Iceland's Ring Road: The Ultimate Road Trip: Day Five: The Golden Circle

We woke up very early this morning to be picked up by the Islandic tour company, Reykjavík Excursions for their Golden Circle Tour of several key sites on the western part of the country: Gullfoss Waterfall, Geysir geothermal region, Þinghvellir National Park, and exploring the area between two tectonic plates dividing the American and Eurasian continents!

During our drive through the southern coast of Iceland, we had had many conversations with the Icelandic people about their belief in mystical beings such as elves and trolls. I understood that this was a religious belief that these mystical beings were key components of religion. Surprisingly, 90% of the Icelandic people are of the Lutheran faith and the remaining 10% are Catholic, pagan, or other. This sparked my interest in learning more about the roots of Iceland's religious past and present.

From the beginning settlement of mankind in Iceland, it has been a predominately Lutheran country, uniquely setting itself apart from many of the European countries. Celtic hermits were said to be the first to step foot on the country, spending time there to worship Christ before the Norse settlers then drove them out. In 930, Iceland was established as a republic, primarily worshipping the pagan religion. It was during the 10th century that a conversion to Catholocism was wide swept by missionaries.

It was 1540 when the Danish King instituted the Lutheran Reformation that took place in Iceland. We visited what is said to be the first church established in Iceland.

Beautiful modern-day mosaic of Jesus

Stone etchings

Such a powerful photo

We all then boarded the bus that would take us to Gullfoss (Golden Falls), which is now a UNESCO World Heritage site. Gullfoss is a result of water flow from the Hvítá river in southwest Iceland. The roaring sounds of water reinforce my love, appreciation, fear, and respect for this powerful and precious natural resource.

During the 20th century, a lot of enthusiasm was generated by the proposal to derive energy from the water flow of Gullfoss. Sigríður Tómasdóttir fought very hard to advocate against the government's desire to use the Hvítá river for electricity generation. Through many trips to Reykjavík, she was able to conjure up the attention and advocacy that Gullfoss deserved to be protected and that there would be irreversible damage to the waterfall if these decisions proceeded. She is a woman environmental pioneer venerated for her boldness and persistence in natural resources conservation.

We are pictured here, alongside the monument to Sigríður Tómasdóttir:

Memorial to Sigríður Tómasdóttir, who is recognized as a pioneer environmentalist for the protection of Gullfoss.

We hiked along the trail to the waterfall and the view was nothing short of spectacular...

The water flows into this crevice as if into the abyss!
Once can't see the bottom

One of my favorite photos of a group of traveling friends

After lunch, the bus shuttled us off to check out 10,000 year old Litli Geysir (Little Geysir). We had seen Old Faithful in Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming when I was a child, so we wanted to see how this would compare.

steaming...

Boiling...

A rolling boil, and...

eventual GUSH!

It wasn't as dramatic as we had expected, but still great to see!

Do you remember the movie Wedding Crashers? Well, we didn't quite crash this particular wedding in the same way, but this lucky couple certainly had a very non-traditional little celebration with close friends, family, and drinks all around. Cold and rainy weather didn't hinder them one bit.

Cheers! to the happy couple :)

This was a hotbed of sulfuric activity and the water was certainly hot! We were curious enough to try touching it as it ran down small paths of least resistance in the area.

beautiful blue hues

To round out our Golden Circle experience, we arrived in Þinghvellir National Park to check out this UNESCO World Heritage site. Founded in 1930 to protect the nature significance surrounding it. It is protected by Icelandic government and never to be sold or mortgaged. I could see why one would love to live here!

walking in between this massive bed of rock reminds us just how small we truly are!

Between two tectonic plates!

How long has it been since we read a sundial?

I had the most amusing conversation with a group of Icelandic primary school children at the visitor's center. One of them asked, "Where do you live?" I replied, "America! Where do YOU live?" He answered with a fist pump and very enthusiastically, "ISLAND!" So cute!