On Day 2 of our roadtrip in Iceland, we traced the popular Golden Circle route. We started off with Þingvellir National Park, listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site due to its historical and geological significance. The park sits on the rift valley which divides the North American and Eurasian continental plates. It is also where Iceland’s Parliament was founded. Afterwards, we were amazed by the geysers in Geysir, spewting out hot water and mesmerizing smoke from the ground. Then, we watched the two-tiered “golden” waterfalls, Gullfoss, and the wide and serene Faxi falls / Faxafalls. We also checked out the 3000-year old Kerid Crater, and the most voluminous waterfall in Iceland, the Urriðafoss.

Here’s our route for the entire roadtrip last April:

We started the day with a nice breakfast in Midgardur by Center Hotels. We had a fine night, and left the hotel this review: “Nice hotel, room spacious enough, very comfy bed, good breakfast. Walking distance to everything. Public parking around the area free on weekends. Noise proofing could be better.“

Before we knew it, we were on the road on the way to the first stop in the popular Golden Circle route. We, however, did not complete the circle back to Reykjavik. Instead, we stayed in a hotel in Hella.

The Icelandic roads may be narrow and two-lane, but there was no traffic jams whatsoever!

• Þingvellir National Park

As mentioned, this park is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It’s Iceland’s first National Park, opened in 1928. Literally translated as “Assembly Plains”, this was where politicians used to convene. Another interesting fact about the park is that it is situated on the rift valley where two continental plates, the North American and Eurasian, meet. It gives the place a ragged look and an inconsistent terrain. New fissures open up, for example.

The park is about 40 minutes away from Reykjavik (yep, I talk time for distance). The visitor center was still closed at 8am, no entrance fee, but yes to parking fee. We walked the path along the high craggy wall of basalt rocks, following a group of tourists which descended from a tourist bus. You can never be “early” in Iceland, I guess.

Game of Thrones also filmed some scenes in the park. I feel excited to be in filming locations, but my husband doesn’t. 😀

• Geysir Geothermal Area

Our next stop was the Geysir Geothermal Area, which was about 45 minutes away from Þingvellir. As the name suggests, it has geysers in the area. The most popular one at present is the Strokkur (“the churn”), which spewts jets of hot water and steam as high as 30 meters every 10 minutes. The smoky place was mesmerizing.. it gave vibes of witches and mystery and .. hell? And oh, the smell of sulfur!

We did catch the water jet several times, it was amazing! But kind of hard to get a footage.

• Gullfoss

Just 10 minutes from the Geysir was the Gullfoss, or “golden waterfall”. It wasn’t golden in April, though. It was glowing.. aquamarine. The fall is two-tiered, 11 and 21 meters in height, respectively. The powerful sound of gushing water was music to the ears! It was very windy up there, and one can go down to watch the waterfall closer. Just don’t get blown over!

I think Scandinavia has the same word for waterfall, “foss”, so I’m not going to be redundant and say Gullfoss waterfall. hehe 🙂

• Faxafoss

We started driving southward around noontime. Our next stop was another waterfall, the Faxi or Faxafoss. It’s wide and calm, like a flowing skirt, at 80 meters wide and 7 meters high. The place was beautiful, but it’s private, and therefore, we had to pay an entrance fee.

• Kerið Crater Lake

Around 30 minutes from Faxafoss is the Kerið Crater Lake. There was also an entrance fee for this one. From the parking lot, it was already noticeable that the ground was covered in bright red soil or pebbels. Super cool! The crater is estimated to be about 3000 years old, and is 55 m deep. Visitors can walk around the crater, or even go down through a wooden staircase.

• Urriðafoss

Moving on, we drove past Selfoss town, and on to our final destination for the day – the most voluminous waterfall in Iceland, the Urriðafoss. It is located on the longest river in the country at 230 kms, the Þjórsá. There were still huge ice sheets in the river in April. We enjoyed the short walk in the area.

From Urriðafoss, it’s around 18 minutes to the hotel where we spent the night, Hotel Kanslarinn Hella. We had dinner in its connecting restaurant. I had delicious fish, while Carl tried their hamburger. We had a little chat with Spanish tourists. It’s cool how they travel in groups.

I didn’t just travel to Iceland for pleasure (well, mostly pleasure). I also brought my master’s thesis with me. It was part of gaining inspiration and making progress, I guess. Now that I’m done with master’s, it’s ticklish to look back.

So, this is Day 2 in Iceland. 🙂 #spreadloveandpositivevibes

ALL PHOTOS AND VIDEOS ON THIS BLOG ENTRY ARE MINE. 🙂 Cheers!