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06.08.2019

It is time again for a vacation! In fact, it is long overdue! Still it is pretty new to me to go on vacation in the middle of the season. For years on end I have been working through the high season and then took vacation in the off season. But for the last couple of years I have been getting more and more work in the winter – I am fairly busy with doing the Ganges and Brahmaputra Cruises. Not much vacation in winter anymore, especially this year. So I gratefully jumped in, when the opportunity arose to take 3 weeks off in August. And as soon as I mentioned it to Mom, she decided that we should go on a road trip again. I had been toying with an adventure tour to Kamchatka … lucky for her it was sold out already by the time I figured out that I wanted to do it. But – hey, the guide book is sitting in my shelf, the tour operators’ websites are bookmarked – the plan is just being postponed … along with plan to visit the Falkland Islands …

Mom decided we should go to Iceland this summer. Since our North Cape Tour last year was so successful and I did not want to go on a beach holiday that seemed like a plan. Quickly I figured out that the same agency that organized our Norway adventure also offered self drive rental car tours in Iceland. Before we could think otherwise, it was booked and paid for – 11 days self-drive Iceland!

Germany – Keflavik Airport by airplane & Keflavik – Hestakráin Guesthouse near Selfoss 170 km

I had only returned home from work Friday night. Saturday and Sunday were lazy days – I barely managed to unpack the suitcases. Early Monday I got kickstarted by the realization that Tuesday morning we would be leaving and maybe I had to get organized. As usual I packed in the very last minute … Monday night…

This morning we go up in a civilized hour and left home at 08:30. The drive to Berlin-Tegel was for once uneventful. The Autobahn was empty, but had plenty speed limits at road construction sites and sometimes for no reason at all. Traffic was heavy on the City Autobahn, but we reached our booked Airport Parking 25 min ahead of time. Good thing that was – they were busy and it took the extra 30 min to get organized, the car parked and on the shuttle to the Airport, which is usually about 10 min drive.

We arrived at approx 11:15 and luckily Check-In was open already. We were flying Icelandair to Keflavik. I had not realized before that there are a lot of transatlantic connections via Iceland to the States. Check-In was busy and security seemed tied. We had checked in online however and just had to drop our bags. We were early and it was quick after all. Our flight was at 14:05.

Since we had so much time left we went for lunch. The choice was between Burger King and Red Baron Restaurant – the latter won. We treated ourselves to a large Radeberger Shandy and a very delicious Green Wild Herbs Salad with Chanterelles. Damn, it was so yummy!

After lunch we lined up for security. The line was long … But then it was less painful than usual. I did take off my belt, watches and shoes before the scan, but I still beeped … OK, it is not so pleasant, but I can live with it, because for once they did not make me unpack everything from my backpack! Believe it! Yes, I took out the laptop, but that was it! Usually I have to unpack like everything and often I have to go to the extra bomp test thing etc. But today … NOTHING! They did not ask for the power banks or all the cable mess in my bag … I wonder if their scanner was working properly …

Once we were through security, we had just about time to buy our medicine supply for Iceland – a bottle of Vodka each! They had a Danza Twin Pack on Special Offer and before you could blink it was bought and disappeared in my backpack. The flight was boarding and departing on time. It was packed. We left Berlin at an outside temperature of 27 °C.

There was an extensive entertainment selection on board, but the head sets had to be bought. Lucky, I remembered seeing a couple of headsets in my laptop bag when packing last night … I do not use headsets ever – I do not listen to music on headsets or anything, but for some reason I kept the sets for my mobile phones … but never use them. I watched a couple movies and TV Shows. The flight was 3 hrs 10 min. There were only alcohol free drinks on the house, everything else including food had to be paid for – by credit card only, that is. No cash transactions on board the plane. Since we had just eaten that was not a problem and alcohol, was no option since I was going to drive as soon as we arrived in Iceland. The weather was good above the clouds and as we approached Iceland we even could spot glaciers and volcanos and lavafields.

The view was spectacular for a long while when we traversed the southern coast of Iceland. The planed passed Reykjavik, but we could not see much as we were dipping back into the clouds.

We landed on Keflavik Airport in rainy weather at the outer airfield and had to take a bus to the terminal. No sooner did I decided to head into the public restrooms as soon as we reached the Terminal to put on my long john under my flimsy linen pants – it was 12° C here!

While Mom waited for the luggage I went to the ATM to pull some cash – Island is EU and Schengen, but no Euro Zone. That reminded me – there had been no passport control in Berlin and here they did not care either. The Islandic Króna was at around ISK 135 to 1 € at the moment and I pulled enough to last us a while … hopefully … ISK 100000.

