Post # 4: The Golden Circle - Reykjavik September 10, 2015

We chose and booked this tour before we left Windsor because it seemed to offer the most variety in the shortest period of time. We had an 8:30 pick up at the hotel so it gave us plenty of time to enjoy a nice breakfast European style.

The mini bus took us to a central point where we boarded at 50 passenger bus for the trip. It was certainly an eye opener with the number of buses going for the day. There are number of tour companies in the area and we did not expect to see so many people all day this time of year. Iceland certainly has established a well run tourist industry. There are many things that you can do from glaciers, volcanoes, the ocean, etc.

The Bees

The weather when we started out was a very windy 50 degrees. After that the day got worse with fog and rain for most of the morning. Our first stop was a greenhouse operating heated by geothermal water. It grew tomatoes and cucumbers and was very small in comparison to what you see in Essex County. However it was very similar to what we saw in June when we toured near Leamington. The only new thing that we found out is the use of bees indoors to pollinate the plants. A new queen bee is needed once a week. They import them from the Netherlands. It did not rain in the greenhouse!

The Geezer

Then It Rained!

Our second stop was at Geysir. Apparently this was the first place that the term geysir (Geeser as they say) was used. Some European visitors used the term long ago. In any case apparently the 'Old Faithful' of the basin changed during an earthquake a few years ago and no longer explodes. There is one geyser that does erupt every few minutes. However it is one short explosion and done. However it does explode 5-6 times per hour. There were a few other geysers in the area but none were working today! We did not find any mud pots either.

Apparently there are only 5 or 6 places in he world where you can find a field like this. We have been to 3. Of the 3, Yellowstone is the best for seeing them, followed by New Zealand. However there was a nice hill to climb and of course we needed to do that. It was a muddy climb but offered nice vistas of the countryside. It is quite green in this interior area away from the coast. As we drove along the coast after leaving Reykjavik this morning the lava fields were covered by a green moss and nothing else. As we made our way back to the store/cafe the rain started but we managed to stay dry.

North American Plate

After a 20 minute drive we were at the Gullfoss (Golden) waterfall.

Only Wind Now!

It is a glacier fed waterfall over a basaltic lava plain. It looks very much like you see in Yellowstone and why not. There is a 3 step staircase into a deep crevice. In all it is over 100 feet high. This was to be the highlight of the trip. We made our way to the upper lookout and as we headed back it started to rain. Rain is not the right word. Someone was throwing pails of water at us. In addition the wind was blowing us off the trail. It felt like it was sleeting the rain was hitting so hard. You get the idea. We were and remained soaked for the next 3 hours of the tour. Unfortunately we could not even attempt to go to the lower falls. WET WET WET!

Birthday Soup

After drying out, we headed to the main street for dinner. Since it is Judy's birthday today she had the pick of the restaurants. We headed for the “Black Coffee”. It was a very small restaurant that we had seen advertised in a brochure. The menu tonight consisted of one thing only – soup in a bread bowl. It was superb! We waited for a table outside as they would not let anyone wait inside. We were seated in about 10 minutes. 2 bread bowl and a “Gull” local beer.  After the rain it was the perfect meal.

We finalized packing and hit the sack as we were in for a 3:45 wake up call. Copenhagen and the Regal Princess are next.