01 August 2022
Gullfoss, (translated to 'Golden Falls') is one of Iceland's most iconic and beloved waterfalls. It is one of the top 10 best waterfalls in the world. Check out the line of tourists visiting the falls. As one gets close to the water one becomes rather wet from the mist. Fun!!
Gullfoss is located in the canyon of the Hvita river in southwest Iceland. These falls appears in the 34th season of TheAmazing Race. The falls have appeared in music videos, the TV series The Vikings and near the beginning of "The Bible: In the Beginning..."
Marilee and I above the falls before we venture down to get sprayed. The water in Hvita river comes from the Langjokull Glacier.
Thingvellir National Park, location of Icelandic history and great geological wonders. (Need to go back and spend a day or two exploring this park.) One can see the continental drift between the North American and Eurasian Tectonic Plates. The North American Plate is the ridge on the left.(I believe?)
A pano of the North American Tectonic Plate. This park was the site of the annual parliament of Iceland from the year 930 until 1798. Since 1881 parliament has been held in Reykjavik.
Pano of the largest natural lake in Iceland, Thingvallavatn. This is a small portion of the lake. Like I said, need to go back and really explore these areas.
Geothermal area of geysers (Geysir in Icelandic). This area is known as the Haukadalur Valley full of mud pools, fumaroles and geysers.
This is a still of the Strokkur Geyser erupting. This Geysir erupts every 6-10 minutes. Its usual height is (49-66ft) sometimes as high as 130ft high.
This is a video Karen Alston took of the actual eruption.
We were able to stop at a working farm and saw some Icelandic Horses. They are about the size of ponies. Once an Icelandic horse leaves Iceland it can never come back, and no other type of horses are allowed into Iceland.
Finally a relaxing dip in the Secret Lagoon. This is the oldest swimming pool in Iceland. The pool water flows continuously, and it takes only 24 hours to its complete replacement. Warm, clean, rich in sulfur, stays at 38-40 Celsius all year round. It was so fun to check out where the water comes into the pool, it is hotter where it enters the pool. And the memorable part of this particular experience was that we were advised to shower off naked before entering the pool, and of course the showers were communal. A rather "foreign experience" for us rather shy North Americans!
Karen Alston and Jim Holladay are my models today!
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