Is it wrong to set your alarm on vacation? not if  you’re going to see the geysir from which all geysers are named!

The sun doesn’t rise until 9am in Iceland during this time of the year, a little unsettling, like going to work while it’s still dark.

We took a bus to another bus,  which was our tour bus for the day. It was a nice coach with charging ports at each seat and, very clever, each passenger gets a tablet withmultiple language options. the tables are connected to the bus’ gps so that it played information about certain areas while we were passing.

The guide was decent, bad jokes and all. I’ll tell you one later. The guide was Icelandic and the driver  Polish, interesting combination. 

The first stop was,Þingvallavatn, anglicised as Thingvallavatn, the largest natural lake in Iceland.  The cracks and faults around it, of which the Almannagjá ravine is the largest, is where the Eurasian and North American tectonic plates meet. So, as our guide said, we drove from America to Europe! Who knew you could do that?

The wind…that was something!

The next stop was Lögberg, or Law Rock, was a rocky outcrop in south west Iceland, at the location for the assembly of the country’s Althing parliament. 

The exact location of the Lögberg is unknown, because of the changing geography of the rift valley over 1000 years. 

This was also one of Iceland UNESCO sites,  beautiful. Interestingly enough,  this was also the site of the death pools, where people would be put to death for committing what would have been considered a crime at the time. 

Back on the bus to our third stop, to see the grandaddy of all geysers. 

Geysir (Icelandic pronunciation: [ˈgeːisɪr̥]), sometimes known as The Great Geysir, is a geyser in southwestern Iceland. It was the first geyser described in a printed source and the first known to modern Europeans.

It erupts every seven minutes, we weren’t sure if we’d catch it! ha ha

Then, there were the mini or little “Litli Geysir” continously bubbling. 

How do you top that? With  an amazing and spectacular waterfall!

Gullfoss (“Golden Falls”;
 Icelandic pronunciation ) is a waterfall located in the canyon of the Hvítá river in southwest Iceland.

The waterfall is attached to the legend of Sigríður Tómasdóttir. She was the daughter of Tómas Tómasson, was determined to preserve the waterfall’s condition and even threatened to throw herself down. She is considered one of Iceland first environmentalists.

After the waterfall, we went into the shop/restaurant for lunch. Winner for PSM, I’ll be looking for food when wet get back to Reykjavik! the vanilla muffin I did have was great! 

Back to the bus for our next stop, Bláskógabyggð. Bláskógabyggð is a municipality located in western Iceland. Its major settlements are Laugarás and Laugarvatn. The municipality was formed in 2002 after the merger of Laugardalshreppur, Biskupstungnahreppur and Þingvallahreppur.

This was a cool site as there was a staircase built into the side of the waterfall for the trout to swim upstream. 

Our last stop was a volcanic crater lake. Kerið (occasionally Anglicized as Kerith or Kerid) is a volcanic crater lake located in the Grímsnes area in south Iceland, on the popular tourist route known as the Golden Circle.
This was an amazing site, the color of the water, the depth of the crater, what Mother Nature can do!

Back to Reykjavik in search of food, drink, conversation and good times. 

The most interesting…the fermented shark bites. This happens to be a traditional Icelandic thing…we asked our server how this came about and it’s the older generation that started it and has kept it going. Think about something your grandparents do and you think is gross…there you go!
After the nasty shark bites, which was accompanied by Brennivin, “the black death” schnapps, we went in search of dinner and I was in the mood for soup, rain and cold will do that to you, we found a Vietnamese restaurant with vegan soup! whew! it was great and just what I needed/wanted! 

We walked in the rain a bit more and headed back to the bnb to crash. Amazingly, we were still sleepy after having fallen asleep almost every time we were on the bus! it was so warm and cozy,  how could we not!

Tomorrow…more adventure!