Our suitcases arrived rather quickly as well and off we went in search or our rental car. The Tour Agency had not sent us any vouchers – they said to do our deed to the environment we have to save paper and therefore we only got a confirmation file with all addresses and dates for our tour. Then I realized that there was clearly stated what rental car we had booked … but not with which rental agency … Somewhere in the papers I had read something about Europcar, but I could not remember where. Nevertheless, I went straight for the desk of Europcar – the girl there seemed a bit confused about me not having a voucher, but once she checked the system she found our reservation. In no time I had the keys and a bunch of information and instructions on how to find the car and how to drive around Iceland. She even handed me a portable GPS in a bag.

From the terminal it was a short walk of some 200 m to the car park. We found the car quickly – Skoda Octavia 4×4 Diesel  in silver. We settled in and sorted ourselves out. I had brought the console for the mobile phone again – geocaching offline maps installed on the phone – ready to hunt for secret boxes. I could not get the rental GPS going, mainly because we did not have the exact street address of our hotel, only the name and a marker on our old-fashioned folding map. Have to look into that later.

Our first stop was the closest supermarket. I had looked it up using the free Airport WIFI. Netto – yes, they have Netto in Iceland – was only a couple kilometers away. We stocked up on picnic essentials in case we did not find any restaurants along the way. We would be arriving too late at the guesthouse for dinner today. They offer dinner only if prebooked.

Close to the airport we then turned off the main road leading to Reykjavik and followed a side road southwest across the Reykjanes Peninsula. Along this road was laying a series of 60 geocaches distanced 300 – 600 m apart. We would not have the time to find them all, but a few should fit in. There was not much traffic on this road and we could stop just by the side of the road. We found our first Iceland cache quickly!

After stopping for maybe 5 or 6 more caches, I decided to call it and we skipped the next 30 or so. It was too time consuming. Since the deal was 10 caches per day, it was OK. The landscape was plain with plenty lava blocks, moss and some green patches, very few houses. We saw our first Icelandic Horses and many birds.

We stopped for a couple more geocaches on the way – at scenic points only. 2 were actually close to the “Bridge Between Continents”. Of course we had to see that. The lava-scarred Reykjanes peninsula lies on one of the world’s major plate boundaries, the Mid Atlantic Ridge. According to the continental drift theory, the Eurasian and North American tectonic plates are continuously drifting apart approx 2 cm per year with great forces under the gaping rifts. As the plates diverge, linear fractures, known as fissures form due to stresses created by the tension that builds up as the plates move away from each other.

That bridge between two continents at Sandvík is a small footbridge over a major fissure which provides clear evidence of the presence of a diverging plate margin. The bridge was built as a symbol for the connection between Europe and North America.

It is  in the heart of the Reykjanes UNESCO Global Geopark where the North Atlantic ridge rises from the ocean and 100 different craters and lava fields, bird cliffs, high geothermal areas, black sand beaches, The Bridge Between Continents, geothermal power plants, lighthouses and exhibitions can be found. Of course we had to stand between the continents and have our photo taken!

Only a couple of kilometers down the road we passed the Reykjanes Power Station – known as Reykjanesvirkjun – a geothermal power station. The pioneering Reykjanes Geothermal Power Plant generates 100MWe from 2  50MWe turbines using steam and brine from a reservoir at 290 °C to 320 °C, which is extracted from 12 wells that are 2700m deep. After extraction, the brine is piped into a steam separator. From there, the separated steam passes under 19 bars of pressure to a steam dryer and into the turbines. The plant is situated close to the ocean front, so seawater at 8°C can be pumped through a condenser for cooling and condensing the brine.

Geothermal resources have been used for over 70 years in Iceland. The geothermal area at Reykjanes is located on top of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, formed by plate tectonics that are moving in separate directions. That gives high geothermal energy, with the Reykjanes area being where the plate boundary of the Reykjanes Ridge comes on land. The area is about 2 km² in size. Energy has been extracted from the area for around 30 years without significantly reducing the geothermal reserves.

Geothermal power plants produce nearly 20% of the country’s electricity – geothermal heating also supplies nearly 90% of the country’s domestic heating and hot water requirements. Nearly all the rest comes from hydroelectric generation, with less than 0.1% from fossil fuels.

