Today was the Great Circle Tour of about 7 hours departing at 9am.
The area around Reykjavik is mostly snow covered volcanic rock strewn land. It is quite beautiful to see along with snow capped mountains and cloud hanging on what in some cases is a volcano. Reykjavik is a small city but has extensive infrastructure befitting a much large population. It is spread out with a hard to define central area.
We foolishly dressed less today for some reason believing the 4 degrees for the city area would be the same as the country areas we would be visiting.
The first stop on the tour was the town of Hveragerdi the location of a 6.6 earthquake in 2008.
The scenery changed often between opens areas with melting snow and high Mountain passes completely snow covered. The sun was trying to break through and it was quite cold.
We visited an area where there has been a church on the same location since 1056AD. The present church is the seat of a Bishop, one of 2 Bishops in Iceland and is an important icon in the country's conversion to Christianity in the 11th century. A lovely mosaic and stained glass windows adorns the inside of the church.
The next stop was the magnificent Gullfoss water fall. The bus stopped in a very open area and it was hard to see where a waterfall would be. However what appeared just around the corner of the walking track was magnificent. The Gillfoss water fall is fed by glacial run off to a fast flowing river which drops 20 metes in a horseshoe shaped water fall. The river banks and cliffs around were covered by snow and it is quite a sight to see a water fall of this size with snow all around. There are a number of viewing areas, on the top of the fall and looking back further down stream. It is totally unexpected to see such a beautiful waterfall in this location.
Along the road there are geo-thermal areas with steam rising from the ground indicating Iceland's unstable geology.
Leaving Gullfoss we drive to the hot spring area of Geysir, a famous geothermal area where hot springs abound, the water bubbles at 100 degrees Celsius, and geysers explode in pools of mud and bubbles.
The famous "Geysir" is the one from whom all other geysers around the world are named, and is from the Icelandic verb "ad gjosa". Unfortunately Geysir has not erupted for some time so it is left to "Little Geyser" and "Strokkur Geysir" to put on a show. The little guy bubbles away without much action,however Strokkur is a regular, building up steam and pressure and erupting in a fountain every 2-3 minutes. It is quite spectacular. All around the area other fissures in the earth's surface create vent holes from which steam rises and boiling water oozes. Unlike similar geo-thermal areas there was no sulphur smell.
The drive through these areas was spectacular, the snow making it surreal.
There are 80,000 horses in Iceland. They are pure bred and no other breed is permitted so as to ensure the purity of the horse. They are a shorter and stockier horse with a longer mane - a beautiful looking animal.
From here we went to the UNESCO World Heritage site of Pingvellir. This is the location of Iceland's first parliament in the 11th century. It is here that the "collision" of two of the world's tectonic plates is visible - where the Eurasian and Atlantic plates meet. On one side is a steep ridge line, then various small valleys and a rift valley of open space before meeting the other plate which drops away - a geological marvel. The ancient Icelanders certainly knew where to hold their parliament. It was the site in1944 where independence from Denmark was declared and the present Icelandic Parliament meets in a house nearby for special meetings. It is a very important part of Iceland's history and a beautiful location. The large Pingvalla Varn - one of Iceland's largest lakes, makes the area even more impressive.
We returned to the hotel just after 5pm.
It has been a great day.
Today' photo shows the Gullfoss Waterfall.