Friday, April 21, 2023

Day 4 - Golden Circle + Kerið Crater

these things I like to do
they're only worth it when I'm with you
yeah it's true, so do you
do you wanna do nothing with me?
Do You Wanna Do Nothing With Me? - Lawrence

First heard that song on the Stephen Colbert's show and I thought it was really good, the music and the lyric. The lyric itself is kinda me :D So day 4 was spent doing what I think is the most common thing people who come to Iceland do which is doing the Golden Circle route and I chose the trip that included Kerið / Kerid Crater too. Start time that day was later than the rest of the trips so I had more time in the morning and after breakfast I decided to go to the bakery with really good reviews some distance away from the hotel to get some snack for lunch. I like pretty much everything there but settled on bagel filled with cream cheese and peanut butter and a lemon donut (if I remember correctly). They actually don't have the combination of cream cheese and peanut butter listed, so I wonder if they thought I was weird. Alright back to the trip, first stop on the route was Þingvellir / Thingvellir National Park. We're given time to just roam around on our own. It really is a must-visit for tourists because there were many people there. I can't remember much about what I saw. I remember there's like a wall of rocks (for lack of a better word) and that's kinda cool. I really wish I know what the mountain over the water is called.

After that we went to Gullfoss Waterfall which Google told me means Golden Waterfall. It's a waterfall in a river and Google also told me that the river is the Hvítá river. It is very cool because it's rather wide and the current and drop were quite strong.

Moving on to Geysir, on the way we stopped by a place to see some Icelandic horses. Icelandic horses are very cute because they're smaller than the common horse. All the many guides I had in this trip have said, don't call them pony even though they're small. There's also a stable in this short stop which I went in only for awhile because I couldn't handle the smell. I wonder if the horses are really friendly or I am projecting that they're friendly because they're so cute in the small size, but the horses there didn't seem to mind people.

The stop in Geysir was longer because we're also given time to have lunch. I chose to eat first in which I got hot chocolate and had my bagel which was not bad, but I thought it might be better if the peanut butter wasn't the chunky kind. After that I explored Geysir which is this area with a number of geysers. I saw a few people waiting around on one but since nothing happened, I just walked around the area a bit. There were some pools on the higher ground. I didn't put my hand in it, so I don't know how hot it was.

Back to the area where people were waiting, I decided to wait too. I couldn't remember the name of this geyser, but the guide did say it erupts pretty frequently so we should be able to see it in action. From Google, I think the name is Strokkur. Below is a video that I took. Side note: I don't know what's up with Blogger that their video tool is not working, arrggh had to go to Flickr to get it hosted :( Anyways, I waited for some time so it was a longer video, but I cut down the waiting part and I don't like the surrounding sounds so I changed it to music. We're told that if it's going to erupt, the water is going to shake violently, which I don't think the video really shows. It's kinda cute seeing suddenly a blue bulb like shape forming and then it burst :D The burst wasn't very long though.

After that, I decided to wait again for the next eruption so that I could take some pictures. I waited and watched two more eruptions. Other than that geyser, there's also little geyser like this one below.

Last stop of the day was Kerið Crater. I didn't know what to expect going there. I had no knowledge whatsoever about this place. On reaching, I first took the path that leads down to the crater. Then I realized, it's a lake in a crater. I thought it was so so cool. The lake wasn't very big and it was frozen when I was there which made me think it might be so cool to ice-skate there? Though at that time, the ice wasn't very smooth which I think actually made it more charming. You could walk around the rim of the crater but I didn't really do that because it was cold with a little drizzle and windy. I like Kerid crater a lot, I think it's really beautiful. That being said, it may give you a different feel in a different season.

For pictures from the Golden Circle route, please go here. It wasn't a long trip that day which I purposely scheduled as such because in the evening I was planning to go see the northern light, but earlier that day I received a message that it was cancelled because of weather. I was really disappointed and I didn't know then that my disappointment would still grow in my remaining days in Iceland :( Anyways, so arrived back in Reykjavik not too late in the evening and I had a free time, so I decided to walk following the path by the water and see a few things. Below is the Harpa Concert Hall. I only entered it on my way back because I was sure there would be toilets I could use.

The weather was quite clear on my walk which made me wonder why the aurora tour was cancelled :( Disappointment doesn't leave me easily. So anyways, because it's quite clear, the view across the water to Mount Esja was very clear that day, but yeah I see this picture below with so many low laying clouds, it's really not conducive for aurora watch.

When I reached the Sun Voyager, I took a few pictures and then started to make my way back, stopping for dinner which was fish and chip at the place where I had the arctic char days earlier.

Walking back to the hotel, I took a picture of a mural art in one of the building or maybe a house nearby the hotel. Last picture below is of the view from my room where you could see the church, Hallgrímskirkja. Oh the melancholy feel it gives really match my disappointment that day.

:) eKa @ 8:58:00 PM •