Geothermal is a sustainable energy source both for urban and rural areas, boosting local economies with minimum (and reversible) impact on the environment. The technique can provide earnings for over 30 years, producing baseload electricity with high reliability and availability. There is virtually no CO2 release and no impact on air quality.

The technique makes areas less dependent on polluting and increasingly expensive imported oil and fossil fuels, which are replaced with a renewable alternative with stable energy prices. It can also provide district heating for communities.

Apparently the power plant is open to the public and houses the Power Plant Earth interpretative exhibition. But we had no time to stop -it was already late in the day anyway. Close to the plant was a view point with 2 Earth Caches and we were also looking for a picnic spot.

We found the view point at the end of a approx 2 km long gravel road leading past Iceland’s oldest light house. It was a beautiful spot above the cliffs. There were no picnic tables, though … and it was rather windy. But we made do and I backed the car into the view. We had the picnic out of the trunk. That was pretty fun.

The view was great and while hanging there eating I collected the answers for the Earth Caches. I am not a geocaching maniac, but when I go somewhere I always look, if there is one around. And more often than not we have stopped at places to look for one, where would have never stopped otherwise. This spot was one of them. If there had not been some geocache markers, we would never have taken the detour.

There was a small monument there – The Last Great Auk. Reykjanesbær, the most populous municipality in the Suðurnes region, the 4th most populous in Iceland, and the most populous outside of the Greater Reykjavík area, is a member of the international art project “The Lost Bird Project”.  That project is part natural history, part artist’s diary, documenting the extraordinary effort to place a series of public memorials to birds driven to extinction in modern times. As a chronicle of humankind’s impact on our changing world and a moving record of dwindling biodiversity, The Lost Bird Project is an ode to vanished times and vanished species. The Great Auk, Labrador Duck, Passenger Pigeon, Carolina Parakeet and Heath Hen were birds that once filled unique niches in the North American landscap. As works of site-specific environmental art, the sculptures featured in The Lost Bird Project were placed in the locations where the birds were last seen in the wild and are now permanent public sculpture installations at a wide range of sites.

The Great Auk – pinguinus impennis – is an extinct species of flightless alcid that became extinct in the mid-19th century. It is not closely related to the birds now known as penguins, which were discovered later and so named by sailors because of their physical resemblance to the Great Auk.

The Great Auck bred on rocky, isolated islands with easy access to the ocean and a plentiful food supply. The last colony of Great Auks lived on Geirfuglasker – the Great Auk Rock – off Iceland. This islet was a volcanic rock surrounded by cliffs that made it inaccessible to humans – but in 1830 the islet submerged after a volcanic eruption and the birds moved to the nearby Island of Eldey, which was accessible from a single side. In 1844 the last 2 confirmed specimens were killed there ending the last known breeding attempt.

On the drive back to the main road we passed again the Iceland’s oldest lighthouse. It was built in Reykjanes in 1878. By 1905 numerous earthquakes and rough surf had damaged the area so much that there was the risk of the lighthouse falling into the sea. Therefore, a new lighthouse was built in 1907 on Bæjarfell Hill and the old one was demolished. The light signal height is 69 m above sea level, but the actual height of the lighthouse is 31 m. The Reykjanes lighthouse also has a radio beacon with a correction signal.

There was apparently a breeding colony of Arctic Terns around the lighthouse. The birds were everywhere around us. The chicks seemed to be just out of the nests and starting to learn how to fly. They were everywhere – even landing on the road.

The Arctic Tern – Sterna paradisaea – has a circumpolar breeding distribution covering the Arctic and sub-Arctic regions of Europe, Asia and North America. The species is strongly migratory, seeing 2 summers each year as it migrates along a convoluted route from its northern breeding grounds to the Antarctic coast for the southern summer and back again about 6 months later. Recent studies have shown average annual roundtrip lengths of about 70 900 km for birds nesting in Iceland and Greenland and about 90000 km for birds nesting in the Netherlands. These are by far the longest migrations known in the animal kingdom. The Arctic Tern flies as well as glides through the air.

Before reaching the main road again we stopped at another viewpoint – Gunnuhver. In the Icelandic nature everything has a name – every mountain, every valley, every canyon, fissure or even crack.  And almost behind each name is a story. The most southern tip of the Reykjanes Peninsula is a spectacular place to visit. A highly active geothermal area of mud pools and steam vents boiling practically under foot. The area is close to Reykjanes Lighthouse and is collectively named Gunnuhver after a female ghost that was laid there. She had caused great disturbance until a priest set a trap for her and she fell into the spring – the biggest mud pool in Iceland, Gunnuhver – or Gunna Hot Spring. This happened about 400 years ago.

