Iceland Day 3 - Golden Circle-Seljalandsfoss-Skógafoss
We started for the Thingvellir national park again the next morning.
Had a glimpse of this park last day while returning back from Landmannalaugar. But we wanted to explore more of this place . We wanted to go round the famous Golden Circle..The circle is very touristy,and it has a complete package of geysers,craters,tectonic plates,mountains so on and so forth.
The road afar..
These two people were just sitting here and enjoying the view.I loved to the serenity of this place.
The tectonic plates whose turbulent interactions formed Iceland, are the Eurasian tectonic plate and the North American tectonic plate. The dramatic landscape at Þingvellir (Thingvellir) offers a chance to see , on land and in shallow waters, the tectonic processes occurring along the submarine parts of a divergent ridge; processes that have been at play for millions of years.
Þingvellir water falls</em
Kerid Crater
I am so tiny compared to the huge crater .A reminder that mankind is just a tiny part of the universe.
Strokkur (Icelandic for "churn") is a fountain geyser in the geothermal area of Southern Iceland.It is one of Iceland's most famous geysers,erupting about every 8-10 minutes 15 – 20 m high, sometimes up to 40 m high.The water that erupts is almost 100 degree C warm.
I remember a story of Trespassing ;we were very hungry at around noon though had been snacking all day .We were looking for place to eat . I saw a house in the middle of nowhere and somehow had the feeling this might be a place to eat. I peeped into a glass wall and saw a beautiful living room . I was still hopeful that it was a restaurant with good decor. Then a man came out and asked ,"Can i help you". I explained i was looking for a place to eat . He looked surprised and said ,"Sorry, this is my home". If you go straight on Route 1 and take right after "x km" you will find a place to eat .I thanked him and thought probably that place to eat will not be on our way . But in Iceland ,most of the time, you don't have much choices, there was only one way and only one place to eat.Finally ate langoustines !!
Seljalandsfoss- One of the most beautiful waterfalls .
You can go behind the falls .
A lonely home in the middle of nowhere.
We stopped here and thought we will camp here that night . But was hungry for more . So moved ahead.
As we drove enjoying the ample beauty of this country,it was almost 11pm in the night . Cloudy and dusky.The sun does not set ,it does not get tired , but we do .
This is the only horse all by its own , we have always seen them in a herds .
The mighty Skogafoss. Due to the amount of spray the waterfall consistently produces, a single or double rainbow is normally visible on sunny days. According to legend, the first Viking settler in the area, Þrasi Þórólfsson, buried a treasure in a cave behind the waterfall. The legend continues that locals found the chest years later, but were only able to grasp the ring on the side of the chest before it disappeared again. The ring was allegedly given to the local church. The old church door ring is now in a museum.
Tuft Houses -These were the product of a difficult climate, offering superior insulation compared to buildings solely made of wood or stone, and the relative difficulty in obtaining other construction materials in sufficient quantities.
We were surrounded by many sheep.We were sleepy at the end of the day but they were all full of energy running in the fields.
And finally happy with the view . We decided to camp in Skogafoss that night .
We went to the small kitchen in the campground to prepare instant noodles.
And there we met with Aron and his father -in - law, Mike. As we all prepared food for the night , we exchanged stories to beat the exhaustion of the day.Aron mentioned ,they were just back from a 16 hours hike that day , which took them to see the volcano which erupted in 2010 in Iceland , the one that cannot be pronounced,Eyjafjallajökull. The volcano that erupted so much ash that all flights in London and most parts of Europe had to be grounded . Mike is 70 years old ecologist and Aron is a geologist from Montana.They are on their dream tour in Iceland .Both missing their daughters they could not bring to this trip .
