Iceland, Day 8: The Golden Circle

Click here for a tour of Gullfoss (The Golden Waterfall)

The Golden Circle is not a circle.  It's not particularly golden either.  Instead, it is a squiggly oblong shaped route west of Reykjavik that gives the (very) busy tourist "Iceland in a (two hundred mile) Day".  Having just seen Iceland in seven days (still not enough time by any stretch), I was curious to see how well the Golden Circle represented what we had just experienced over our first week in Iceland.   

I think we saw more tourists in ten minutes along the Golden Circle than we saw the entire week prior.  And, we were greeted at multiple visitor's centers with massive opportunities to shop everything from outdoor clothing to souvenirs to socks.  And, we actually had to hunt for a place to park. Fortunately, we were charged for parking just like he rest of Iceland, so at least that part was familiar. 

None of this is to say that the Golden Circle is anything less than spectacular.   Of the many sights along the circle, Gullfoss (Golden Foss) is likely the most well known.  Though not the tallest waterfall in Iceland (total drop of about 105 feet) nor the widest, it is one of the largest (109 cubic meters pass through the fall every second) and undoubtedly one of the most awesome.  Gullfoss was almost lost early in the twentieth century when there was talk of converting it to a hydroelectric power station.  The rainbows across the falls would have been very upset by this, as would the thousands of tourists who visit the falls every year.   Fortunately, the daughter of the man who owned the land on which Gullfoss sits fought off the developers and Gullfoss remains an unspoiled delight.   

Also on the Golden Circle is the Haukadalur geothermal area where the geyser named Geysir is famous not so much for its very powerful eruptions (which happen rarely and only after major earthquakes) but for providing the name "geyser" to similar geothermal features around the world, including in America's Yellowstone National park.   While we could only watch low profile bubbles steam from the inactive Geysir, the nearby Strokkur geyser was happy to erupt every 15-20 minutes.  Not quite Old Faithful but impressive nonetheless.  

While Gullfoss and Geysir were swarming with tourists, there was also no shortage of sights that were much less populated. As the northernmost of four craters along the Tjarnarhólar fissure, Kerið crater was formed by a volcanic explosion and is about 180 feet deep and between 560 and 890 feet wide. The crater came into being between six and nine thousand years ago (a few years before I was born).  It is a clear reminder that we were walking and driving on land created by past volcanic eruptions and prone to future eruptions.   

Straying away from "the sights", we also had the opportunity to visit the small village of Solheimar which is an ecovillage internationally recognized  for its organic farming, use of geothermal energy, and other ecofriendly practices.  While the outdoor art, trolls, and quaint qualities of Solheimar were nothing short of charming, my favorite part of our visit was the opportunity to roam the greenhouses, particularly the wide variety of tomatoes.  If it were allowed, I would have sat in the greenhouse all afternoon and munched on tomatoes, but alas, I could only observe... 

Along the Golden Circle, we also landed at some "lesser" sights (that weren't lesser at all).  Among them was one of the "bluest" waterfalls in Iceland (Bruarfoss) which is fed by the upstream glacier and filled with the glacial flour that interacts with light to produce a unique and beautiful blue. The road to Bruarfoss was well outfitted with potholes, some enormous enough to swallow our tires... which while difficult to traverse, meant that we had a relatively solitary and secluded time at Bruarfoss.  

Heading back to Reykjavik via Thingvellir National Park (our first stop along our Iceland adventure), we landed at a lovely campground for our last night in Iceland.  Mosfellsbaer Campsite was more like the campgrounds we were accustomed to in the states with assigned spaces. The hot showers, clean facilities, the view of the mountains in the distance, the warm temperatures (in the fifties... Yay!), and the breadth of native and planted flowers made for an excellent end to our Iceland travels.   

The only problem with Mosfellsbaer was that it marked the end of our time in Iceland.   Sad. Sigh.