for over 15 years due to earthquakes, we were able to witness the erupting of Strokkur, Geysir’s active neighbour. There are only a handful of active geysers in the world and even less that you can physically travel to. Geysir is such an interesting natural experience because as you walk on snow and shiver in your boots there are small rivers filled with boiling hot water running and bubbling alongside the walkway. Our guide stressed not giving in to temptations to touch the water because it could actually scald you – fun stuff.

Post-erruption with some water spots on the lens to prove it.

 Last, the tour took us to see Gullfoss. All I can really say is that it’s a massive waterfall with ridiculously cold wind – and it doesn’t hurt to look at.

Once I get more pictures uploaded I'll post about walking around downtown Reykjavik and visiting the Blue Lagoon; then about Leuven so far. Just taking some time to settle in.

- Alexandra