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1st Stop -
Copenhagen, Denmark
2nd Stop - Reykjavik, Iceland
(Day 1)
3rd Stop - Oslo, Norway
4th Stop - Stockholm, Sweden
Second day was our self-driven
Golden Circle
Tour that covered
Žingvellir (Thingvellir),
Geysir
Strokkur,
Gullfoss,
Skįlholt Church, and
Keriš.
When we picked up the car rental, we asked
the staff to program the GPS for the areas to go with the correct Iceland
letters so we did not have any problems driving from one place to another.
The weather during our drive was very erratic
that ranged from sunny to ice pellets. Though the whole trip was only
about 300 kms, it felt it was a long drive because of nothingness on the
road. There were very few cars on the road and if we got ditched, we
would have waited long for another motorist to help us.
Our first stop was
Žingvellir (Thingvellir) National Park. The most fascinating area
at the park was the wall of rock that cascaded. We just walked around the
park and when we got to a high area, the
view was breathtaking.
We drove to
Geysir
where the Little Geysir and Strokkur were located. Strokkur
erupted hot water every 5-8 minutes and I had to be patient to take a photo
of myself with the eruption at the background. After seeing a few
splashes, we drove on to
Gullfoss waterfalls.
We walked along the ridge of Gullfoss
waterfalls and comparing it to Niagara, the first thing I noticed was the
insufficiency or unavailability of safety gears/equipment. Along the
walkway by the ridge, there was only rope that served as a blocking point
for tourists. A bully or a drunk can easily push someone to fall off
the ridge.
Next stop was
Skįlholt Church and we only passed by it because there was no other
substitute tourist spot and we still had plenty of time to spare. We
left the hotel at 9:30 am and by 3:00 pm, we were already at the Skįlholt
Church.
Fifteen minutes from the church was
Keriš crater.
Another interesting fact about this tourist spot was the unavailability of
safety equipment. There were tourists who went down the crater but
there was no clear pathway. There was a clear unwritten understanding
that if we trekked going up/down the crater and had an accident, it was our
sole responsibility.
From the crater was a 1 hour drive back to
Reykjavik proper. Using Google maps, the drive was literally circular
hence the Golden Circle Tour.
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