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Published: October 16th 2009
All 10 of us went on a private tour of the Golden Circle. This tour was awesome and one of the best we have experienced. Our guide was in the Air Force in Iceland - went back to the states for a few years before Iceland allowed foreigners into the country. He got a call to be a radio/TV announcer in Iceland and has lived here ever since. He absolutely loves the country and loves being a tour guide. We got to see several things that others did not. We left the port around 10:30-11:00 and didn’t return until 7:30 p.m. Very long day, but a great tour. Some of the sites we saw included Thingvellir National Park (site of the ancient Viking and oldest existing parliament and annual reading of the laws during that period AND UNESCO World Heritage Site), The great Atlantic rift is clearly visible and is slowly pulling Iceland apart along tectonic plates. One side of the rift is Europe and the other side is North America. We saw a small waterfall and the “drowning pool” where women who committed adultery were drowned - men were hung. We drove through lots of valleys reflecting the fall colors
and saw lots of Icelandic horses, sheep and cattle. The horses are beautiful and have a very unique gait. They are only about 12-14 hands tall and are not allowed to leave Iceland unless the buyer agrees to certain conditions. They are trying to keep the breed pure. Made a stop for lunch at a small café - had lamb vegetable soup along with a ham & cheese sandwich. Then walked down to Gullfoss (golden falls) waterfall - beautiful and flowing with great force. Then we visited the Geyser hot springs areas - geothermal fields of Haukadalur. It’s amazing to see puffs of steam & water coming out of the earth at many points across the land. We saw one geyser, Strokkur, erupt several times and it was beautiful. We also drove by a large ice glacier area. Saw another waterfall. Also, stopped by a dormant volcano crater, which has water at the bottom and very high cliffs around it. Quite a few years ago they tried to have a concert in the crater - they placed a boardwalk across the water for the bands to perform on, but attendance was not good as it rained so bad. It was
very costly to set up so they never tried it again. In fact, there is a disagreement on who owns the land and what should be done with it. But since the government built a parking lot for buses, we went ahead and stopped for a look. Then we went to a geothermal power plant which is under construction. Gas and electricity for Iceland are being supplied from this plant and they are working on providing water from there also. There in the process of laying the pipes. Our guide’s monthly electric bill is only $26 for about 1000 square feet. Wouldn’t that be nice! Too cloudy to see the Northern Lights. Hope we have better luck tomorrow night. Iceland was fantastic - I'd like to go back in the summer.
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