The Golden Circle

Strokkur

Day 11 (8/10/13)

Here it is the last day of our tour of Iceland already. As always there are a lot of mixed emotions. On one hand I wish it could go on forever and I am going to miss my newfound friends and the other hand I wish I could just teleport home and sleep in my own bed. This may be the wonderful part about vacation is that it makes you miss home again for awhile anyway. It has been a wonderful trip and part of that has been due to the great group of people we have been with. There is not a one in the group that I would not want as a friend. Our first stop of the day is at Friheimar, Iceland’s largest producer of hydroponic grown tomatoes. We were not there for the greenhouses however but their demonstrations of Icelandic horses in action. So far on our trip we have seen thousands of Icelandic horses. We have made sure they were securely back in their pasture and even had a taste of their meat. This is our first chance, however, to see what really amazing creatures they really are. Although small in stature, the Icelandic horse is very strong and durable, perhaps because they have adapted to a climate that few other animals can survive in. They have descended from the horses that the original Vikings brought to Iceland in the 9^th and 10^th century. Since that time there has been no interbreeding with any other horses leaving a very pure strain of horses. At this point it is illegal to bring any other horse into Iceland. Another fascinating feature of the Icelandic horse is its added gait, the tolt. It is a very smooth and comfortable gait which allows the horse and rider to travel great distances in comfort. On our way to Haukadalur “valley of geysers” our next scheduled stop, we visit Faxi Falls another beautiful little waterfall for a quick photo opportunity.  “Geyser” the water spout which gave geysers their name has quit spewing but fortunately its little brother Strokkur “the churn” has continued to spurt every 5 to 7 minutes. It is awesome to see it blast into the air. Right next door is Gullfoss “golden falls” one of Iceland’s most famous falls because of its proximity to Reykjavik. At this point we have seen hundreds of waterfalls and the joke has become, “Oh look, another beautiful waterfall” but in truth it never fails to leave you with a sense of awe when you look on these natural wonders. We have one more stop, before heading back to Reykjavik and saying goodbye to all our new found friends, at Pingvellir National Park. This UNESCO world heritage site is the site where the first democratic parliament “the Althingi” took place in 930AD bringing together people from all over Iceland. It is still a model for the national assembly that exists today, although indoors and at Reykjavik. I would guess there are a few less drownings and hangings as well. Pingvellir is also the site where the North American Plate and European plate are slowly moving apart. Pingvellir National Park is also the home of Iceland’s largest natural lake, Þingvallavatn. All good things must come to an end and it is time to head back to Reykjavik, our circle of Iceland complete. As we say our goodbyes we all realize that Iceland is unlike any other place on earth, a place of extremes where old and new, hot and cold, life and death, danger and safety all go hand in hand.

Icelandic Horse doing the Tolt

Eileen made Friend

A couple more

Faxifoss

Hot Pool

Another boiling hot pool

Strokkur getting ready to Blow

Gullfoss

On e last Build

The Drowning Pool

Site of several international parleys

North American Plate

European Plate

Parliament Rock 

Pingvallavatn