Majestic beauty at the golden circle
The tour operators told me that the Golden Circle was the most popular tour in Iceland. I can see why. Greenhouse Village. Faxi Waterfall. Geysir and its natural hot springs. Gullfoss.
I took Bus Travel Iceland, a tour operator that tends to be a bit cheaper and run somewhat smaller tour buses (I was on a 42-passenger). Our driver was terrific, and I think saved our skin --- but more on that later.
I took Bus Travel Iceland, a tour operator that tends to be a bit cheaper and run somewhat smaller tour buses (I was on a 42-passenger). Our driver was terrific, and I think saved our skin --- but more on that later.
The first stop on the tour was Greenhouse Village in the town of Hveragerdi, about 45 Km from Reykjavik. The town has natural thermal areas that power greenhouses that grow various vegetables. I didn't get any photos or video of that because, well. it's greenhouses. We were in the village just long enough to grab some coffee (15 minutes) and then headed to Faxi Waterfall (below) for a 10-minute stop to take in the scenery.
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We also stopped at Geysir, which has several natural hot springs with temperatures that can reach 100 degrees (so says the signs). I got lucky below. I saw one of the brooks explode, and got it on video. We were there about 90-minutes,
If you go to the video tab, you can see all of the videos I took while on this tour. They're all short. |
The video below of Gullfoss says it all. It's one of the most beautiful natural wonders I've ever seen. It felt like I was standing in the middle of Game of Thrones. You can hear me saying, this is like being at the end of the world. What's what it felt like
So earlier I praised our driver, and this is why: While on the tour, a nasty storm came through --- hey. it's Iceland, it happens --- so we had to cut the tour short in an effort to get back to Reykjavik pronto. We even had to take an alternate road back because the mountain passages were closed. Scary. At several points along the way, we were in white-out conditions. You couldn't see more than three feet in front of you --- and cars were coming the opposite way, . On several occasions, the bus slid on the very icy and slippery roads, and I had visions of us tipping over. That's not hyperbole. On our way back, we passed a couple of cars that had slid into ditches. One was on its side. And a tour bus from another company had slid off the road. Yikes. Luckily, we all got back in one piece. Thank you Bus Travel!!