Today we woke up around 7:30. I felt a lot better finally getting some rest. We ate breakfast in the hostel downstairs. I ended up getting a free breakfast because jake paid for 2 tickets but the guy accidentally gave him 3. Breakfast was a small buffet, I had toast and cereals and also made a to-go sandwhich to eat for lunch later.
After eating we checked out of the hostel and got on the road to begin our tour of the golden circle. The golden circle is basically a popular tourist loop that goes to a couple main sites.
The 1st stop we made was Þingvellir national park (Þ is pronounced like 'th'). The park is massive but we stopped right by the continental divide which is where two tectonic plates collide, it's also where Icelands original parliament was founded.
The 2nd stop on the Golden circle loop was geothermally active valley of Haukadalur, which contains the geysers Geysir and Strokkur. Strokkur erupts approximately every 5-10 minutes shooting water 60-100 feet high! The other geyser Geysir (creative name) has been dormant for a long time. We were also able to climb a nearby hill to get some pretty cool views of Strokkur erupting.
Unfortunately I don't have any of the cool photos/videos on my phone so you'll have to check Facebook.
Our 3rd stop was Gulfoss waterfall. A short hike from the road, Gulfoss waterfall has an enormous amount of power with picturesque views of the Icelandic countryside.
The picture really doesn't do it justice.
Our 4th and final stop was Kerið crater. This is a pretty large crater with a small lake at the bottom. The crater was formed from the remnants a volcano and had really cool views.
After the crater we drove about an hour to our airbnb in Hvolsvöllur. Where were staying is actually pretty cool it's on a farm with a bunch of horses. The owner also has a pretty cool dog he uses to round up all the horses.
For dinner we drove to the nearby town of Hella and ate at a restaurant on a river called Arhus. I had the fish and chips which was alright. Again the food was pretty expensive by U.S. Standards considering what it was. After dinner we stopped at the nearby store and picked up some breakfast and lunch food for tomorrow.
All in all we drove almost 3 hours today but had incredible views of the country the whole way. Another weird thing about Iceland (at least in the summer) is the weather. The weather here comes and goes extremely fast. It must've changed between rainy and sunny at least 4 times.
I'm really excited for tomorrow, we have a snowmobiling glacier trip planned!
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