Iceland - Day 4

Tuesday June 13, 2017

We had a later start this morning. The alarm went off at 7, per usual, but I guess both of us were feeling it because I turned it off and we kept sleeping until around 8. It felt really good and we were still able to hit the road by 9 ish. Not bad. Our plan for the day was to do the famous "Golden Circle" day trip, but with a few modifications.

The first place we visited was Skalholt Cathedral. We were the first to arrive, which is always cool. It wasn't the most impressive site, but still fun to walk around and explore. The church, true to Scandinavian form, was very simple and clean.

Wake up John

From reading some of the plaques on the site we found the area had historical significance and there had been churches built at that location for hundreds of years. On one side of the Cathedral were some "ruins" people had found. They looked like grassy humps, but there was a very informative plaque showing the original layout. It was cool.

Stop number two was Faxi waterfall. We got there a minute or two before a tour group left, so it was kind of crowded on arrival. Turns out we'd be leapfrogging with that same tour group for most of the day.

Once they left the area became a lot nicer haha. Funny how that happens. There was a nice overlook from the top where the parking lot was and also a small path that lead to the bottom.

Overall it wasn't the most impressive waterfall we'd seen, but still very pretty.

Next up was Gulfoss, another waterfall. This baby was huge! It reminded me of the waterfall at Yellowstone; probably partly due to the large crowds. We had a good time exploring the place both on the landing below and the overlook above.

We saw the same Croatians from the tour group at the last falls and they had brought a Croatian flag with them to take pictures with. I though it was kind of funny and snapped one of them snapping one haha.

It turns out the falls weren't quite as large as they first appeared, only falling about 30 meters in total. Iceland is kind of deceiving that way. Most things look really, really big, but turn out to be kind of miniature. The place plays tricks on you're eyes and I think it's partly due to the lack of trees. Still, the fact that you're able to get so close makes it feel really really big and powerful.

Our fourth stop was to see Geysir. It was quite the let down; probably our least favorite place of the day. It's just got nothing on Yellowstone. We stayed long enough to watch their version of Old Faithful go off twice (it erupts about every 5-8 minutes).

There is a geyser there named Geysir and it's the OG (original geyser); meaning some English speaking person went to Iceland, was shown Geysir and from there on out started calling everything that looked like it a geyser haha.

The OG

The best part of this stop was overhearing an American teenage girl pronounce geyser "geezer!" HAHAHA! She didn't even know she was saying it wrong.

Bruarfoss came next and it turned out to be tricky to find. We turned into this residential type area with maze-like roads and google had a hard time directing us. We got as close to the pin as we could, parked our car, and took off on foot. We first came to a cute little foot bridge over a small river and I couldn't remember what Bruarfoss looked like, so we were thinking the bridge was the final destination. We almost went back to the car, but then decided to go across the bridge and explore a little bit further. We ran into another maze of footpaths. Eventually we stumbled on the actual falls. Oooooooh boy. It was SO PRETTY!

Another cute footbridge over that same river, but the falls! It was like the river was being torn apart. The really bright blue areas were where the water was deepest. You'll just have to see the pictures, I can't do it justice.  Again we had the place all to ourselves, and, duh, we loved it.

After Bruarfoss we had a pit stop at Efsti-Dalur I, a dairy farm, for some yummy ice cream. The place was super cute. Inside the little creamery shop they had put in windows that looked into the barn where the cows were kept. Such a brilliant idea! John got a white chocolate flavor and I got a salty caramel flavor and we decided to split em, which I will be forever grateful for. Omg. They were not kidding around with the salt. It was a bit overkill. After eating it I felt like I needed to eat something sweet haha.

Thingvellir was our final stop of the day and turned out to be a cool place for a number of reasons. We scored and inadvertently parked at the right place (Lot number 3). Which had the coolest part of the park at the entrance from our parking lot. The lot was also positioned strategically so you could make a simple loop and see pretty much all there was to see without having to crisscross or backtrack. We rock. Today was the first day the weather wasn't fully cooperating. It was a bit cooler and drizzly, but nothing too bad. We just put on our rain jackets and pants and took off in it.

After first walking through the small canyon made by the dividing of the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates (they move about 2 inches per year I believe... maybe it was 2 cm) we came across a cool little waterfall.

Check out that fine Scandinavian craftsmanship and woodworking around the rocks

Then walked through this valley type area with lots of historical significance. Iceland was ruled/governed from this spot for thousands of years, and then when they got their independence from Denmark and created their own republic in 1944 the ceremony was conducted here as well. Pretty cool place.

There are paths that go all over with various plaques positioned throughout you can read and learn more about the area. We had a good time enjoying all it had to offer.

About 10 years ago this footpath was just a gravel trail, but then a hole formed and they realized the path everyone had been walking on was just a thin shelf suspended over about 15 feet of empty space!

We both thought the light wood pathways looked unusually pretty. Probably due to the dark greens and blacks of the surrounding landscape.

The definite highlight of the day was our drive from Thingvellir to Reykjavik. I read a local's blog about different ways to do the Golden Circle and it totally paid off. We drove through Nesjavalaneid and it was A-MAZING. I think we stopped at least once every five minutes to look around and snap pictures. #noregrets

First we came upon a really beautiful mountain lake.

Eventually the alpine scenery morphed into some of the most unique scenery we'd witnessed thus far. We found ourselves driving through these dark stony mountains covered in neon green looking moss. The stormy skies and turbulent weather just added to the overall atmosphere. It was absolutely breathtaking.

The road was completely deserted too. A nice break after being surrounded by a bunch of other tourists all day. It seemed like every time we came around a bend the views got better and better.

We came to a pull out with a sign for some hiking trails and just couldn't resist walking up to the nearest ridge. Oh my gosh it was so amazing. John stopped at a small saddle on the trail to take some pictures and I continued up the last 25 yards or so to a our pre-determined vantage point. When I reached the top a startled little sheep family chilling up there. It was just perfect.

I wish we could have explored the area a lot more, but it was getting late and starting to rain. We still had a 45 min drive into the city ahead of us. This detour probably added a good 45 minutes to an hour onto our drive, but it paid off in leaps and bounds.

Funny Things:

• Laundry FAIL! After we got all settled into the Reykjavik campsite we decided to do some laundry. We didn't quite have enough coins though, so I got started in on what we could do while John took the car in search of an ATM. THREE HOURS LATER he came back pissed and empty handed. I guess all ATMS in Reykjavik are located inside the banks but this was around 8-9 pm and all the banks were closed for the day. He tried like six different places, driving all over the city. Dumb. THEN on the way back, when he was nearly to the campsite, he ran into construction and had to turn around and take a big ole detour. Needless to say he was not a happy camper when he returned. Funny to laugh at now though.