Golden Circle, Thorsmork, Seljalandsfoss...

After a hearty buffet breakfast in Reykjavik, which also always includes packing sandwiches to eat later in the day, we headed east to start the "Golden Circle", about an hour away and a popular day trip from Reykjavik which you can take by tour bus to many of the sites if you don't have a car.  But first, before you leave any city, you check your gas and fill up because gas stations are few and far between.  This was not a problem for us because we always filled up at a half tank, but I have heard a few horror stories and you do not want to get stranded in the middle of nowhere in a storm.  Also make sure that your credit card (yes, credit card) has a PIN number.  This is very common in Europe and you will need a PIN if you fill up at an unmanned gas station.  (Call your cc company and they will mail you one you can personalize.)  Also, you may want to stop at a real grocery store in any city you see one because in small towns, the best you might get is a Wawa-type store at unreasonable prices.

It would be impossible to always describe the countryside we saw during this trip because it changed constantly and everything was the most amazing vistas I have ever seen and I could not possibly put into words what we saw...mostly like New Zealand, but also California, Colorado, Montana, Hawaii's volcano region, Ireland, Yellowstone and Switzerland all rolled up in one.  And different on both sides of the street.  And with the most amazing, explosion of colors going on in the sky.  Like you had left the planet at times...the moon with volcanos (fire) and glaciers (ice).  Birds and bird cliffs, ocean, rivers, waterfalls flowing down every mountain, lava, black sand beaches, mountains, volcanos, glaciers, icebergs, cliffs, turf houses, churches, sheep with baby lambs in calving season, horses, miles of lava rocks covered in moss and small succulents and everything except trees. very few trees.

First stop, Thingvellir National Park, the place where two tectonic plates meet, the North American and Eurasian, and where a giant rift valley has been created.  Parliament originally met here and you can see primitive development.  Snorkeling and diving in freezing crystal clear water in a dry suit between these two plates can be arranged.  You park, you hike for miles if you want through the valley, you see some rivers and small waterfalls and it is quite beautiful...

this is where you snorkel...

Have I mentioned the cute horses you see along the road?

and then you drive towards (the original geyser) Geysir and Strokker to patiently watch as a massive geyser bubble percolates and forms and explodes repeatedly before your eyes and you walk through a smoldering field of bubbling hot liquid and steam.  Pretty decent gift shop and restaurant here.

Strokker...erupts about every 5 minutes

Next stop, Gullfoss Waterfall, a massive and impressive 2 level waterfall with an approach that allows you to literally stand above and right next to the powerful flow while you get wet from exploding mist.  We were there on a cloudy day and missed the rainbow that often forms over the falls.

Near Gullfoss, Bruarfoss Waterfall (our favorite waterfall) is an unpublicized creamy blue over black lava rocks waterfall...a secret, off the beaten path waterfall to visit while you are in the area.  (We went on the back end of the trip when we revisited the area.)  The internet has a lot of sources to find this secret waterfall down a gravel road, past a neighborhood, through a broken fence, over a bridge and then through a very muddy brush forest...but we were the only ones there and it was magnificent.  There are rumors that access to this waterfall may be restricted in the future.  Also along the Golden Circle is the Herid Crater and the Secret Lagoon and the Haifoss Canyon hike which we did not visit because we ran out of time.

We did stop for late lunch at Friheimer Farm for a bottomless bowl of delicious tomato soup (made with mango chutney and cayenne), sour cream and marinated cucumber toppings, and assorted fresh homemade bread (like asiago or green olive or covered with caraway seeds or home grown sunflower seeds) with creamy Icelandic butter (which I believe is calorie free in Iceland!)  You eat in a giant glowing greenhouse with thousands of tomatoes growing on the vine, and bees, and sunflowers and fresh basil plants on the table that you cut and add to your soup and it was a great experience.  Only open from 12-4 daily and reservations are suggested...make them by email or call.  (We liked it so much we went back at the end of our trip and got the last unreserved table at 11:55.)  This place has been discovered so schedule it in and don't just show up.  It's worth the visit.

check out all the fresh baked bread

We stopped in the city of Selfoss for food for the next 2 days and drove towards the small town of Hella to the "Viking Cave", a secluded man cave built in the garage of a young couple on an open field with views towards the glacier and with horse farms surrounding it.  Fully equipped, we had a kitchenette, a laundry, a living area and enough beds to sleep a family.  This would be a good base for the region at a very reasonable price and a nice host family.  Seems like everyone who could has
converted a garage or basement or extra room to rental space to make extra money and to accommodate the massive influx of tourists now coming to Iceland.  That early evening we took a walk to visit the horses nearby who are super friendly.

The next day was remarkable.  We visited the waterfall Seljalandsfoss which you can walk behind (and get very wet) and a few other waterfalls adjacent to it.

behind a waterfall...yes, you get very wet back here...wear waterproof clothing

hidden waterfall in a cave you have to walk to between a narrow gorge 

and then to another world in the interior...Thorsmork...

what a super jeep looks like

where the massive flood occurred after the glacier over a volcano melted

We took a "super jeep", a suped-up, elevated vehicle with massive deflatable wheels, into the interior to Thorsmork...there is expense involved.  We did this trip privately, but there are group tours you can take.  For 5 hours we blasted our way through glacial run off and braided rivers, over rocky terrain, past glaciers and dried lava flow and the site of the glacial flooding produced by the eruption in 2010 of the volcano under a glacier, Eyjafjnallajokull.  There were many day-hiking trails of different lengths and difficulty and a forest at the end (Thor's forest).  People may have been biking in this area.  At one point, a (stupid) tourist driving a rented 4x4 low riding car made the mistake of driving his vehicle into Thorsmork where he got stuck up to his windows in a flowing river and our super jeep driver had to tow him out (and he will have to now pay for the car as insurance excludes this region).  Stunningly beautiful on a windblown turbulent day where it never rained but the sky threatened to burst all day.

There are multi-day hikes into the region where you sleep at reserved huts and there is also a "super-jeep bus" that runs daily to Thorsmork during the summer months, so it is accessible for day or multi-day hiking.  We were also told there is a winding, paved road (250 or 261) that runs some of the length into Thorsmork's valley on the opposite side of the river which offers distant overviews of the region if hiring a super jeep is not an option.  Seeing this region was very different than anything we saw along the Ring Road or Snaefellsness so it is worth the stop if you have the time.  If not, cut this day off your itinerary.  You can easily see Seljalandsfoss along the Ring Road as you head east towards your next stop.  We're going to leave the planet now as we go towards Vik.