Reykjavik Overnight
We arrived to a beautiful day in Reykjavik. Our main activity was a “Best of the Golden Circle” tour, which began right after lunch and lasted until nearly 9 pm. Our tour started with a visit to Þingvellir (Thingvellir) the original seat of government for the island, which first convened in 930 AD. Besides being an important symbolic location it is an incredible geologic spot. Here North America ends and Europe begins (or vise versa) and the plates are drifting apart stretching the land until it splits in long gashes.
in some places the rifts in the earth fill with lake water
We walked through the main ravine where thousands of years ago the law meted out punishments in the form of executions (beheadings for men and drownings for women) and excommunications, which is essentially a slow form of execution. It does seem like a good place to film a Game of Thrones episode or two. (Note that the photos below should be clickable to see a larger version).
Our next stop was Gullfoss. As we approached we could see the Langjökull glacier, which feeds the waterfall, in the distance just beyond and above a set of dark peaks.
Langjökull glacier
The falls are outstanding, with two major cascades.
Gullfoss
After a trip through the very nice souvenir shop, we boarded the bus for dinner at the Geyser restaurant, just a short walk from the Geyser that gave all others their name. This original Geyser is no longer active, but another offers frequent performances. We had to watch for about 5 minutes before the brief show.
A geyser, in southwest Iceland.
We ended our tour at a geothermal powerplant just outside of Reykjavik at a fortunate coincidence of aquifer and magma relatively near the surface due to the fault line that bisects Iceland. The ancient lava field that surrounds the power plant was impressive, but not necessarily easy to photograph.
old moss-covered lava on the lower right…and look at that blue sky!
Tomorrow we will take the shuttle into downtown and see what the city has to offer.