The Two Fat Bearz: Iceland - Golden Circle

Iceland - Golden Circle

Thursday 24/05/2007

Windy, Sunny, very light shower - 2 oC

Today we joined one of the most popular tour to go to the Golden Circle with Reykjavik Excursions (ISK 7000) which was booked via the hotel yesterday.

We had breakfast at 07:50. The restaurant was so busy with lots of people who were here for conferences. Continental breakfast was in buffet style and we shared a table with other hotel guests. We stood at the hotel entrance at 08:30 to wait for the Reykjavik Excursions bus to pick us up. The bus arrived at 08:50 with the same driver who picked us up from airport yesterday. Then he went to other hotels to pick up more passengers. We arrived at the main BSI bus terminal and Fat Bear went into the ticket office to pay for our tour.

Our Tour Bus

Our tour started at 09:25 and our tour guide was Addie and the same driver. Every Thursday and Saturday, this tour is English and French guidance. On the way, we drove pass the Kringlan shopping centre and was told that we could be dropped off there after the tour. Just outside of the city, we saw the blue mountains in a distance on our right with snow on top of them.

First stop was Hveragerdi Greenhouse Village which was about 40 minutes from the city. Addie explained that almost all fruit and vegetable are grown in greenhouse in Iceland. The greenhouses are heated by steam come from ground. But most food are still imported. Addie said we could find some bananas trees in the souvenir shop. We stopped there for 15 minutes.

The souvenir shop

Steam!

Look! Bananas!

Next, we stopped at Kerid volcanic crater for 10 minutes. We got off the bus and took some photos. It was very windy. We continue our journey to Gullfoss Waterfall. On the way, we saw some houses on both side of the road. Addie told us that those are summer houses belong to government for rent out to the local in the summer. We were told that Iceland people love BBQ and walk around the countryside if the weather was nice. To get to Gullfoss Waterfall, we drove pass Geysir. We drove pass some horses that were right next to the road. Driver slow right down because he did not want to scared them and eventually he stopped. Addie said it was a perfect moment to take some photos of Iceland horses.

Kerid volcanic crater

Information Board at Kerid volcanic crater

Icelandic Horses

At Gullfoss Waterfall, we got off the bus at the upper carpark. We had a choice to either walk down or to take the bus to the lower carpark. Addie told us not to get to close to the edge of the path as no one would be able to save us if we fell. We walked along the path carefully and got to the top of the waterfall. We got wet and water was dripping down our face. The view was wonderful and of course we took hundreds of photos again. We stopped for about 30 minutes. We went back to Geysir on the same road. Addie gave us a booklet of vouchers for Geysir. The vouchers gave us discount on restaurant, souvenir shop and unlimited free entry to the exhibition.

Gullfoss Waterfall

Arrived at Geysir at 12:20, we went to the cafe for some lunch first. The weather was cold and windy, so we had hot paninis and soup. To be honest, the food was bad and it cost ISK 2130. After lunch, we went across the road to get to the geysers which means the spouting hot springs in English. The wind was so strong and blow in different directs. It could really push, stop and made you walk sideways. We reached the most active geyser first, named Strokkur. We only waited for about 3-5 minutes and witnessed the first eruption. It was very powerful and 2 more eruptions straight after that. We walked further up the hill to see 3 more hot springs, called Blesi. They were not active therefore they did not erupt. The water in the hot spring reached boiling point so we were told not to touch the watch. Only the water in the blue one is right temperature to be touched as it was like a pond next to a hot spring and the mineral particles reflects the blue colour. The main geyser, called Geysir, used to be the main and the most active but in recent year, it became 'lazy'. We left Geysir at 14:00. To go to the next destination, we went via some mountain road. Then suddenly Addie pointed to the right and told us that was part of the spiting geological plate of America and Europe.

Blesi - The blue one on the left and the boiling hot one on the right.

Blesi - The blue one! We could touch.

Geysir - The 'lazy' one. Didn't do anything, just steam

Strokkur - Waited and Waited

Strokkur - It's coming!

Strokkur - WOW!

Þingvellir (Thingvellir) was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2004. Þingvellir lies within a belt of volcanic activity and fissures which passes across Iceland, a part of the mide-Atlantic Ridge, the junction of the American and Eurasian tectonic plates. The geological plates are tearing slowly apart at a rate of about 3mm annually. At Þingvellir National Park, we were also given a choice to walk across to the other side or to take the bus. Almost all of us chose to walk. We took lots of photos and enjoyed the excellent scenery.

Þingvellir

Addie and I at Þingvellir

Þingvellir

Þingvallavatn (Þingvellir Lake) behind me

When we were on our way back to Reykjavik, we were asked where we would like to be dropped off. We chose the Kringlan Shopping Centre. We were dropped off at a near by bus stop near Kringlan. We walked around the shopping centre and bought some local lamb cold cut to try and some dried fish. Then we went back to the bus stop and took a bus to go to city centre for dinner. We checked out the dining out guide which we got at our hotel reception.

We went to Lækjarbrekka for dinner. This restaurant served Icelandic cuisine. We both had set menu, I had lobster feast (ISK 5980) and Fat Bear had fish feast (ISK 4640). Lobster feast included lobster soup tasted with crème and cognac for starter, grilled lobster in garlic-butter, tempura fried lobster and lobster in puff pastry for main course, and for dessert was basket Lækjarbrekka with a selection of homemade ice cream and sorbet with fresh fruit salad. And fish feast included Chef's selection of 4 seafood for starter, Cod fish with grilled lobster in garlic-butter for main course and for dessert was Icelandic Skyr with blueberry sorbet. All lobster were Icelandic lobster which were much smaller. The food was good but not excellent.

Bread, butter, olive and sundried tomato mix

Grilled lobster in garlic-butter, Tempura fried lobster and lobster in puff pastry

Cod fish and Grilled lobster in garlic-butter

After dinner, we walked 40 minutes along the seaside to go back to our hotel. The view was very nice but it was windy and cold. Fat Bear was not a happy bear because I chose to walk along the seaside. He was not complaining about the walking but I walked so slow and it was too windy. So funny.