Today we hit the road on our trip around Iceland. A fairly short distance by our standards but lots to see ! And so little time 😂
It had rained fairly consistently overnight and this continued as we set off for our first stop at Pingvellir National Park. Rather than the direct route, we took the “Scenic & Rugged” route, as we do. Not 250 metres outside town, we hit a corrugated dirt road so Adrienne was wondering if she had made a horrible mistake taking this option ! However we were soon back on “solid” road and the grey skies, low cloud and craggy mountain range made for an eerie and spectacular landscape. We passed the Pingvallavatn Lake – and the first of the bus tours ! – before reaching the park.
Pingvellir (pronounced THING-VETT-leer – Thingy for short 😂) is basically the point where the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates separate. It is also very historic as the “Assembly Plains” of the first “government” of Iceland – where the chieftains from the different parts of Iceland gathered annually to deal with business. So much to see here ! We wandered around – there were quite a lot of people so I can imagine it would be packed in the “peak” tourist times ! – taking in the gorge, the Law Rock (where the government meetings were held) and the Oxararfoss waterfall. The weather was still very overcast but the rain held off whilst we walked around with only a few spots again as we headed back to the car.
Driving on, our next destination was Geysir. Again, parking was at a premium but we managed to find a spot and as we were all a bit peckish we headed first for the restaurant for a bit of lunch before taking in the geysir. The guidebooks indicate it is certainly not up to Old Faithful in Yellowstone NP standard but it puts on a good show ! And certainly not the “safety standards” of other places – despite the signs indicating not to put your hands in the hot water, there were plenty of takers – kids and adults ! The “barrier” to the edge of the geysir is also quite close with many getting drenched after the “eruption” if the wind blew in the wrong direction – Adrienne can vouch for that ! 😂 (sorry – I’m not allowed to post a photo 😬) The geysir goes off roughly every 10 minutes so you get plenty of regular “ooh’s and aah’s” whilst you have a look around the whole area. AND we where very encouraged by the clearer weather !
Then it was on to the thundering waterfall called Gulfoss. This is really something ! Quite wide, it falls in 2 stages then the gorge below carries the water off almost at a 45 degree angle – I’ll just let the pictures tell the story (and look at the sun peeking through !)
We then had quite a drive for the rest of the day – and the weather fluctuated from pouring rain to bright sunshine ! Oh – except I nearly forgot Seljalandfoss – what more can I say, you’ve already seen the trailer (click here if not) but here are some stills from the movie –
And so after stocking up on some bits and pieces for an easy dinner, when we arrived at our destination in Asofsskali we had a picture perfect location to end what had been a fabulous day ! So much to see and do with unbelievable weather for most of it – so lucky !
The climate must be good for the bees !
Mind you – this place sits almost next door to Eyjafjallajökull, the volcano which erupted in 2010 and their guest book shows pictures of the place being covered in smoke and ash thick on the ground – don’t know that I’ll be taking up any permanent move to these parts !
Can tomorrow get much better ? 😜
Today’s Tour Trivia – Icelanders don’t have a traditional family name. Surnames comprise the father’s first name and “son” or “dottir”. The Icelandic Naming Committee maintains the list of officially approved Icelandic given names, as well as monitoring the introduction of new names into the language. Names that are not on the already approved list must be submitted to the committee for approval, at the cost of $300.