We rented a car so we were sure to hit the prime sights in Iceland. The “Golden Circle” features three main sights. The original Icelandic parliamentary meeting site, the geyser that geysers are named after, and a waterfall. Without much research I figured that only the geyser would be very interesting. I was wrong.

These are constructed at Þingvellir. (The Þ symbol is pronounced with a “th” sound.) Over a thousand years ago Icelanders gathered here (this area – the buildings were not here) to have a big meeting and they started the world’s first parliament.

We stomped around the area and missed a few busloads of people so had areas to ourselves.

We drove to the place where Geysir is next. Sadly, Geysir erupts very infrequently now. But just a few steps away a geyser a little less tall than Old Faithful erupts every six minutes or so… Strokkur.

We had lunch at the cafeteria at the geysers and then drove on to the waterfall Gulfoss.

We were all getting cold and it was getting into the afternoon. So we set out with Pepper navigating the backroads of the area to get us back to Reyjkavik.

zieak (2198 Posts)

Ryan "Zieak" McFarland dabbles. Beards. Making things. Travel. Genealogy. Frugality and excessiveness. Fitness and fatness. He's a PE teacher in India, usually calls Alaska home and is a happy father to two boys and the husband to a suddenly crafty wife.