The mud pools take form where steam from boiling geothermal reservoir water emanates and condenses and mixes with surface water. Accompanying gases such as carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulphide make the water acid. This causes alteration of the fresh lava rock to clay. Steaming of the ground at Reykjanes increased markedly as a consequence of a pressure drawdown in the geothermal reservoir upon the start of production from the reservoir in 2006.

Iceland´s largest mud pool is at present prominent, highest up in the Gunnuhver group. It was 20 m wide across a rim of mud, boiling vigorously – that was written everywhere and also in the listing of an Earth Cahce located here. But when we arrived … there was no mudpool to be seen, but a rather big geysir! One of the formerly accessible wooden ramps leading up a point to look into the mud pool was now closed off and geysir water was violently splashing over it. The water was boiling at 100°C and the geysir reaching easily 5- 6 m in height and there was a lot of steam.

Only a few months ago Gunnuhver started to change its mood and became a bit angry and aggressive. The hot spring became louder and started to expand to a larger area. In a few days, Gunnuhver had consumed part of the platform intended for viewing its beauty and started to splash hot clay and boiling dirty drizzle all over the place. Although a bit calm these days, the former pretty little hot spring is considered quite dangerous. It did not spit clay anymore but clear hot water. We did not get closer than necessary or allowed, though.

Reaching the main road again we followed it south and then along the coast west to Grindavik and from there further on toward the Ring Road. We did not stop for anymore geocaches – we still had some 100 km to go to the first night’s guesthouse and it was late already. The max speed limit on paved roads is 90 km/h outside of settlements – with frequent speed restrictions and settlements it took much longer than we would estimate in Germany for this distance. Nevertheless, we made good time driving along with the locals … before I realized it was 110 km/h hanging on to the convoy … and even on an empty road …

Soon enough we reach the Ring Road # 1 where there was very little traffic. Thinking it was only because it was late in the day, we were happy. Later in the trip it turned out … there was never much traffic in Iceland unless you were in Reykjavik city limits …

The scenery changed little during the rest of the drive today – mossy lava fields and a few small settlements – sometimes only farms or guesthouses down a side road. Near Selfoss – 50 km from Reykjavík and the first major stop east of Reykjavik, located about 11 km inland from the southwestern coast of Iceland and the major town and the administrative seat of the Southern Region – we turned off the Ring Road following a main side road north for some 30 km to our guesthouse.

The road lead through rich farmland with wide fields and horses. Not having used our proper GPS but only the offline geocaching map, Mom navigating with the actual road map – … how old-fashioned! … – and watching out for the signs. We of course passed the turn-off for the guesthouse, but realized only a couple hundred meters down the road. Guesthouses and farms etc are very well signposted in Iceland, I have to say. No problem, we made a quick 3-point-turn on the first opportunity and headed back.

We reached the Hestakráin Guesthouse around 21:15. It was still light out. The sun sets around 22:45 this time of the year in this latitude – we were still well below the Artic Circle on this year’s road trip! Check-in was quick – Hestakráin Guesthouse can house 20 guests in twin rooms that all include en suite bathroom/shower. There is a mutual pantry and common room as well as a patio with a hot tub and sauna with a spectacular view over the southern Icelandic countryside. We were too late for dinner in the restaurant but since we had our picnic on the road we were fine.  After settling in our nice room we mixed a drink – since we had come prepared a Vodka Blueberry was in order and it was enjoyed outside on the porch near the hot tub. The view was indeed spectacular.

Once we were in bed – mind you we had a 2 hr time difference from Germany – turning the clock back, of course – we were pretty knackered. We made quick use of the shower, then I sat in bed sorting and posting some photos and did some writing, but fell asleep soon enough.

 

07.08.2019

Around part of the Golden Circle Iceland – 123 km

Due to the time difference I woke up rather early this morning – 04:30 … the sun was up already. I closed my eyes again for a while and then also fiddled with photos and posts on my mobile phone before eventually getting up at 07:30. We had breakfast in the guesthouse’s restaurant at 08:30. It was a good breakfast buffet with everything and a make-your-own-waffles station. 09:00 we started for our day’s adventures. We would stay another night in the same guesthouse, so we did not have to check out. But we did pre-book dinner for tonight.

