ICELAND'S GOLDEN CIRCLE

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Day 3: REIKIAVIK - GOLDEN CIRCLE: PINGVELLIR PARK - GEYSIR - GULLFOSS WATERFALL - KERIÐ CRÁTER CRATER - SELFOSS

After spending the night waking up every 3 hours for Roger to take his pills and seeing that for many hours now it does not hurt, we decided to continue with the planning of the trip we had prepared and decided that it is time to go to Iceland's Golden Circle.
Sun rays enter from the window of Guesthouse Aurora from 5 in the morning and we see that the day is very clear, so we go to our shared bathroom to wash ourselves happier than anyone else.
We went down to breakfast and after a call home and loading our luggage in the rental car in Iceland, we put in our improvised GPS the address of the Thingvellir or Pingvellir Park as the first point of our route today that will take us to the incredible Circle of Gold or Golden Circle of Iceland.
If you do not have a car to visit this area, being close to Reykjavik, a good option is to book this bus tour that passes through the main points of the Golden Circle in one day.

It took just over 45 minutes to reach Pingvellir Park from Reykjavik, going through landscapes that seem taken from an incredibly perfect movie.
It truly is a pleasure to drive around Iceland surrounded by these landscapes.
The maximum speed is 90km and in a city of 30km and it is something that must always be respected since we have read that it is not uncommon to meet a fine.
Sometimes it is difficult to maintain those 90km if we think that you are driving hours on practically straight roads and without crossing a car.
The first stop by We make the Golden Circle of Iceland at Pingvallavatn Lake, the largest glacier in Iceland, which has been formed in the Thingvellir valley 10 km from Pingvellir, where the Hakio viewpoint is and people have left some stone mounds, which at least are very curious and highly scenic.

Pingvallavatn Lake

We are facing incredible landscapes that from this moment make us intuit everything that this trip to Iceland will give us. Of course we apologize for the times we will use the words wonderful, incredible, great ... but there are no more words to describe this country.

Stop with our rental car on Lake Pingvallavatn

After a few more minutes by car, we arrive at the visitor center of the Pingvellir National Park where we leave the car in the parking lot for free and after a brief visit inside we begin to follow the marked path to the first viewpoint where the fault is perfectly visible.

Pingvellir Visitor Center

Access walkways to Pingvelir Park. Iceland Golden Circle

From here we follow the marked path, although we do it through the lower part that leads to the area of the Oxara River, where we find some houses that today is the prime minister's summer residence.

Pingvellir National Park

We continue walking through it, marveling at the landscape that we see every step we take and from the bottom we head towards the promontory with the flag of Iceland, where the Vikings established in 930 the first democratic parliament in the world, called Alping.

Iceland flag at landscape background

As in many sagas scenarios, there are not many Viking remains that can be seen, but the park has an exceptional natural location in a valley full of fissures, caused by the separation of North American and European tectonic plates.

Among the fissures of Pingvellir

The landscapes that we are having the luck of being able to see around us are incredible and we are very clear that by themselves, they justify any trip to Iceland. If we already fell in love yesterday in Reykjavik, today we just fell in love with Iceland at first sight.
From this area of Pingvellir Park in the Golden Circle of Iceland, we continue the path to the opposite side of the visitor center to arrive after 10 minutes or so walking parallel to a creek to the Oxagarfoss waterfall, located in the middle of a spectacular place.

Road to the Oxagarfoss waterfall

Oxagarfoss waterfall

With this last stop at the waterfall we end the visit to the first stop we have made in the Golden Circle route of Iceland.
To visit the Pingvellir National Park, count about an hour and a half to visit, to be able to enjoy the tranquility of the area and especially the landscapes that surround it.

More practical information to prepare your trip to Iceland
- 10 essential tips for traveling to Iceland
- 50 things to see and do in Iceland
- 10 essential places to see in Reykjavik
- The 5 best excursions from Reykjavik

We return to Pingvellir Visitor Center parking shortly before 11 in the morning where we took the opportunity to get a couple of coffees from the machine for 200 ISK each and also to go to the bathroom for another 200 ISK and as a point to this, say that we pay both things by credit card! ! Yes, yes, as you are reading, in the bathroom entrances there are some machines where you put the credit card and after putting your pin, the doors open. A bathroom with a card, this is the latest technology.
And when you enter you find the cleanest bathrooms with the best views in the world. An exceptional enclave that is well worth the 200 ISK.

Pingvellir National Park Baths

We can say that we have not paid admission to the National Park of Pingvellir, but going to the bathroom has been a good peak 😉 although we have spectacular views of the surroundings.
After this kit-kat, we set off to go to the next point of our route through the Golden Circle of Iceland: Geysir

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This geyser is the one that gives name to the rest of the phenomena and that inevitably reminds us of our passage through Yellowstone some years ago.
The initial idea was to make a stop in Fontana, some hot springs between Pingvellir and Geysir, but we fear that time will fall on us and not time to see everything, so we decided to skip this stop, to be able to access for free and thus ensure the so much.
Of course, it is very clear that we will return and we will not skip this stop. And this sure will be sooner than we imagine.
We arrived at 11.30 to Geysir from the Pingvellir National Park, after about 40 minutes of journey along the Pingvallavatn lake, where we stopped a few hours ago this morning.
First of all we enter the Geysir Visitor Center, where by the way they have a giant souvenir shop, a restaurant and a cafeteria, where you can do some shopping and eat in the middle of the route through the Golden Circle of Iceland.
From here we leave and just across the road we find the first vapors of the burning water that we have around.

