We are in a very nice hotel and the breakfast this morning was hearty. Waffles, hard boiled eggs, fruit, cheeses, meats, cereal, etc. We wanted an early start, so we ate quickly and got in the car to travel the Golden Circle.

Iceland has an amazingly diverse landscape. Sometimes we traveled along and all we saw was a vast flat landscape. Travel a bit further and we saw lakes with tall rock formations surrounding it. Most days, the wind is an issue and you have to remember to hold on to your car door when getting out because the wind will slam it open.

The roads are well marked and in great shape and the drivers are sane… no cutting anyone off or giving any finger salutes. Gas stations are not very prevalent once you get out of the city, so make sure you have a full tank as you begin your journey.

One thing to utilize when trying to get from point A to point B… Google Maps!!!! The maps are invaluable for finding the sites to see, that most times, are in out of the way places.

We enjoyed traveling along the Golden Circle and especially riding through the National Park. There are trees and vegetation all throughout and it is truly beautiful.

Our first stop was the Geysir Hot Spring area, with boiling pits bubbling along the pathway. We continued walking the path and came to the exploding Strokkur geyser, which spouts 100 feet in the air every 8 minutes or so. We got there just in time to see it. It was pretty fantastic!

The area became active more than 1,000 years ago and consists of more than a dozen hot water blow holes. The oldest account of the Geysir area dates back to 1294.

The next stop along the Golden Circle was Gullfoss Falls. There are two viewing areas to take in this magnificent force of nature. The first is a shorter cascade of 36 feet and the second drop is 69 feet. The canyon walls on both sides of the waterfall reach heights of up to 230 feet. Geologists believe that this canyon was formed by glacial outbursts at the beginning of the last age. The pictures really do not capture their power.

In the distance, we were able to see the Langjokull glacier. This mighty glacier is the second largest glacier in Iceland at 361 square miles.

The glacier

We drove back a different route and stopped in a restaurant to have a burger and fries which were delicious. Food is pretty expensive in Iceland and our burger and fries cost 50 dollars. By the way, there is no tipping your server in Iceland. They do not expect it and in fact our server today said “We don’t tip in Iceland.”

We drove back to Reykjavik and visited the Perlan museum. The Perlan has many wonderful exhibits, and one amazing one was experiencing the world’s first indoor ice cave, built with over 350 tons of snow from the Blue Mountains. It was pretty cold inside, but we enjoyed wandering through all the little niches and paths, ducking our heads to get through some of them.

We also went to the planetarium to see the Northern Lights display, and then we wandered through all the hands-on exhibits, learning about Iceland’s history and its geological makeup.

It is a very nice museum to visit and I’m glad we decided to see it.

Not too far from the Perlan is the Hallgrimskirkja Church. At 244’ tall, it is the largest church in Iceland and among the tallest structures in the country. It was completed in 1986 and has become an important symbol of Iceland’s identity. It took 45 years to build the church.

The church houses two large pipe organs. The larger of the two has 72 stops and 5,275 pipes and is 49 feet tall and weighs 25 long tons. Its construction was finished in December 1992.

We found out that tonight might be a good night to see the northern lights. According to the Icelandic meteorological site, it is a favorable night for viewing. It is a new moon, with no cloud cover.

We found out that the Grotta lighthouse would be the best viewing area, so off we went at sunset to find a place to wait for total darkness in the hopes we might be lucky.

I captured a beautiful sunset photo while we were waiting for the sun to set completely, and then I looked out the car window and I could see the northern lights slowly beginning to spread across the sky. OMG!!! And then the lights were everywhere. We just kept snapping picture after picture and remarking that we were so very lucky to be able to see this fantastic show. I’m amazed my iPhone did such a fantastic job capturing it.

This was a once in a lifetime and I’ll never forget it.