A first trip to Iceland requires a Golden Circle Tour, everybody does it! We boarded a Reykjavik Excursions bus at 8:30am and headed out to visit the most famous tourist route in the country.
First stop,
Friðheimar a 5,000 square meter greenhouse specializing in growing tomatoes (300 tons/year) year round. Iceland is incredibly self-sufficient, using geothermal hot water for heat, cold water for irrigation and hydro-electric and geothermal power for grow lights. Volcanic pumice (something they have in abundance) is used instead of soil for growing. It's easier to control moisture and fertilization and can be used continuously for years. The only thing imported, from Holland, is bugs to eat any pests and bees to pollinate the tomato plants. Due to Iceland's isolation and northern latitude (read cold weather) there are few pests, diseases and weeds to affect their crops. Sounds like utopia for a farmer.
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| the greenhouse sold tomato soup and bloody mary's as well as packaged tomato products to the tour group |
Second stop, the Haukadalur geothermal area famous for its many large and small geothermal pools. The main attraction is Strokkur, a fountain geyser erupting every 4-8 minutes between 15-40m high.
The geyser first appeared in 1789 after an earthquake unblocked the natural underground conduit, another earthquake in early 20th century blocked it again. Not sure how this is done but the natural conduit was cleaned out in 1963 allowing it to erupt again. Strokkur is not to be confused with Geysir (original name!) close by that does not erupt on schedule.
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| Strokkur |
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| this eruption was quite big and the wind was blowing in our direction... the kids got a bit wet |
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| again, heavy snow... replaced by blue sky 30 minutes later! |
The next stop is the stunning, Gullfoss, meaning golden waterfall in the Hvítá river canyon. One story says the name originated because of the golden
color of the falls in the evening another story says the name comes from the rainbow that often
appears above the waterfall spray when it's sunny. The area was established as a nature reserve in 1979.
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| top of the falls |
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| looking down the gorge |
Final stop of the day, Þingvellir National Park, founded in 1930 to commemorate the 1,000th anniversary of the founding of Iceland's parliament here in 930. This site is important to Icelanders as parliament established a common cultural heritage and national identity that still runs strong today. This is also a location where the continental drift between the North American and Eurasian plates are visible, the North American plate is higher than the Eurasian plate.
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| blue sky from one minute.... |
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| to snow the next |
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| North American plate on the right |
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| old lava flow |
All day long the scenery en route is stunning. After a full day of touring the bus driver makes multiple stops to drop off visitors at various hotels on the route back to Reykjavik.
Another amazing day in Iceland!
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