After a much-needed sleep, we awoke to our first full day in Iceland, and were treated to a very full day of rugged grandeur. We began with the Golden Circle, exploring first Thingvellir, a continental divide where the North American and Eurasian plates are slowly diverging. It is also the site where the Icelandic parliament was held in the open for almost 900 years, from 930 to 1798.
Next up were the sulfurous hot springs at Geysir, where several springs erupt with varying frequency. We got to watch Strokkur gush several times before moving on. From there, we continued east to Gullfoss ("Golden Falls"), an iconic waterfall that marks the far end of the Golden Circle.
Heading south, we hooked up with Highway 1, aka the Ring Road, before turning east again to follow along the south coast. We stopped in a few smaller villages and bought traditional Icelandic sweaters at local wool markets - mine came from Hella ("Het-la"), and Jane's was knitted by a woman named Birna in Hvolsvollur. We also made the first of many stops at an N1 gas station for hot dogs, a popular road food among Icelanders.
The next stop was very exciting - we donned our rain gear and prepared to visit two very different waterfalls located at the same stop. As we were getting ready, about thirty Icelandic ponies thundered past, along with a few farmers rounding them up from some nearby fields.
We then walked up to and BEHIND Seljalandsfoss, a high waterfall tumbling off a tall cliff, with a circular rock ledge in behind. A short walk away, a small crevice in the cliff face revealed a narrow but high cave, where smaller waterfall Gljufrabui pored over the rocks and down the interior into a rushing stream. Both were very wet experiences, but we came prepared with rain gear and camera covers! Of course, the photos don't really capture it well, but you get the idea.
We camped for the night a little further east at Skogafoss, right in front of another nice waterfall. As Jane settled in for the night after a dinner of boil-in-bag meals, I felt compelled to climb the stairs (467 of them, I counted!) to the top for a different view of the van from high above.
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