Reykjavik - The Golden Circle

Docked at Reykjavik at 7am. There were a selection of tours on offer, and we chose the Golden Circle tour, which seemed to offer the most. It was a full day tour with lunch included. We first of all were taken to Thingvellir National Park where we saw the evidence of the geological boundaries where the Eurasian and North American continental plates are tearing apart. Thingvellir is also the country's most sacred historical shrine, as it is the original meeting place of the Althing, the parliament of the tenth century Icelandic chieftains. We sadly did not have much time, the downside of organised tours.

From there we were taken to the Geysir area, where my picture is taken, which is of Strokkur, which spouts boiling water up to 35m into the air every eight to ten minutes. It is a strange area, with lots of geysers and thermal hot springs. We had a bit of a laugh as a group of us were standing, cameras ready, at Strokkur waiting for the eruption, and as it erupted all the steam was blown towards us by the wind, we had to run...... amid lots of laughter. We had lunch at this point, including Icelandic salmon.

We then went to the Gullfoss Waterfall, a double tiered waterfall with a perpetual rainbow. We had time here to walk around and enjoy the beautiful scenery.