Today we were on an 8 hour tour of what is called the "Golden Circle", the most popular tourist route in the country.
Our first stop was at Thingvellir National Park, the only UNESCO World Heritage site on the Icelandic mainland, and one of the three stops on the Golden Circle sightseeing route.
Two of the greatest attractions in the park are the exposed North American and Eurasian tectonic plates; it is one of the only regions in the world where you can see geology such as this on land.
This is the view towards the Eurasian tectonic plate from standing on the edge of the American plate.
It is also here that the world’s first democratically elected parliament (that remains functioning) was formed in 930 AD.
This is a glimpse of some of the amazing scenery. The picture above was taken from the top of the path in the picture below.
Our second stop was at the Gullfoss (‘Golden Falls’) waterfalls. The water in Hvítá river travels from the glacier Langjökull, before cascading 32 meters (105 feet) down Gullfoss’ two stages. The first, shorter cascade is 11 meters tall (36 feet), while the second drop is 21 meters (69 feet). The canyon walls on both sides of the waterfall reach heights of up to 70 meters (230 feet). In the summer, approximately 140 cubic meters (5000 cubic feet) of water surges down the waterfall every second. This is the first cascade as seen from the top of the canyon.
We did not have time to climb down to see the second cascade (and most of us preferred not to get drenched by the spray) so this is a picture from the internet of what we missed.
According to Wikipedia: Sigríður Tómasdóttir (1871–1957) was an Icelandic environmentalist whose activism helped preserve Gullfoss waterfalls, protecting it from industrialization. She is widely seen as Iceland's first environmentalist and is memorialized on a sculpture near Gullfoss.
The third stop was at Geysir, the famous hot spring in the geothermal area of Haukadalur Valley. Geysir is most well-known for having lent its name to geysers all around the world.
This geyser is named Strokkur.
Here is the information board at the site. The English translations are below the Icelandic. Click on the picture to see a larger version.
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