Golden Circle and more

This was our driving day (see right). First stop was the inviting-sounding NLFÍ clinic, where we hoped to book massages. We were led through sterile, hospital-like corridors and left outside a room to wait. No one came out of it, and after watching old people shuffling past and noticing the eerie photos on the wall, we decided to quietly escape.


After getting hesitant confirmation from petrol station staff that roads were open, we set off in icy conditions in our 4WD. We drove down Route 26 towards Mt Hekla (see left), a volcano that goes off roughly every 10 years (last time was Feb 2000) and saw about 2
other travellers in the 3 hours of driving.

As our only map of that road stated that it was '...not meant for use during actual travelling...' (I only realised once we were well and truly on our way), it was extremely exciting when we finally reached a road sign confirming our location - so exciting, in fact, that it warranted a photograph (see right).


We continued on to the famous Golden Circle: firstly Gulfoss (see left), a waterfall that looked even more impressive when you took the extremely icy and slightly scary path to get closer. Our next stop was Geyser - well, Geyser is no longer erupting, so we were really there to see Strokkur (see below right), which was.

After a few failed attempts to capture it (it went off every 8-10 minutes), we moved onto Þingvellir (see below left). This was the original
seat of Parliament, but most of the sights were covered in snow, so we admired the rift (between the North American and European plates), then set off to Reykjavík.


As I had a hand in planning it, dinner was a long affair. Firstly, tasty lobster soup in polystyrene tubs with fresh bread from Sægreifinn (Sea Baron) near the harbour; then we tried puffin (surprisingly tough; in between duck and lamb according to W) and lamb at Við Tjörnina (By the Lake), a fancy restaurant filled with loud foreigners; and finally ended up in our favourite cafe (if you can have a favourite in only 2 days) for dessert.