Day 2: A Road Trip Along the Golden Circle

On our second day, we ventured out of the city for one of Iceland’s classic road trips: the Golden Circle. For the most part, much of Iceland in the winter is a deserted, desolate tundra. The majority of the population lives in Reykjavik and small towns on the coast, so it only takes a short amount of time to leave the city and immerse yourself in the landscape.

We started the journey early. Once leaving the city, there are no lights on the road. Our first stop was the Hellisheidi geothermal power plant.

Hellisheidi is the largest geothermal power plant in the world, and it was a fitting start to the tour. As we trekked across the countryside, there became a reoccurring theme to Icelandic life: water. Hot water, caused by the shifting tectonic plates, is a central part of Icelandic life. It heats homes, powers the cities and makes life in Iceland sustainable.

As we left the power plant, the sun started to rise. Our second stop was a Cathedral at Skálholt. The sun turned the clouds pink as we toured the grounds.

With the Sun now in the sky, we headed to our next attraction, the waterfall at Gullfoss.

Iceland generally isn’t that cold. With the temperature around -3 to 2 degrees celsius it’s actually pretty comfortable. What makes it cold is the wind. The winds at Gullfoss were strong and filled with mist from the waterfall. I had to take a break between viewing the waterfall to warm up with another bowl of hot Icelandic lamb soup.

10 minutes away from the waterfall are the geysers. The bubbling water boils up and bursts into the air.

Back on the road, we headed to Þingvellir National Park, a UNESCO world heritage site. This park is where the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates meet.

We walked up between the plates, and looked down from the North American plate, as the sun set across lake Þingvallavatn.

With kilometres of untouched open space, it was easy to get lost looking out the window of the bus today and the cold winds made us happy to relax in the comfort of our hotel for the rest of the evening.