Today we booked a Golden Circle day tour with Reykjavik Excursions. We did the extended tour that also stopped at Fontana Wellness Spa (more hot springs!).
I'd never done a big bus day tour but it was actually really fun. I was worried the drives would be long and boring but our guide (Albert) told stories and gave us cultural and geographical tidbits along the way. He was funny and entertaining and made the drives go by quickly. The bus has huge windows and they give a great view of the countryside.
We were picked up really early (8:30am!) so we got a quick breakfast at Bakari Sandholt again and then were on our way. Our first stop on the tour was this weird horse theater thing that was just a half hour stop for the bathrooms and to pet some horses. It didn't really add much to the tour but the horses were cool. I'm assuming the only reason for the stop is so we aren't on the same schedule as the other Golden Circle tours that Reykjavik Excursions does.
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| This was about 10 seconds before this horse got snot all over Brandon's pants. |
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| Icelandic horse #2 |
Next we drove through Geysir to get to Gullfoss waterfall. We walked down to the waterfall and it was like the coldest I've ever been in my life. I didn't bring my gloves and I was pretty miserable for a bit but there was a small part of the trail hidden from the wind that was nice. It was a really amazing view and I'd definitely go back to spend more time there (but with a heavier coat!). There were also TONS of people with selfie sticks (like most major tourist attractions these days).
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| Gullfoss waterfall |
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| Gullfoss |
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| Brandon looks much happier than me. I was freezing! |
Afterwards we went back to Geysir park to see all the little geysers and watched the big one erupt a few times (FYI it smells like farts!). Then we got lunch at the cafe there. The food was super expensive but not too bad I guess. We had sometime to browse through the shop and I send my parents a postcard.
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| Geysir #1 |
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| Geysir #2 |
After lunch was a 2 hour stop at Fontana Wellness Center which has 5 hot spring pools and some saunas. It was pretty chill and a lot of fun. All the pools are different temperatures so you can make the rounds a few times. It was a little crowded with the whole group there at once but it was still fun. I liked the comparison of this smaller, local type place to Blue Lagoon which is a major tourist attraction. Two hours seemed like the perfect amount of time. After soaking for awhile they had a little cafe and I got a glass of wine. I also inexplicably lost one of my socks there so spent the rest of the day with just one sock which was weird.
Our last stop was Thingvellir national park which was probably the coolest stop. It's where the Icelandic parliament was formed in 930ad and you can still see the earth foundations where they met IN TENTS for two weeks each year! This is also the stop where the American and Eurasian plates meet and are slowly drifting apart so you can see huge cracks in the ground.
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| A good example of the large cracks the shifting plates create. |
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| Thingvellir |
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| Thingvellir |
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| Thingvellir |
We had a short half hour walk on a trail along the edge of the American plate and that was a really cool thing to see.
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| Me standing in front of the American plate. |
So all in all it was a lot of fun and a great way to spend the day. The Golden Circle is basically must-do thing when you're in Iceland and I thought this was a great way to see it for the first time!
After the tour we went to a Nepalese restaurant that had great reviews. It was a little pricey ($25 entrees!!) but we thought why not since we're on vacation and haven't had Nepalese in a long time. The entrees were actually pretty big and I think 2 people could easily split one but the food was really good (maybe not $25 good though!). Brandon started not feeling good so I finished my food while he went to lay down.
Brandon wanted to rest a bit more when I dropped off his food so I went to find a cozy wine bar to read in which proved really hard to do. I had a few recommendations from a friend but one was closed (it was about 9:30pm by now) and the other I couldn't find. I walked into a gastropub type place and waited at the bar a few minutes but the bartender was totally fangirling over someone (who I didn't recognize at the time but later I found out he was Conor McGregor the MMA fighter who recently retired) so I never got a drink and left to find a new place. I even found Le Bistro which was cozy and chill so I read for a bit and then Brandon met me and we hung out until they closed at 11pm.
When we got back to our room we found out the other room on our floor had people in it and they were SUPER LOUD and SUPER DRUNK and stomping around. It bothered but it was our last night so I wasn't going to complain. I think after about an hour or so they left (or passed out?) and we fell asleep.
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