It was a beautiful day – sunny and blue skies and it was much warmer than we had expected it to be in Iceland – so we were dressed much to warm … Today’s plan was to visit part of Iceland’s Golden Circle – Gullni hringurinn. This is what they call a tourist route here in southern Iceland, covering about 300 km looping from Reykjavík into the southern uplands of Iceland and back. It is the area that contains most tours and travel-related activities in Iceland. The 3 primary stops on the route are the Þingvellir National Park, the Gullfoss waterfall and the geothermal area in Haukadalur, which contains the geysers Geysir and Strokkur. We would do only part of this route, though, since the Þingvellir National Park was on the plan for the second last day and Reykjavik in the end of our road trip.

The name Golden Circle is a marketing term for the route, derived from the name of Gullfoss, which means “golden waterfall” in Icelandic. Since Icelandair offers many continental flight from Europe to America with possible stop overs, this route is rather popular for tourists.

I had the tour planned around some geocaches again – but we were not there only to find geocaches. Yet again, the cache markers lead us to some pretty awesome spots.

First stop was in the tiny settlement of Laugarás. The development of Laugarás started when geothermal activity was discovered in the area. There are numerous horticultural farms in the region and various services – camp site, hotel, greenhouse visits and the Domestic Animal park. There was a secret box hidden in a meadow near some geothermal outlets.

I liked the many green houses around the village. Especially, since in Iceland they did not just seem to use green houses for growinf vegetables and flowers only, but also for office space and parties etc.

A few kilometres on, there was another cache – it turned out to be hidden near a church – the Skálholt Cathedral – we had been seen from afar and decided to stop and visit. The secret box, however, was located near a memorial for Jón Arason (1484 –1550) who was an Icelandic Roman Catholic bishop and poet, who was executed in his struggle against the imposition of the Protestant Reformation in Iceland at this particular spot. The memorial was marveled at and the cache was quickly found, before we continued to the parking lot of the church and took a walk around it.

Skálholt Cathedral – Skálholtdómkirkjan – is the official church of the Bishop of Skálholt. However, it is no longer a diocese with its own right. The Diocese of Skálholt was dissolved in 1801. The cornerstone of the present cathedral was laid in 1956 and it was consecrated in 1963 to commemorate the 900 years since the diocese was founded in 1056. It was built on the site of all 9 previous churches that had stood on the exact site throughout the 1000 years since the establishment of the diocese. Excavations carried out on the site prior to the building of the cathedral proved this much.

We took a walk around the church and admired the view and the interesting buildings including a turf roofed side building, before continuing to the Geysir.

On the way we took another stop to take a short walk to a waterfall – the Faxfloss. We parked the car for a hefty ISK 700. We were still getting used to Icelandic prices … That turned out to be a regular parking fee at tourist sites. The difference here was, that there was an actual parking attendant collecting the money at the entrance. Parking the car at the upper parking lot we walked down the board walk towards the falls. The view from the upper platform was magnificent – after all it was our first waterfall in Iceland!

The Faxfloss Waterfall is in the River Tungufljót, the origin of which is in the lake Sandvatn.  The fall has been described as a small version of Gullfoss, but of course it is not as powerful. The waterfall is 80 m wide and 7 m high.  It is a beautiful waterfall placed in a wonderful and peaceful landscape.  It is also possible to walk quite near the waterfall on the lower level and feel the drizzle from the water – which I did! Mom stayed up on the boardwalk, but I walked down right next to the fall – primarily to find a secret box … which I did not, because there were way too many tourists and way too many rocks to look under …

Since the fall is part of the Golden Circle Route, there were many tourist bus loads arriving as we left. We were rather early and the busses had probably started from Reykjavik or the Airport this morning. Close by we parked the car again – this time for free near the side of the gravel road – and took a short walk to a bridge over the river to find another secret box. This time we located it successfully.

From there it was only a short hop to the most famous tourist site around here – The Great Geysir situated at the northern edge of the southern lowlands at an altitude of approx 120 m above sea level. Until recently the area was called Hverasandar. We parked the car for free this time and walked with hundreds of other tourists into the geothermal area.

The geothermal field in Haukadalur lies on the outskirts of the neovolcanic zone from which it is drifting and is therefore gradually becoming a low-temperature field. Magma may have forced its way out of the neovolcanic zone along one or more fissures, forming intrusions. This would explain the sustained geothermal activity. There is no evidence of recent volcanism in this area and the bedrock appears to have been formed subglacially towards the end of the glacial period.

