Day 5 & 6 – Snaefellsnes to Golden Circle

I’m going to cheat a little and combine the last two days 😉

It’s our last day in Iceland and it has been an incredible week here. What a start to our world adventure!

Yesterday, we continued our exploration of the Snaefellsnes Peninsula driving to Búðardalur, which is in the North Eastern section.We had planned on going straight to the Golden Circle but once we got on the smaller roads, we couldn’t help ourselves. It was just too gorgeous to abandon and go on the main highway.

We don’t have very many photos of this drive as it wasn’t easy to pull over and also the vastness of the nature just wouldn’t come out in a picture. Hopefully the mental images will last us a lifetime. We were surrounded by snow-covered mountains on one side and the atlantic ocean on the other. Not to mention the huge farms sitting at the foot of the mountains and along the coast. The sheep and horses have an amazing playground in this country.

I took some videos along this road and plan on putting a short piece together on Iceland. Though it might take a while to get around to it as I have hours of footage to go through!

As part of this drive, we had to cross a bridge which was maybe 6 feet wide! It was crazy. We thought perhaps it was a foot bridge but there was no other way to pass! YIKES!! I was a little freaked out but we survived and got a cool picture out of it 😉

We eventually had to get back on the main highway to go towards our destination. I must say it was a little sad leaving these gorgeous dirt roads to get back on the main highway.

The Golden Circle is a very popular tourist destination and it can be easily done in a few hours but we decided to stay near one of the main attractions so we can dilly dally our way through it. We booked a Hostel in Laugarvtn. I was a little hesitant about this place but it turned out to be very nice. Once checked in, we to drove to the Geysir. It was pretty spectacular! Here’s a little video I took of it erupting. It erupts about every 5 minutes or so.

On the way back we stopped to say hello to some horses. They were quite friendly and wanted lots of attention.

 

We have been extremely lucky with the weather here and mother nature has been giving us some spectacular views. Here’s a shot Bruce took on our way back to the Hostel.

That was it for day 5. The horses and the gorgeous shot above was the perfect ending to a perfect day.

Our last day in Iceland was reserved for hot springs! After visiting the Gullfoss waterfall, we made our way to the hot spring town of Hveragerði. Just outside the town, there is a hiking trail that leads to a hot spring river. That’s right, you read that correctly. It’s a hot river! The hike takes about an hour and it’s uphill and you will most likely have a swarm of bugs around you the whole time but it is well worth it. I’m really glad we didn’t opt to do the blue lagoon and patiently waited for the end of the trip to visit this natural wonder. And as a bonus, its free.

Here’s a video of part of the hike to the river.

 

It was by far the highlight of our trip and we didn’t want to get out the river, but the rolling clouds told us it was time to make our way down the mountain.

We couldn’t have had a better ending to our Icelandic trip. After the hike, we decided to have the famous Icelandic hot dogs for dinner and then call it night since we have to be up by 4AM tomorrow.

Next stop –  London, England!