Today was the day of the Golden Circle; a popular tourist route in Iceland.
We headed west after breakfast to a town called Hveragerdi which is one of the richest geothermal areas in the world. Steam billowed up from the landscape all around the town. They use the hot springs to power greenhouses and grow everything from tomotoes to roses; they are even experimenting with growing coffee plants.
Whilst in the town, we went into an earthquake simulator to experience an earthquake measuring 6.6 on the Richter scale – a lot of screaming ensued!
High School the Musical songs dominated our bus journeys today – I think we now know all the words to every song from High School the Musical one, two and even three!
Next stop was to see the Great Geysir and it’s little brother Strokkur. The term geyser derives from the Great Geysir which unfortunately isn’t active at the moment. The year 2000 saw a large earthquake trigger the geyser and it erupted up to heights of 200m. Luckily Strokkur erupts every 8-10 minutes, of heights up to 40m. These steam explosions provided the perfect opportunity for a group photo, we persevered through the rain and cold for the ‘money shot’ below.
After this we ventured on to see what is considered to be Iceland’s most beautiful waterfall; Gullfoss – the golden waterfall. There are two theories on how it has gained it’s name; one is that the evening light colours the glacial waters but Icelanders suggest that a local farmer threw pots of gold into the waterfall to create its golden sparkle! We walked along the gorge to get a spectacular view of the waterfall and the canyon below.
Our final stop of the day brought out the Geography nerd in us all; the UNESCO world heritage site Thingvellir. This is the only place where you can actually stand on the Mid-Atlantic ridge – be very excited!!! The coach dropped us off at the edge of the Eurasian Plate and we walked across the rift valley to the North American Plate; a truly unique experience. These two plates diverge at a rate of approximately 3cm a year.
Tonight we have checked in to Hotel Vellir where we will stay for our last two nights.
The Abbey Travels 