Day Two | The Golden Circle
7 am | Eat Breakfast
7:45 am to 4 pm | The Golden Circle Tour with Grayline
1st stop: Random place with beautiful mountains
As Eunice and I were dozing off, our tour guide directed our attention to the majestic landscape. Every where I turned, it looked like a picture from National Geographic. It was super cold and windy that day. I should've worn something thicker than a fleece and windbreaker from Nike.
2nd stop: Thingvellir National Park
We had about 45 minutes to the explore the whole park. I didn't think it was enough time because the park is pretty big. You can see silfra fissure here, which is a crack between the North American and Eurasian continents. So basically you're in the middle. There's a small waterfall in the way back of the park, however we decided to skip it because gullfoss was next.
3rd stop: Gullfoss - Waterfall
Gullfoss aka the Golden Waterfalls was massive. It looked like the water was racing down staircases, made of rocks and mountains. Make sure to wear something waterproof because there is a lot of mist here. Our tour bus stopped here for lunch as well. It's really pricy and not that filling. So, it may be wise to pack your lunch (but you can't eat it in the cafeteria - from what I remember).
4th stop: Strokkur Geysir
This picture definitely doesn't do it justice. I just chose this picture because I thought it was cool to see how blue the water was. The water can get up to 80-100 degrees celsius so you don't want to touch it... unless you want to burn off your arm/finger/leg. It goes off every 3-5 minutes and the height of the explosion varies. We were given 45 minutes here as well and I felt like I had adequate amount of time to see and explore this place.
5th stop: Old/New Icelandic Churches + Icelandic Horses
This stop showed us the difference between old and new Icelandic churches. Our tour guide explained that Iceland used to be polytheistic but converted to Christianity. Inside the white church (newer church), there were mosaics of Jesus Christ.
Our tour guide told us that this was a volcano. Now I can say I saw a volcano. Take that off the bucket list. I loved how the two horses were peacefully grazing near the possibly active volcano with no care in the world.
Unlike horses from America, Icelandic horses were stockier and bushier. Their hair is unkempt and thick - probably because of the cold weather.
By the time we came back from the tour, we were so tired from walking around and jetlag. We took a "nap" for about 3 hours. We were planning on trying out a place called Icelandic Fish & Chips because I heard they were good and I wanted to try their sauces made of Skyr yogurt. However we woke up around 9 pm and it was too late. We decided to try out KEX hostel because it's one of Reykjavik's popular hostels and they often have live shows, performed by local bands. Luckily, we were able to enjoy a group's performance. Unfortunately I don't know the same of the band but they were good!
We both got the Spicy "freedom burger," which cost around 2490 ISK. It suit our American tastebuds because it was meaty, juicy, salty, and filling. I would definitely eat it again if I went back to Iceland.
10 pm | Crepes at Eldur & Is
11 pm | Solfar Sculpture
Solfar aka the Sun Voyager is a famous sculpture in Reykjavik. It's really pretty when the sun hits the metal at a certain angle. It was worth walking to it and just admiring its size and design. Here is the wiki page if you want to read more about it.
Hey! My name is Alice Hong. I love food, traveling, and trying out various beauty products.
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