On January 8, Anthony and I went around with Golden Circle with Deanna (my friend who was visiting on her way to Sweden). Our friend Hjálmar and his friend Kjartan drove us. The view leaving Reykjavík was amazing:
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| The view just a few minutes outside of Reykjavík |
The first stop we made was at
Þingvellir National Park, which is in Bláskógabyggð in southwestern Iceland. Here we could clearly see where the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates are slowly moving apart, tearing Iceland apart by an average of one inch each year.
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| The Mid-Atlantic Ridge |
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| A river formed by the Ridge |
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| A "wishing well" formed in the river with my (hopefully) lucky coin going in! |
After leaving Þingvellir, we drove along the countryside some more. There were lots of farms scattered about. I didn't see any cows, but saw lots of horses! Eventually we asked Kjartan to pull over and we got out to pet some of the beautiful Icelandic horses.
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| A farm in southwestern Iceland |
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| Icelandic Horses |
The Icelandic horse breed has been pure for over 1000 years, and are in high demand elsewhere in the world. These horses have developed an extra gait for the rugged terrain of their home country. In order to keep the breed pure, and Icelandic horse is only ever given a one-way ticket out of Iceland. Once a horse leaves, he or she can never return, which is very difficult for people who compete with their horses. Used riding gear cannot even be brought into the country!
After driving a little further, we reached Haukadalur, which is a geothermically active valley containing two famous geysers.
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| Haukadalur |
The largest geyser, called Geysir, is the first geyser every recorded. It used to erupt regularly, about 70m in the air. However, as the earth constantly changes in Iceland, the eruptions are much less frequent. Another story we have heard is that people discovered that by putting "green soap" into Geysir, it would erupt. These man-made eruptions may have also led to the lack of eruptions today. However, nearby geyser Strokkur erupts every five minutes, sending boiling water 30m into the air.
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| Strokkur |
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| Geothermal steam at sunset |
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After leaving the geysers, the group of us continued on to see the famous Gullfoss waterfall, or "Golden Falls". In the winter a large portion of the falls was frozen, so that only about 80 m³/s of water runs over. In the summer, this amount increases up to 140 m³/s.
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| Gullfoss |
