iceland, part four: Þingvellir, geysir and kerið.

After breakfast at our hotel, we packed up our belongings and left Reykjavík for what is known as the Golden Circle. We left the city for sweeping landscapes and fields that went on and on without any human or animal in sight. The Icelandic landscapes are ridiculously beautiful and I was in awe as we drove towards Þingvellir National Park. The park itself covers a huge amount of space, so we only tackled a tiny bit of it. 

Next, we were on our way to Geysir but before our arrival, I got my dad to pull over because a group of Icelandic horses were near the fencing by the highway. The horses were so adorable and very friendly. They came a lot closer as I approached them, most likely thinking I had food.

When we got to Geysir, we walked around and got to see Litli Geysir and Strokkur, the latter of which shoots water high up into the sky quite frequently. There, we also grabbed hot drinks in the canteen to help warm us up before our next stop.

Gulfoss was the very first waterfall out of many that we saw in Iceland and this was one of my favourites. The colours were so muted and so beautiful, and you could feel the mist when you got closer to the rushing water. It was superbly windy (as was every single place we visited), which made it seem so much colder than it actually was.

Our final stop of the day was Kerið, a large 3000-year-old volcanic crater. We walked around the entire upper circumference, revelling in its natural beauty. There was actually a path that headed towards the water at the bottom of the crater, but my mom and I were a bit too scared to walk down.

We drove to Hella and checked into the Stracta Hotel, which was hands down the coolest hotel of our trip. It had a very minimalist aesthetic and all the rooms were found in container-like buildings and were well-designed with a Scandinavian influence. There were two outdoor hot tubs and two saunas available to the guests as well, which were put to good use by me and my mom. And the craziest thing was that we got into the hot tub around 10PM and the sun hadn’t even set yet! I loved everything about this hotel and I have nothing but praise about it. The buffet was fantastic, the decor was amazing, and it was a great place to rest our heads for the evening. 

Next up: more waterfalls and gorgeous Icelandic sights! x