The Golden Circle

Hello, my friends!  I am being told that I am behind in my posts, and I must confess to that truth.  We have been out and about all day every day, and at night, so I haven't found a ton of time to get caught up.  In any case, after a marathon of a first day in Reykjavik, we got a bit of a late start to our second day.  But, we had a lot of the country to see, and to do so effectively, rented a car for our travels.  Hertz styled us with a brand new white Audi Q4 Turbo Diesel, and we got the heck out of Dodge; Dodge being Reykjavik.  

We headed on the Golden Circle Route to visit several of the country's top destinations, including Thingvellir National Park, shown above.  After catching a view of the picturesque landscape, we continued on to the town of Geysir, to see (you guessed it), the famous geothermal geyser.  Strokkur was purportedly the biggest of several in the area, and we waited with other tourists to see it erupt, which happens at five to ten minute intervals.

 

There was a large cafe and gift shop at Geysir (imagine that), and we decided to grab a quick lunch before continuing.  Ivan opted for a dubious looking fried chicken sandwich, and I went for a more local taste, when choosing the Icelandic Lamb Soup.  It was a bit of a risk, admittedly, but, it was delcious, with big chunks of braised lamb and a warming broth.

 

After lunch, it was time to continue on, and we headed to our next stop of Gullfoss (Golden Falls), another impressive natural phenomenon.

Back in the car, and continuing on the 300 km loop, I just had to stop and get a picture of one of the Icelandic horses.  The horses were developed from ponies brought to Iceland in the 9th and 10th centuries, and though sturdy like a normal horse, they are the height of a pony with small legs.  They kind of look like body builders that focus only on their upper bodies while neglecting leg days.  Years of inbreeding may also play a role in their appearance...but Icelanders (when polled) found them beautiful.  Maybe our horses look strange to them.

Our next stop was the Secret Lagoon (shhhhh....).  Although this attraction appears on the tourist map for the Golden Circle route, and although it was not exactly devoid of people, The Secret Lagoon was a lot less crowded and much more laid back than the Blue Lagoon.  After a few long days and nights, a dip in this geothermal hotspring, where we were able to use styrofoam noodles to float around, was more than welcome.

The last stop for us on the route was to check out a volanic crater, which proved to be less than impressive.  That said, the walk up the hill was a good trek, and it was kind of fun to walk on the spongy moss-like surface, which kind of felt like bouncy astro-turf.  

Since we had gotten a late start to the day, it was 8:45 pm before we arrived back in Reykjavik.  Fortunately, it stays light out until past 11 pm, so there was much more of the day to enjoy.  We hadn't eaten much other than our snacks at Geysir, and were excited to check out a highly recommended spot called Matur Og Drykkur, in English "Food and Drink."  While the food was innovative, and reasonably tasty, neither of us gave it our highest marks for the trip.  Our starter was gravlax and creme fraiche on burnt (intentionally) flatbread.  Delicious, but tiny.  Even smaller and less delicious was the cod roe inside of pickled onions.  But hey, sometimes you just have to try things out.

I went for the locally raised hen, which, like my lamb dish from the first day, contained gravy and was quite Thanksgiving-esque.  It was accompanied by a sunchoke gratin; innovative but not delicious.  Ivan is a man of consistency and repeated arctic char, served with mashed potatoes.

Dessert was actually pretty solid.  We had skyr, which is like Greek yogurt, only it's Icelandic, topped with some local berries.

After dinner, we headed back to our place, dropped off the car, and went to have a drink at the Kaffibarinn, which by Day 2, was becoming our local spot.  Completing the Golden Circle was an accomplishment for us, and we felt good about seeing some of the countryside and putting another day in the books.