Reykjavik and the Golden Circle

We arrived in Reykjavik yesterday, Sunday morning, and made our way to the apartment in the old harbor area.  On the way, we began to see the contrast we were in for.  Gone were the vines, here was the volcanic landscape including an interesting golf course.

The rough is really tough!

 Also gone was the warm weather of France.  We decided that it would be an easy day after 10 days of excursions and wine tastings.  We did some walking around the area, some grocery shopping and a couple of loads of laundry.  Linda braved the cold and we went to a seafood restaurant by the harbor.

 Fish and chips for Linda and an Icelandic fish stew for me.  It was not what I expected - more of a fish and potatoes casserole and quite good.

Today we took a Golden Circle tour.  It's one of the 2 things that most tourists do in Reykjavik (the other being the Blue Lagoon.  We're doing that Thursday).  When we were in Reykjavik on a cruise a few years ago we just explored the city so we decided that it was time to venture out.  As we headed out of the city the landscape changed and then the weather changed.  Mountains, lakes and fog.

Our first stop was in the village of Hveragerdi which was hit by a magnitude 6.3 earthquake in 2008.  Needless to say, there are a lot of volcanoes and earthquakes in Iceland.  We stopped at a recently built little shopping mall which had an exhibit on the earthquake.  Most interesting was that, while they were building the center, they found a fissure underground that is the place where the North American and European tectonic plates meet.  So we were able to stand with our feet on both continents.

More on the tectonic plates later.

Our next stop was at the small Faxi waterfall.  It was nice but just a prelude of what was to come.

What came next was the magnificent Gullfoss waterfall.  It was big and beautiful and we got the chance to walk close enough to get good and wet from the spray.

Next stop on the Golden Circle was the Geysir geothermal area.  Here we walked around and saw the various features bubbling and venting and also the Strokker Geyser erupting.

The Geysir geyser - no longer active

A selfie of the geezer with a geyser!

The last stop was at the Thingvellir National Park.  Here we walked to another lovely waterfall but, most impressively, walked through the rift between the North American and European tectonic plates.

North America on the left, Europe on the right

Thingvellir is also the site of the Althing, Iceland's first parliament from the 10th century.

It was an amazing day filled with beautiful scenery and decent weather.  While Iceland may not have many vines, it does have lots of horses and sheep.  The sun made a few appearances and no fog on the way back.

And no kings or queens to try to remember!