The geothermal field is believed to have a total surface area of approximately 3 km². Most of the springs are aligned along a 100 m wide strip of land running in the same direction as the tectonic lines in the area from south to southwest. The strip is 500 m long and culminates near what once was the seat of the Lords of Haukadalur. The heart of the geothermal area is nowadays 2 km to the south of the Haukadalur seat. As for the centre of the field, the northernmost springs, such as Geysir itself, are believed to be the oldest.

The Great Geysir was the first geyser described in a printed source and the first known to modern Europeans. The  name Geysir is derived from the Icelandic verb geysa – to gush.  However, Geysir is neither the largest nor the most impressive of the world`s hot springs. It probably secured its eminence by being known to Europeans at an early date, i.e. before the springs in the new world. To this very day, Geysir’s water jets are considered to be amongst the most remarkable natural phenomena in Iceland. Unfortunately, it has been dormant since 1916, when it suddenly ceased to spout. It came to life only once in 1935 and as quickly went back to sleep. Since then its repose has sporadically been disturbed by the dumping of tons of carbolic soap powder into its seething orifice in order to tickle it to spout.

It is not exactly known when Geysir was created. It is believed that it came into existence around the end of the 13th century when a series of strong earthquakes, accompanied by a devastating eruption of Mt. Hekla, hit Haukadalur, the geothermal valley where Geysir is located. What is known is that it spouted regularly every 3rd hour or so up to the beginning of the 19th century and thereafter progressively at much longer intervals until it completely stopped in 1916. Whether its silence is eternal or temporary – no one knows. When it was alive and shooting, it could thunderously blast a spectacular jet of superheated water and steam into the air as high as 60 to 80 m according to different sources. Its opening is 18 m wide and its chamber 20 m deep. One reason for cessation is believed to be the accumulated rocks and foreign objects thrown into it by thousands of tourists throughout the years. Though definitely damaging, this however could not be the only reason for its dormancy.  Nobody knows.

Strokkur – the churn – is currently the most energetic spouting spring in Iceland. It spouts every few minutes, sometimes to a height of 40 m, yet generally less than 10-20 m. Little is known of Strokkur’s age and past history. It was apparently set off during an earthquake in 1789, having then been quiescent for some time. The year after Strokkur started to spout it was extremely powerful and ejected water, gas and steam with tremendous force. At the time, Geysir’s jets reached a height of 30 m, whereas Strokkur would spout 40 m. It had, however, calmed down considerably in 1830, and rarely spouted on its own accord, so people had to encourage it with stones and turf, which the spring would subsequently throw up. After the earthquake in 1896, it subsided completely, but rallied somewhat in 1907, yet not to its previous glorious state. By 1920 it had expired again. On the recommendation of the Geysir committee, a 40 m deep hole was drilled from the bottom of its basin in 1963, after which it has spouted or at least squirted merrily ever since. Discharge from the spring, or rather from the borehole, is currently 2.5 l/s.

We sat on a close by bench to wait for Strokkur to erup and it did a few times. Once it did, it would spout 2 or 3 times in quick recession and then we had to wait 5 – 10 min for the next spout. At one time – the highest spout we saw – we did get showered at our bench!

Walking around to the other pools in the area and up higher the view over the valley and the geysirs was beautiful. But only Strokkur spouted, the others were all just hot pools.

Coming around the other side of Strokkur we had an even better view of the pool and we could actuall see it working itself up to the eruption. There would be more bubbles coming and then one big one rising out of the pool and suddenly it would erupt. That was pretty cool and we waited around for like 3 or 4 more rounds to get the photos just right.

When we had enough of ellbowing tourists for the best photo op on the field, we made our way to the Geysir Center and checked out the souvenir shop. Happy I was to see Icelandic Beer in the shelves – expensive Icelandic Beer. Nevertheless, I had to buy a couple for tonight. The guy at the check-out was not a very friendly guy, though – probably unnerved from hordes of tourists like us – and he insisted he had to open the bottles here. – No, I want to take it home as souvenir! – Not possible! I have to open it here! – OK, then I do not want it! – You can go buy some at the Vínbúðin! – But are those not only in the big city? – No, there is one in Flúðir some 30 km down the road. – OK, we shall do that! … We did buy some postcards there and then drove off further north to Gullfoss Waterfall only 10 km away..

Gullfoss Waterfall stands as one of Iceland’s most prominent waterfalls – a tough call in a country that is pretty much packed with them. Tucked away in Iceland’s famous Golden Circle, it is one of the must-see sights on any Icelandic travel itinerary. We parked the car in the overflowing upper parking lot and before actually visiting the falls, we went into the Visitors’ Center Café for lunch with a view. The soup of the day was Kjötsúpa – Icelandic Lamb Soup.

