Iceland Part 5

Thursday, October 18: This was our day for the Golden Circle Tour through Gate 1. We visited a geothermal power plant, an Icelandic horse farm, Geysers (which is an Icelandic word pronounced Gee-ser), beautiful waterfalls, and a national park where the North American and the Euro-asian tectonic plates are separating creating a rift valley that is covered by a lake. We saw a massive glacier in the distance that is 52 km. in length. Iceland is really the land of fire and ice. We learned that Iceland gets all of its steam, electricity, hot water, and heat from geothermal and hydroelectric sources.

Steam rises from the area behind the plant. 

Our guide explains the process of garnering the power and heated
water from the 200+ degree C water from thousands of feet underground.

The small, stocky Icelandic horses are carefully bred and highly valued. You can buy
a stallion for about $1,000,000 and, once it leaves Iceland, it can never return. 

This rider demonstrated the 4 gaits that this horse has, including the tolt, which is
a little faster than a trot and far smoother. Some Icelandic horses have a 5 gait, which is an
all-out "flying" gallop for traveling long distances and can only be demonstrated outdoors.

The original, largest geyser at this National Park is dormant now
but there are others to enjoy that are still active. 

This geyser goes off about every four minutes so we got to see it several times.

Gullfoss is so spectacular! If you look closely you can see
people walking out a trail to an overlook above the upper falls. The four of us
chose not to go down there but Marv went down the steps to it to get the shot below.

It was very, very windy at the falls and therefore felt pretty cold.

This is the shot Marv got from the bottom of the stairs that lead to the trail to the overlook.

The Atlantic Rift here is about a mile wide gash in the earth,
with a river running through the valley

Some of us on the bus chose to walk down, down, down through the breaks in the rock.

Much history has taken place here. The original settlers gathered in their tribes
once a year to mete our justice and make laws and generally socialize.

The acoustics of the rock walls make it an ideal amphitheater for addressing huge crowds.

The rock outcroppings at the top led to legends abounding with elves and trolls.

The nice thing about a bus tour is that all four of us can enjoy the beautiful countryside.

That evening we had our most memorable dinner. We walked to the Harbor district to check out the restaurants there, as recommended by Sarai. It was cold, rainy, and blustery, and we were looking at posted menus as we went. Outside Harbor 101, right on the dock, there was a sandwich board but there was no light on it. As I fumbled for my phone to use the flashlight, a man came out and effusively welcomed us to come in, where he would “take good care” of us. I was very willing to go right in but Marv felt he was a little too eager and would be taking advantage of us. Meanwhile Kris wandered off to check some other menus. The man returned inside, I finally got out the flashlight and realized the prices were in line with others, and Kris returned to say there wasn’t anything better, so we went inside. It was cozy and warm and charming in the very old restored warehouse that had been moved to this sight. I found the man who had encouraged us to come in and told him he had convinced us. As we looked over the menu he returned with bottles of white and red wine, and poured us each a glass, on the house. Marv and I decided to share a seafood dinner that came with lobster bisque as an appetizer and dessert. To our surprise they brought out bowls of the bisque for all four of us and heaping baskets of bread. The dinner was delicious and the dessert was big enough for all four of us to share. At the end, I asked to see the man who had treated us so well and learned that he was the owner, Victor, and he flits in and out all evening but wasn’t there right now. I left my warmest thanks and later wrote a glowing review on Trip Advisor for our memorable evening.