Mental Detours: Iceland - Golden Circle

Thursday we checked out of the Reykjavik Centrum Hotel. We enjoyed our stay there and liked the location. They had a decent breakfast buffet, and were close to shopping and many restaurants. We would stay again if we ever returned to Reykjavik.

Our itinerary for Thursday was to travel Iceland's "Golden Circle". The golden circle is a 300 km popular tourist route that starts and ends in Reykjavik. You might compare it to the Ring of Kerry. There are 3 major points of interest on the golden circle: Thingvellir National Park, the geysers and geothermal area at Geysir, and the Gullfoss waterfall. We stopped at a couple of additional places as well.

Our first stop was at the continental rift valley in Thingvellir. We actually drove past the turnoff for it as we drove through the national park, but stopped at a park information center and got directions back. Iceland sits on the Mid Atlantic Ridge which is the division between the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates. The Thingvellir rift valley is the result of those plates separating from each other at the rate of 2.5 cm/year. You can overlook the rift, then walk a path through it at Thingvellir.

Iceland's position on the Mid Atlantic Ridge is also responsible for the many volcanoes and geothermal areas in the country. Iceland has harnessed this geothermal energy and uses it to provide heating and electricity. Our next stop on the golden circle was Geysir which has numerous bubbling hot springs and the popular Strokkur geyser that erupts every 5 to 10 minutes. We toured the geothermal field and watched Strokkur erupt a few times. The force of the eruption varies from dramatic to mediocre. It was cold and windy, so after we saw (and smelled) enough geothermal activity we went into the gift shop to warm up and have a bite to eat.

A short distance after Geysir is the Bru horse farm where you can feed and pet Icelandic horses. We stopped there and bought a cup of horse treats to feed the horses while we pet them.

Our next stop was Gullfoss, the most famous waterfall in Iceland. It rivals Niagara in impressiveness. The water cascades over 2 consecutive drops totaling 105 feet (Niagara is 167 feet). It was cold, and exceptionally windy in the canyon by the falls.

Finally we drove to the Kerid volcanic crater which is a huge circular crater with a small lake at the bottom. The lake is a cloudy turquoise blue and the sloped sides of the crater are tinted with colorful vegetation and soil.

From Kerid we drove to our night's accomodations at the Ion Adventure Hotel. The route there took us on a long stretch of unpaved gravel and dirt road that was bumpy and rutted. We had to drive slowly and it took a long time to reach the hotel. The Ion hotel was nice. Its remote location was designed to enhance viewing the aurora borealis in the winter, but in the summer it provides a romantic sense of privacy and seclusion. On arrival we were offered complimentary sparkling wine during check in. Our room was small but had a large comfortable bed. There was an outdoor thermally heated spa pool that we didn't try. We had dinner in the hotel restaurant, then ended the night with drinks in the Northern Lights Bar which has high floor to ceiling windows on three sides to facilitate watching the northern lights in the winter. Janet enjoyed some more sparkling wine, while I sipped a unique Icelandic spirit called Brennivin and nicknamed the "Black Death". It tasted better than it sounds.