Today was our first official day of sightseeing. The day before, we grocery shopped and our breakfast, lunches, and snacks were all ready to go when our alarms went off at 8:30 a.m.. We decided to start with a bang and drive the Golden Circle. This route features national parks and other significant landmarks and natural attractions shaped in a circle to the northeast of Reykjavik.
Our first stop was Þingvellir National Park. This park is absolutely huge, but we only saw a small portion of it. In the winter, some trails and roads are closed due to snow, rain, or mud. To come to this park, you definitely need to be in decent physical shape as it involves a small hike to get to wider trails. Here are some photos:
Stop 2 was Geysir, and it’s just what it sounds like. This stop didn’t take us too long. Basically, it’s just hot springs and one hot spring that is a huge geyser. Definitely a cool sight and worth a stop. The geyser goes off about every 5-10 minutes. However, if you’re lucky it might go off multiple times in very short time increments. Here is a picture:
Stop 3 was Gullfoss. Gullfoss is only about 10 minutes from Geysir and it was my favorite stop on the official Golden Circle. It is a huge waterfall, with viewing points from high up and another just above the waterfall.
The Golden Circle is technically “over” after Gullfoss, however there are other attractions along the way that are just as spectacular. The best attraction we found was Kerið which is a volcanic crater. You have to pay 400 Krona but you can walk all the way around it and down to the base of the crater lake. Here are some pictures:
Along with Kerið, we also found some cool stops such as Skalholt Church and a horse farm with Icelandic Horses we could stop and pat. We weren’t expecting to find these things, but some of the best sights aren’t planned!
Overall, we burned through a ton of gas in our approx. 7 hour trip around the Golden Circle, but it was well worth it. My favorite sights of the day were the Kerið Crater and the horses because they’re just so dang cute.
Boston & Beyond 
So cool, such amazing adventure 🙂 cheers from Portugal, PedroL
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