January 1, 2018
Delray Beach, Florida
Sunny but rainy late in the afternoon
After going to bed around midnite, we had to get up early to catch the 8am SuperJeep tour of the Golden Circle. Its the most popular tour in Iceland. As Iceland only has about 300000 people and gets 1M tourists a day, they have a pretty efficient system on how to pick up and transport folks for tours. Basically there are bus stops that one needs to wait for to catch your tour. And in Iceland, being on time is important. They tour bus/jeeps will only wait one minute after the designated time. So we waited at our bus stop (which is a 30 second walk from the hotel) 15 minutes before departure time and sure enough our jeep arrived 5 min before departure time to pick us up and left exactly on time. It was a real Range Rover jeep designed to traverse through tough terrain including deep snow.
Our first stop was the Taxi falls. A little waterfall but located in a beautiful setting. As the sun was rising when we got there we saw how beautiful the landscape is outside the city albeit covered with snow.
Faxi Falls: One of the smaller water falls of Iceland. In summer though its a famous place for salmon fishing
Sun rising over the river feeding Faxi falls
The next stop was the Gullfoss fall, arguably the most famous waterfall in Iceland. It is famous because of the beautiful setting and also because it is two tiered.
Gullfoss Waterfall – one of the most beautiful waterfalls in Iceland and partially frozen!
Then we were off to driving on the glacier which required the special driving skills and the Jeep. We drove on the famous Langlokull Glacier covered in deep snow. We walked around but it was COLD! The glacier was covered in snow but at some places, one can see the crystal ice peaking through the snow
Langlokull Glacier: second largest glacier in Iceland
Next stop was a lunch stop and also to see the Great Geyser. I believe its the first geyser in Europe that made printed media. It was discovered way before Old Faithful at Yellowstone.
The Great Geyser: The first geyser ever discovered in Europe
Our last stope was the Thingveiller National Park which is where the first Parliament of Iceland was formed. It is also where one can walk between the continental divide. Again, very cold but pretty cool!
Thingvellier National Park: Where you can walk between 2 continental drifts. We are walking between the 2 divides. The waterfall dumps into the divide.
Walking in between the continental divide
Beautiful view from the lookout area of the park
I leave you with a magical photo of the glacier and a video of us driving on the glacier