One of the most popular tours in Iceland is the Golden Circle, commonly done from Reykjavik. It goes to 3 of the major sites in the area.
Unfortunately it was drizzling with thick low cloud when we started and stayed like that all day, with intermittent rain showers. The countryside outside Reykjavik has small trees/shrubs and moss covered soil and rocks. There are no trees on Iceland. The country used to have about 30% of forest cover, mostly birch trees, but early settlers, the Vikings, cut down every tree. They used them for buildings, and to make pastures for cattle and crops and to make charcoal.
First stop was Pingvellir National Park, a World Heritage site. It is important geologically and historically. It is by Iceland’s largest lake, Pingvallavatn but it was too misty to really see as we drove past. The park is a shrine for Icelanders as the Law Council made all laws here 930-1262 from Law Rock.
I was more interested in the geology. A 7 km rift valley separates 2 tectonic plates, the North American and the European. Pingvellir and the Great Rift Valley of eastern Africa are the only sites on Earth where the effects of two major plates drifting apart can be seen. The valley walls are moving apart 7 mm a year. Almannagja gorge defines the eastern edge of the N. American plate.
A path leads through the valley, there are views over small lakes and the path goes down to a waterfall.
The lakes -
Ropy or Pahoehoe lava. "Pahoehoe" is a Hawaiian word used to describe a lava flow with a smooth, ropy surface. Pahoehoe flows advance slowly, with small amounts of lava squeezing out of a cooler crust. It can be seen at Pingvellir mid Atlantic ridge rift valley and also the historic assembly site of Althing or Law Rock.
A family of geese
The waterfall, Oxarafoss. It's not certain if the water has been diverted over the years for the old Parliament meetings. The pool at the bottom of the cascades was apparently used to drown women accused of various crimes, especially adultery.
From Pingvellir we made our way to Gullfoss, stopping on route to see some Icelandic horses. They are classified as horses although they look more like ponies. They are the only breed of horse allowed in Iceland. Needless to say they are very hardy animals.
Gullfoss or Golden Falls is a spectacular waterfall in the Hvítá river canyon. The water comes from a glacier. The water falls in 2 cascades, the first is 11 m and the second 21 m. The canyon walls are up to 70 m high. Typical moss covered ground as you approach the falls from the car park -
I was lucky when I walked to the upper fall as the wind was blowing the spray away from the path so I could stand and take photos and videos.
Our third and last stop was at Geysir. Geysir is a geothermal area. It is an area of boiling mud pits and erupting geysers.
The main geyser, Strokkur, spouts water 30 m into the air every few minutes. So you don't have to wait long to see it. It goes off with quite a loud bang.
The area was very wet underfoot but the flowers were pretty.
Lupins are an invasive species in Iceland but they do help topsoil loss and erosion. They are beautiful in bloom in June.
Some of the pools and other areas are also rather pretty
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