DAY 34 – MONDAY 7TH JANUARY 2019

 Peter and Maria and Theo were joining us again today as we headed off to explore Geysir and Gullfoss.  The countryside was stunning to day with snow covered mountains and snow in the fields, and even more spectacular because we got to witness the sun rising this morning on our way.  We were in for a clear sunny and very COLD day today.   

Early morning start this morning....

We got to witness the sun rise this morning... Very rare to even see the sun here...

Beautiful start to the day..

Sunrise today....

 Geysir is a part of the famous Golden Circle along with Thingvelir National Park and Gullfoss Waterfall. Our first destination this morning was to visit Gerysir and see the highly active Geysir Hot Springs area with boiling mud pits, exploding geysers and the lively Strokkur which shoots boiling water 30 metres into the air every 7 to 10 minutes.  The geothermal field here is believed to have a surface area of approximately 3 km². Most of these hot springs with water temperatures of nearly 125 ºC are aligned along a 100m wide strip of land running in the same direction as the tectonic lines in the area, from south to southwest.

Beautiful snow capped mountains as a backdrop to Geysir

surrounded by so much thermal activity

Little Geysir

Gorgeous sunrise this morning.... such a beautiful COLD day...

 Whilst we were waiting for the Geysir to erupt,  I happened to notice someone on the mountain behind us trying to do a handstand.....  Somehow I managed to capture his attempts.  None of the others noticed it... so glad I captured it in photos...

After wandering around checking out the geysir and other thermal pools and steam houses, we headed back to the relatively newly opened Geysir Centre.  Mainly we wanted to get out of the cold, and what better way to do it than head indoor and enjoy a nice hot cup of coffee and hot chocolate.

Geysir Centre - lots of souvenirs and hot food...

Enjoying a nice hot drink to try and warm up..

My cheeky little monkey

Love this twist on a log wall...

Volcanic rock wall on the other side..

From Geysir, we headed off to Gullfoss to check out the amazing waterfall there.  On arrival the boys noticed large sheet ice that had formed on pools of water.  They had broken into large shards and were quite thick.  We were all a little fascinated by them, and of course had to take some photos.  

Views on the drive to Gullfoss

Still plenty of snow around

Men being boys

big shards of ice...

There was another Information centre here which was well stocked with souvenirs and hot food.  We spent a little time in here sheltering from the cold and getting warm before heading off again and heading down to the waterfall which was probably a good 300 metre walk from the centre.

The mighty puffin birds

Icelandic trolls

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

lovely local colourful knitted gloves and mittens

Ear mittens -  

Icelandic Christmas decorations

Gullfoss is more than just a pretty waterfall, it has a story to tell. In the early 20th century foreign investors wanted to harness the power of Gullfoss to produce electricity. In 1907 Howells, an Englishman wanted to buy Gullfoss from Tómas Tómasson, a farmer who owned Gullfoss at this time. Tómas declined Howells´ offer to buy the waterfall but later he leased it to him. The farmer´s daughter, Sigriður Tómasdóttir who grew up on his father´s sheep farm sought to have the rental contract voided. Sigriður using her own saving hired a lawyer in Reykjavik to defend her case. The trial lasted years and she went several times barefoot on traitorous terrain to Reykjavik to follow up on her case. She even threatened to throw herself into the waterfall if the construction would begin. Her attempts failed in court but before any damage was done to the waterfall the contract was disposed due to the lack of payments of the rent fee. The struggles of Sigriður to preserve the waterfall brought to people´s attention the importance of preserving nature and therefore she is often called Iceland´s first environmentalist.  There is a stone memorial to Sigríður above the falls.

The waterfall is quite spectacular and is listed as one of the top 10 waterfalls in the world.  It drop a total of 32 meters in two stages as it flows through the rugged, at times 70 meters high, canyon. About a kilometre from Gullfoss the river turns very sharply to the right where it flows down through a dramatic, wide canyon before the vast volume of water is very powerfully forced into a narrower channel. Gullfoss plunges in two dramatic stages, the first cascade drops 11 meters and the second drops 21 meters.  There are higher waterfalls in Iceland but a chance to witness the sheer power and grandeur of Gullfoss is something quite spectacular and I am so pleased we didn’t miss it.  

Gullfoss Waterfall.... amazing sight

The sun was about to set as we headed for home.  We took a different route home which also offered some amazing views of snow-capped mountains, and highlands dusted in snow…  We have had an amazing day, perfect weather, clear skies, even managed to see rainbows over the falls at Gullfoss.  Doesn’t get much better than this. 


We made one last stop before we got home to check out Urriðafoss Waterfall.  This was only 9 kms from where we were staying and we had to drive pass it to get home.  The  sun set had set by the time we got here, but it was still twilight.  Urriðafoss is a waterfall in Þjórsá River. Þjórsá is Iceland's longest river, 230 km, and Urriðafoss is the most voluminous waterfall in the country. This water fall was pretty but no were near as grand in height as the other waterfalls we have visited whilst in Iceland.  It was more like a series of  fast flowing cascades of water  as the river drops down by the edge of Pjorsarhraun lava field in beautiful and serene surroundings...

 Tonight, I joined Pete and Steve in the hot tub.  Again, it was freezing getting in, especially as the hot tub is outside, and temperatures were below 0 degrees, but we had amazing views of a lovely clear night sky.  The temperature of the water in the hot tub was around 40 degrees so we were quite hot once we got out, and the heat lasted whilst we made a dash from the hot tub back to our cabin.

We did get a glimpse of the Northern Lights again tonight, but they were much weaker than we had seen them on Saturday night, and they didn’t last very long at all.

We did not even have enough time to set up the cameras properly  and take some decent photos.  Still feeling very blessed for the wonderful display we enjoyed on Saturday evening.