Wow, today was about as perfect as one can get on vacation. The weather was about 500% better than yesterday (as you’ll see from the photos), our luggage arrived shortly after we woke up, and our explorations were fabulously successful. On to the photos…
This is a place called Kerið, which is a crater not too far outside of Reykjavik, is part of a popular area called the Golden Circle that encompasses some of Iceland’s most famous landmarks. Kerið is a very obvious ancient volcano caldera.
I also took a “photo sphere” of it on my iPhone, and published it on Google Maps. Here’s the link. I think you’ll have the best results trying to view that on a computer, but I’m not sure.
Next up on our tour of the Golden Circle, was one of Iceland’s most famous waterfalls, Gullfoss:
That photo just doesn’t do Gullfoss justice, so I’m gong to try to upload a video I shot as well, but not tonight! Check back in a day or two to see if I had any luck.
From there, it was on to a popular site to see several geysers, including the original, Geysir, which our English word originates from! Geysir apparently doesn’t send up spouts these days, but another one nearby, Strokkur, did not disappoint:
I have some photos from my other camera to share later too…
Fun, eh?
Near the geysers, there were amazing meadows of blue lupine. We couldn’t resist this:
The next stop was a place known as Þingvellir (Pronounced Thingvelleer), where a prominent tectonic rift, named Almannagjá, is visible between the North American and Eurasian plates. The canyon-like above-ground formations are beautiful:
Amazing how the “golden hour” (every photograpaher’s favorite time of day) last’s for hours and hours this close the Arctic Circle!
We then headed back to Reykjavik for another amazing meal (thanks again for the great recommendations Shane!); this time at a place called Sæmundur Gastropub, where we were lucky enough to see a performance by a Latvian musician who just happened to be playing there tonight! He goes by the name Shipsea, and he was amazing. Check him out!
Okay, well I’ve stayed up way too late posting this (again). Góða nótt!
Adorable lupine selfie and awesome geyser gif!