Reykyavik and Golden Circle, March 16-18 and 31, 2015

Tony Crocker

Administrator
Staff member
We landed at Reykyavik early in the morning of March 16, but it was so windy the plane couldn't get to the gate for over an hour. It was still breezy when we finally got to the Betchart tour buses.
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We had a short city tour after lunch, stopping at the Hallgrímskirkja church, built between 1945 and 1986.
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The columns on the sides are designed to resemble the natural basalt columns we later saw at the southern tip of Iceland.

A statue of Leif Ericsson is in front of the church.
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On March 17 we took the Golden Circle tour. First stop was Þingvellir on the western edge of a wide rift in the tectonic plates. Here we're on the edge looking south to mountains and some geothermal steam plants.
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The rift valley is about 30km wide here, with several rift features such as the Öxará river here. The church on the other side was built in 1859 on the site of Iceland's first church in 1015.
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This rift valley also includes Iceland's largest Lake Þingvallavatn and the Silfra rift where we later scuba dived.

Þingvellir is most noted for this location of Iceland's Alþingi (assembly), which was Iceland's supreme legislative and judicial authority from 930 until 1271.
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The next Golden Circle stop was Gullfoss, probably Iceland's most famous waterfall, which is in 2 stages at right angles.
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A view down the gorge of the lower fall.
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The final Golden Circle stop is Geysir. The namesake Great Geysir can be taller than Old Faithful but is currently dormant. It is most active after earthquakes. The Strokkur geysir is more modest in size but erupts every 10 minutes or so. Its unique feature is the translucent bubble that forms immediately before the eruption. Attempts to take still pictures were in vain, so I shot video and extracted 2 clips.
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We then stopped for a snack at the Friðheimar greenhouse, where tomatoes and cucumbers are grown with Iceland's abundant geothermal heat.
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As the tour was sponsored by the Planetary Society for the solar eclipse, aurora viewing was another priority. At 9PM we boarded the buses to get away from Reykyavik's city lights. We had previously visited an aurora museum where we had received photography instructions. Best results are with 8-10 seconds of exposure. I did not have a tripod, but there were convenient waist-high street signs where I could brace the camera.
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This picture was taken looking straight up.
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Aurora is a phenomenon that usually looks better in pictures than live. The light is usually very pale to the eye, but the colors come out with long exposures.

On March 18 we drove to the southwest Reykjanes peninsula. Once again the winds were up. Here's a bridge over a tectonic plate rift.
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At the edge of the peninsula is a statue of the Great Auk.
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These flightless birds were actually about 3 feet tall and Iceland was their last habitat before their mid-19th century extinction.

We then spent a couple of hours at the Blue Lagoon. Overview:
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It was sleeting sideways most of the time we were there, so most people were near the edges on leeward sides of rock outcroppings.

Liz with some facial mud.
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Our favorite part was the hot water shower massage.
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These tourist attractions within an hour or two of Reykyavik were surprisingly busy for the supposed off-season. We even encountered a few British school groups. Betchart had reserved entry at the Blue Lagoon or we might have had a long wait to get in.

We had one day in Reykyavik on own own at the end of the trip. Here's the 1990 Sun Voyager sculpture on the waterfront.
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We then visited the Viking museum near the airport. Liz is on the Islendingur, which is a replica ship that some Icelanders sailed to Newfoundland in 2000 as a millennial celebration of Leif Ericsson's voyage.
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After the 2010 volcano eruption that disrupted air travel, Icleand was worried that would scare off tourism and so began aggressive promotion. This succeeded beyond expectations, with tourism rising from 300K in 2008 to over 1 million in 2014. Icelandair offers free Reykyavik stopovers between Europe and North America. Consequently it pays to plan ahead for tourist attractions near Reykyavik, which also has 80% of Iceland's 400,000 people. The rest of the country is much quieter and quite pristine.
 
Tony,

If I had 2 full days and then a bit more than half a day in Iceland in early April, I assume skiing would be doable for a day as well as some touristy stuff (Wife likely along with me). I'll read up on your multiple reports again, but is there an "in summary" kind of gist. It's not that big of a country so I'm assuming barring bad weather that most hings are day trip capable or close to it? Probably something like arrive afternoon sat, sun-mon full days in iceland and then flight leaving late afternoon on a tues or something like that.

This is a possible add on to a business trip that takes me to Copenhagen next spring with Iceland Air as one of the better flight times/connections from Denver. Trip won't be fully confirmed till mid-January, but interesting enough options to do a touch of pre-planning now as it is more likely than not to be confirmed.
 
EMSC":179up10l said:
If I had 2 full days and then a bit more than half a day in Iceland in early April, I assume skiing would be doable for a day
I would not try to ski in that scenario. The ski area near Reykyavik is only 600 vertical, and supposedly Reykyavik residents drive the 4+ hours to Akureyri to ski Hlidarfjall on weekends. You saw my report from there and it was not a great ski day. With good snow and visibility Hlidarfjall would be worth an afternoon+ of your time if you were spending some time in the north. viewtopic.php?f=5&t=11768

With your time constraints I would give one full day to the Golden Circle and the other to the south. Jokulsarlon, Skaftafell National Park and Vik were all impressive, as was the Skogafoss waterfall where we did not have time to stop. viewtopic.php?f=5&t=11854 That's a busy day trip from Reykyavik but still not the marathon way we did it driving halfway around the island.

There is a lot to see in Iceland so I encourage you to extend your time to a week, which would give you 2-3 days in the north for the less touristy experience that FTOers like admin and jamesdeluxe value the most. As noted in my reports all of the attractions within easy distance of Reykvavik can be busy, and you'll want to plan ahead carefully for those.

Iceland is eager for your tourist dollars so I'm almost positive your flight connection will not restrict the length of your stopover. FYI I think April is prime time for Arctic Heli though it may be on the late side for the lift served areas at lower elevation.
 
Sorry just looked at your photo's and didn't read the text, but Wouw they look amazing! Hope you had a great time!
 
Last year I joined the bus tours from Reykjavik by Gotojoyiceland.is. I really loved to visit Iceland, especially the Golden Circle and northern lights. I really love the amazing natural phenomena. Thanks for sharing these beautiful pictures and reminding me of all the memories.
 
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