Iceland Day 2: Golden Triangle

We saw so many amazing things today! The Lewis family went on a bus tour called the Golden Triangle tour, a "must-see" for every visitor to Iceland. We were picked up at our guesthouse at 08:30 and taken to a central bus station which was a bit of a chaotic scene, because there were loads of buses and hundreds of people trying to find the right bus to go on. Anyway, we got there in the end and headed east from Reykjavik (A/E on the map below). Our itinerary was to travel southeast to Selfoss and then turn northeast to Gullfoss at (B), stopping first at a tomato farm along the way. Then we would go to Geysir at (C), Thingvellir at (D) and back to Reykjavik.

Morning light as we head out from Reykjavik

Sun rays as we head into Hveragerdi

 We were a bit skeptical about stopping at a tomato farm, but actually it was so great! Our 4 busloads (about 150 people I would guess) piled into this greenhouse with cafe and the farmer stood on a platform and talked about how Icelandic farms like his produce vegetables. He showed us the bees that he buys from Holland and how they buzz around pollinating the flowers, how he adjusts the temperature and humidity by monitoring and controlling everything from his laptop, how the baby tomato plants start in the nursery room and then graduate to this main room, and each day they grow about 3cm and in 8 weeks they are ready to harvest -- all with the geothermal power.

Farmer guy talking about tomatoes. His wife was clearing tables and one of his 5 kids was serving up the tomato soup! An idyllic family business

Even T & R enjoyed the tomato soup

Then we went on to Gullfoss, which was this gigantic waterfall complex. It was really really cold and windy but with clear skies.

Rhodri, Rhiannon and Tryfan skating along the pathway on the icy slippery planks above the gorge

Closer view of the icy waterfall gorge at Gulfoss

 After Gullfoss, we went to Geysir. They had a great multimedia center and a cozy restaurant where we ate packed lunches.

This was a floor display in the multimedia center showing active volcanism throughout Iceland with the Mid-Atlantic ridge extending north and south in the ocean.  

 Finally we walked around outside watching the Strokkur geyser erupt every 5 minutes or so. Superb!

This is the Strokkur geyser which erupts every 5 minutes or so. 

 Finally we stopped at Thingvellir National Park, which is a really special place geologically (where the North American plate and the European plate meet) and also historically (because Icelandic people had their parliament here from 930 AD to 1271 AD). It is such a dramatic setting with these basaltic walls which are the plate boundaries! We walked up it to the Visitor Center at the top of the cliff, then got on the bus and went back to Reykjavik, arriving around 5pm.

Walking up the rift surrounded by lava formations

We dropped our bags in the room, grabbed our swimsuits and towels and headed to the best swimming pool in town, the Laugardalslaug geothermal pool. The big waterslide was awesome - some very dark sections with flashing neon lights on the roof of the tunnel!

It wasn't quite this crowded today, but the hot tub seemed like it was!

Then we got a taxi to the best restaurant in Iceland - this tiny hot dog stand!

This was voted best restaurant in Iceland! They sell 2 things: hot dogs and coca-cola.