This is traditional Icelandic Meat Soup made with lamb and vegetables – a life saver when food was scarce and energy was needed to battle the elements. The soup is conventionally made with potatoes, rutabagas and carrots. We took one each and treated ourselves to a local beer. Since we would be taking a walk to the falls it would be a while before I had to drive again, so no problem. The soup was very good and warmed us up. Even though it was sunny with blue skies up here near the falls a stiff cold wind was blowing over the rather flat landscape as we walked the marked path towards the falls from the Visitors’ Center.

The Icelanders, being keen travelers themselves, will insist it is the most beautiful waterfall in the world. That is, of course, debatable – but beautiful it is and has made it to many lists of the most beautiful waterfalls on the planet. Hvítá River is a glacial river. Its source is in Hvítárvatn by the Langjökull Glacier in the Icelandic Highland.

During the 20th century, there was much speculation about using Gullfoss to generate electricity. Farmers Tómas Tómasson and Halldór Halldórsson, who held the Hvítá water rights back then, contracted Gullfoss to an English firm with a plan to build a hydroelectric power station. The daughter of Tómas Tómasson, Sigríður Tómasdóttir, became so incensed that she threatened to throw herself into the falls if her father didn’t withdraw the contract. She fought this impending disaster alone until a young lawyer – who later became Iceland’s first president – joined her. Together they managed to save the waterfall – it was later sold to the state of Iceland and is now protected. In 1978, the farmer’s daughter was commemorated by a monument by her much beloved Gulfoss. I walked down to the lower parking lot and the memorial for Sigríður Tómasdóttir to have a look while Mom waited on the upper path. The view from below was beautiful as well, but I did not walk all the way to the actual platform over the falls.

Back on the upper path we walked all the way to the view point above the gorges and the view was spectacular. Of course there were thousands of tourist on all viewing platforms and it was not easy to actually get an unobstructed photo of the falls. But we managed, of course, eventually.

The Hvítá River rushes 40 km from the Highlands and flows down into a wide curved three-step staircase before cascading into a two-step gorge – the Gullfoss waterfall being 32 m high with one step of 11 m and the other step 22 m. The gorge is about 20 m wide and 2.5 km in length. The rock of the river bed was formed during an interglacial period.

While walking the boardwalks I collected the information for another Earth Cache and also for a Multi Cache. The latter one I never found – there were just too many people to actually kneel down and feel under the boardwalks … Nevermind … Eventually we walked to the car and drove back south towards the guesthouse. We took a gravel side road to short cut to Flúðir, were the next Vínbúðin was located and the Secret Lagoon Gamla Laugin we wanted to visit. On the way we took a couple stops to find some geocaches as well.

The gravel road was leading through farm land. It was late summer and the hay harvest time. Everywhere the fields – surprisingly verdant farmland – were dotted with huge bales of hay lying bagged waiting to be collected and stored for wintertime. Tractors were chugging through the fields turning hay or bagging it or collecting the bales. We did not see any cornfields, though. It seemed, fodder crops is the name of the game around here. Grass is exceptionally nutritious in Iceland as a result of the long periods of daylight in the short, cool summers.

Flúðir is a sleepy village of around 400 inhabitants. The village first became visible by the plumes of steam rising from its multitudinous geothermal hotspots. Greenhouses producing vegetables year-round due to this advantageous heat source totted the area. It’s a low-key, quiet, spread-out kind of place, with plenty of space between the industrial-looking plots and peaceful residential streets, a gas station, a modern Icelandair hotel, greenhouses  and the Vínbúðin, all surrounded by distant, picturesque, craggy mountains.

Tucked away down a humble dirt track by the river Mjóitangi, which flows through the town centre, lies a relatively new and increasingly famous attraction – known to locals as Gamla Laugin – The Old Pool – it was rebranded as The Secret Lagoon a few years back by a local called Björn Kjartansson, who renovated the antique swimming place and reopened it for business in 2014.

We had come prepared – the bag with towels, swimsuits and flipflops ready in the trunk of the car.  Not having made an online booking since we had not been sure what time we would get here, we just walked in. But that was not a problem. Tickets at the counter were the same price as online – ISK 3000 for me and ISK 2200 for Mom as a senior (anybody over 67 years). I had no towel, so I had to shell out another ISK 700. When going to Iceland – remember always to bring a towel!

