Days like these when the wind sweeps across the country, the rain comes and goes and the Tecla lays safely in the harbor, it is rather nice to take a different approach.
This time, we decided to rent a vehicle and discover some geographical hotspots. After thoroughly discussing the itinerary and collecting several maps to guide us through Iceland, we headed off in a minibus. Word got out that it had snowed the night before, and might even happen during the day, so the 4-wheel drive was more than welcome.
And a field trip is not complete without a packed lunch, so even that was taken care of.
The first destination was Pingvellir national park. This park is located exactly on the edge of two tectonic plates, resulting in a clearly visible tear in the earth. At a certain point, there is also a waterfall raging through the rocks.
Next to this, are the remains of the Alpingi parlement. This is where the Vikings held their first parlement ever.
After nearly been blown away by the wind, it was time to get nice and warm on the go to the next stop: the Strokkur geyser. This rather active geyser erupts every 10-15 minutes, to a height of about 15-20 meters, also resulting in quite a spectacular view. However, the smell of sulfur was quite present around the area:-).
Lastly, we visited the mighty waterfall Gullfoss. It plunges down in two stages, dropping 32 metres in total. The impressive sound, paired with the water flying around made it quite an impressive scenery.
Besides these three high ranked locations, the surroundings we saw while driving, were certainly not less beautiful.
Where we usually discover places by ship, and travel overseas, it was a pleasant and rather interesting experience to travel overland.
