Iceland…
You have been on my radar since as long as I can remember. The land of Fire and Ice. Being a Geography Major, the thought of travelling to such a place as Iceland tops my list of places to go and this was the year to do it! As a birthday present (I’m turning 40 this year), my hubby and I embarked on a 10 day trip around the island. Come and follow along as I take you through seven areas of Iceland.
Seeing how there is just so much to share with so many pictures, I’ve broken down our trip into 7 different blog posts. There is just no way I could share all I wanted in just one. I do hope you enjoy and follow along as the others get published.
Day 1 – The Golden Circle
This is a popular loop that starts and ends in Reykjavik, visiting waterfalls, national parks, geysers and hot springs. Since we were not planning on returning to Reykjavik at the end, we had some alternate routes in mind.
After successfully arriving, and waiting, and waiting some more for our pick up (it was an early morning/late day) we were escorted to the Happy Campers location and picked up our vehicle. This would now be our home for the next 10 days.
This little camper had all the amenities, with the exception of a toilet and shower. We had a place to sleep, prep food, eat, change into warm or cold weather clothes, charge our phones, stay connected to family via social media, and transport around this island. Each night we would pick a campground and park ourselves for the night. Quite the experience.
We headed out with our map in our hands up hwy 36 towards Þingvellir National Park. Along this road, we saw people stopped and figured, why not, let’s stop here as well.
This area is called Stekkjargja. The information board said that this is where people were drowned and punished for crimes they had committed. It was eerie walking through this narrow canyon.
At the end, we were greeted by a nice small waterfall, Öxarárfoss. This is what our adventure was going to be like. See a spot on the side of the road that looks interesting? Let’s check it out (after finding a spot to turn around and go back, which wasn’t always easy!).
Off we went again, cutting across the 365 to hwy 37, then 35. This brought us to the Geyser. Now silly me, I got some video of the geyser, but totally forgot to get a picture! Instead, you will have to view my terrible screen capture.
This was quite a big area with lots of other hot pools, warning you not to touch as temperatures range from 80-100 degrees Celsius. The pools were pretty as the colors were very blue and some were so clear you can see the bottom.
Further up the highway was our first major waterfall stop, Gullfoss which was beautiful. It was nice and sunny out which means we were treated to a rainbow over the falls. We explored the area and we were even able to get up close to the falls, even though it was very crowded. If you look hard enough in the picture with the rainbow, you can see people by the falls on the left near the middle.
A little while ago, a friend had posted a picture of herself in a hot spring and I inquired as to where it was located. Lucky for us, it was nearby and easy for us to access with a small detour. We needed a place to clean up after almost two days of travelling and this would be the perfect spot. We drove south on hwy 30 until we arrived at the Secret Lagoon. Yes this is the actual name.
Now for a little insight, if you were not aware. At all lagoons, pools, hot springs, etc… you are REQUIRED to shower BEFORE you enter the pools, WITHOUT your suit (hence you are naked). It was a good thing that we read about this prior to our trip and we were both ready for this… um… experience? Really, I didn’t care as I needed to shower anyway, and hey… when in Rome, right?
This hot spring had temperatures hovering around 38 degrees Celsius and felt just like a nice hot bath. Even though it is warm, it was actually super refreshing. There are areas in the pool that are warmer since they are closer to the springs, and the bottom of the pool was gravel.
Lucky for me there was a fish and chip stand just outside the lagoon. I went and ordered some fries and we ate those and some sandwiches for supper. We had a little more exploring time left to our day, but we were crashing fast. You have to remember that we have been travelling and on the move since 2pm the previous day with only a plane ride to try to get some sleep.
As we continued along hwy 30, we turned back towards Selfoss and north on hwy 35 to check out the Kenio Crater. This was created by a volcano many years ago which eventually collapsed on itself. What remains is this crater that is partially filled with water.
The rocks here are all volcanic, which are light and porous. Doesn’t make for easy walking sometimes and wouldn’t you know it, this girl slipped and fell on her knee. Yup, first (and only!) injury of the trip was mine. It was a good thing we had our first aid kit with us, and with a wipe and a band aid I was good to go again.
This was a sure sign that we were getting tired and needed to find our home for the night. We drove back east along hwy 1 to the town of Hella. There we stopped at the local campground and settled in for the night. The next morning we would start our drive along the south coast.
Please come back and check out as we continue our adventure around Iceland.
First one down! Enjoyed it again.