Entering the Geysir area

Geysir is one of the most tourist attractions in Iceland. It is the jet of hot water that gave name to all the geysers of the world.
In the past the water of the great Geysir, reached a height of 80 meters, but unfortunately it got stuck in the 50s, when tourists threw rocks trying to get it going.

Geyser in the Golden Circle of Iceland

The 2000 earthquakes seem to have undid the traffic jam a little, although the eruptions are still very rare.

The impressive Geysir, almost asleep today

Luckily for visitors, next to Geysir is the Strokkur geyser, the most reliable in the world, in which we have to wait between 5 or 10 minutes to see how the shot water comes out at a height of between 15 to 30 meters.

Strokkur sequence in action

We are having a good time in this area touring the geysers and the environment that, although very crowded with people, is very pleasant and not at all overwhelming.

Strokkur dropping water

After 1 noon we go to the cafeteria of Geysir Visitor Center, the idea was to eat some of what we brought if we had stopped at a Bonus supermarket, but this morning we have forgotten to leave Reykjavik, so we don't have bread, soda, or water, so we prefer to eat something in conditions .
We ordered some chicken wings with chips and water, a fish and chips with coke and a strawberry skyr, the famous Icelandic yoghurt that looks like a Greek yoghurt, somewhat thicker, for 3760 ISK

Eating in the cafeteria of the Geysir Visitor Center

After this first experience eating in a bar / restaurant outside the capital, we have to say that it is not as expensive as we thought.
If we compare, for example, a half-liter bottle of pepsi has cost us 350 ISK, the same as at the Barcelona airport, which charges us for a can.
Iceland is not a cheap country, but it is not a place to tear your clothes for not being able to pay for food.
We take advantage of this table with a good coffee, taking advantage to review today's planning, with the things we have left to do and write the postcards that we will send to Spain as soon as we find a mailbox.
We get back on the road around 2 in the afternoon, with today's new destination of the Golden Circle route: the Gullfoss Waterfall.
Geysir is 10 kilometers from Gulfoss where it took us no more than 20 minutes to arrive and park the car in the parking lot of the Visitor Center, re-hang our backpack and camera and get underway to discover another of the incredible wonders of Iceland's Golden Circle.

Gullfoss access road

Gullfoss is the most famous waterfall in Iceland. It is a spectacular waterfall of a height of 32 meters that falls vertically over a narrow ravine.
On sunny days, like today, a gleaming rainbow appears.

In front of Gullfoss

These falls were about to disappear in the 1920s when a team of foreign investors wanted to build a dam on the Hvitá river for a hydroelectric project.
The owner of the land, Tómasson, refused to sell them, but the constructions sneaked in and obtained permission directly from the government. Then the daughter of Tómasson, walked barefoot to Reykjavík to protest, threatening to throw himself into the waterfall if the project of the plant prospered.
Fortunately, investors failed to pay the lease on time and the permit was canceled.
In 1975 they were ceded to the nation and since then they are a nature reserve.

Gullfoss in the Golden Circle of Iceland

Without a doubt, Gullfoss has been the icing on today's cake in the Golden Circle and the best we've seen so far referring to waterfalls on all our trips.
As we go down, Gullfoss is even more incredible and of course we are getting wetter since at this moment the wind direction is coming towards us.

Gullfoss from another perspective

Definitely Gullfoss is an essential visit in the Golden Circle and in Iceland.
We had a good time in the area, making hundreds of photos from all angles and at 15.30 in the afternoon we decided to return to the car and go to the Kerið crater, the last stop today, for which we have to return along the road that passes through Geysir and Fontana.
When you are in the Gullfoss car park, look at the opposite side of the waterfall to see the Langjökull glacier. Awesome!!

Langjökull Glacier on the other side of Gullfoss

We are late in arriving at Kerið crater from Gullfoss about 50 minutes and about 16.20 in the afternoon we are already in the parking lot leaving the car.
We pay 2 euros for the entrance and thus we access one of the most beautiful places we have ever seen.
It is one of those places that are not included in the guides and yet they are very special.

Kerið crater

Kerið is a 6500-year-old explosion crater It contains a mysterious looking green lake.
On one occasion Björk made a concert on a raft in the middle of the lake.

Enjoying the Kerið Crater

Here we have a good time, surrounding it and taking pictures and in the end we choose not to go down to the lake, although we see that there are some people who do it.
It's a little after 17.30 in the afternoon, so we make our way to Selfoss, where we will sleep and where we have to stop to buy supplies for these days.
We stop at a Bonus supermarket, that of the little pig, for the first time on this trip and we have to say that also, like the food, we found it much cheaper than we expected. There are even products that are the same or cheaper than in Spain, so guys don't be scared of prices, at least in this supermarket.
It is true that there are more expensive products, such as meat or sausage, but nothing that cannot be bought. For example 400 ISK a salami blister.
We have spent 5000 ISK and have lunch and dinner for several days. If you divide this between two, we believe that it is more than affordable to eat super in a country like Iceland.

Bonus supermarket ticket

After loading the car we go to Julia's Guesthouse, which will be our accommodation for the next 2 days, located just outside Selfoss. In the end between one thing and another, it is after 7 pm when we are checking in at one of the most pleasant guesthouses we have ever been.
We rest for a while and at 20.30 we go to a restaurant that we have seen recommended on Tripadvisor, but it is very crowded and the truth is that we do not feel like waiting long, so we ended up at a Domino's, where we ordered a medium and a small pizza for 3498 ISK . By the way, the free water tells us that it is free, so a few more crowns in your pocket.

Our dinner at Domino's in Sellfoss

It's almost 10 at night when we return to our guesthouse located on the outskirts of Selfoss to rest. Tomorrow we have a full day with a 12-hour tour of Landmannalaugar, they say, one of the most recommended places if you visit Iceland.