The Secret Lagoon is the oldest pool of Iceland. In 1891, using the geothermal properties of the Flúðir region, locals had built a first swimming pool here, continuously supplied with hot and cold water currents, creating a bath of around 38-40°C. It’s the perfect temperature to relax and keep warm despite the frigid temperatures that can occur in the country. This pool had long been popular with Icelanders, but with time the lagoon had fallen into oblivion. Recently, renovated and fitted with new infrastructure to accommodate locals and tourists this picturesque place now is an authentic, traditional and very Icelandic bath.

There is a strict pool etiquette when bathing in Iceland. At every entrance you are reminded of those and signs are everywhere as well. First of all, it is shoes off! Usually there are shoe racks at the entrance. Then find a  free locker. There are always plenty around so it should not be a problem with safety and security when it comes to your belongings. The key is important – here it was a metal key attached to elastic to be wrapped around the wrist. Now, get naked! Everybody has to strip right down to their birthday suit – no time to be shy! Locker rooms are fairly open, but separate for women and men. After locking up, we grabbed our towel and swimsuit – It was shower time!

Most showers are open just like the dressing area. Here showergel and shampoo was provided. Rules say everybody has to shower and naked.

No one can enter the pool area without washing all the zones of their body pointed out by the large posters in 6 languages, sans bathing suit. There is an unspoken rule to not look at others and you are never going to see these people again anyways, so who cares, right? Once squeaky clean and dressed in our swimsuit – finally! –  we were ready to take a dip!

Descending the metal stairs from the deck into the pool, the ground beneath our feet was unpaved and pebble-strewn as the hot water closed around us. The walls of the pool are built from rough stone. The water trickled in from a hot spring on the opposite side of the pool – we swam-walked there for the hottest spot. The pool was busy with people, but not crowded. We lounged around for a while and then sat outside on one of the benched to cool in the wind, before heading in again. It was marvellous.

Later wrapped in our towels, we took a walk around the pool on a new path. There is a small geyser that erupts every now and then and some bubbling cauldrons of hot water. The pool’s natural surroundings and steam rising into the air all over this area of Flúðir give the place a magical feeling.

After another long dunk in the warm water, which is rather clear and odor less with plenty algae, we eventually left, showered and changed and were out of there again. We had spent maybe 2 hrs in total there.

Our next stop was the Vínbúðin, which was located not far in the center of the village. In Iceland the State Alcohol and Tobacco Company of Iceland has the monopoly on the sale of alcoholic beverages and tobacco. It runs a chain of 46 stores named Vínbúðin – the wine shop – and is Iceland’s sole legal vendor of alcohol for off-premises consumption, though in practice, most bars and restaurants will not prevent you from leaving with purchased drinks. High licensing fees make this an expensive option however and alcohol is always at least twice as expensive outside the wine shop. Iceland has very high taxes on alcohol. Historically, this was to curtail consumption. We had a look around and then just bought 2 six-packs of Einstöck Icelandic Arctic Pale Ale in cans. Still expensive for ISK 349 per can, but indeed almost only a third of the price from when bought in the restaurant.

It was still too early to return to the guesthouse, which was situated in the middle of nowhere, really. Therefore we took another detour of some 5 km to find a last geocache of the day. It was located near the Skaftholt Sheepfolds. Those Skaftholt Sheepfolds were first mentioned in 1283 as a meeting place, believed to have been built in the 12th century. Centuries-old circular stone sheepfolds can be found across Iceland to gather sheep for the winter and were also used as the placement of social events. Some think they are reminiscent of Celtic architecture and there has been speculation about whether they were used for purposes other than sheltering sheep.

We reached the guesthouse early anyway, around 17:15 and went for a short walk. But there were just pastures with some horses around. Since we had pre-ordered dinner in the guesthouse’s restaurant for 19:30, I took an afternoon nap until then, instead. Before dinner we took a draft beer on the restaurants porch with a nice view over the pastures. Unfortunatel, it was to fresh to have dinner outside as well.

Dinner was a buffet of home cooked local food – lamp cutlets, Salmon, potatoes, mushroom sauce and salad. The food was excellent and we even shared a very good chocolate cake for dessert.

After dinner we took a can of our beer and walked up a tiny hill behind the guesthouse to look at the far off sunset for a while. We sat in the grass and enjoyed the peace and quiet – which was only interrupted by the traffic along the main road to Reykjavik which passed only 50 m away.

Later we went to our room. I had contemplated using the hot tub on the back porch, but it was already occupied by other guests. So instead I sorted and posted some photos and we planned the next day.

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