Michal and I took full advantage of a sunny day here in Iceland. We came here without much of an agenda and just planned on spontaneously exploring. We left at 9:00 this morning and came back around 8:00 this evening. Throughout the day we must have said over a million times “Look at that view! It’s so beautiful here!” This blog post is full of photos. If you are reading this in the email notification of a new entry, go to the actual website so you can see all the pictures as they are the voice of this post more than my words. Enjoy!

This morning we decided to head to Þingvellir National Park. On our way there, out of the corner of our eye, we saw a waterfall. Michal turned the car around and we went to explore. Turns out this waterfall is connected to Ljósafoss Power Station. Inside there was a free informative and interactive museum all about energy. Iceland runs on 99% renewable energy. That’s incredibly impressive compared to the rest of the world.

After a few more stops to take in the beauty that surrounded us, we made it to Þingvellir. Þingvellir is a place where you can literally walk between the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates. On top of that, there are also beautiful waterfalls and the largest natural lake in Iceland. The water is so clear and pure that you can drink from it. Despite the crowds, Michal and I continued to be impressed with the beauty that surrounded us the entire time we explored there.

We left Þingvellir and headed to the Golden Circle to see the Geysir geothermal area and Gullfoss waterfall. Along the way we stopped for ice cream at a dairy farm and pulled over to get up close to Icelandic horses.

The next stop was the Geysir Geothermal area. A sulfry smell scented the air and lots of steam rose from the ground. The most impressive sight was the hot spring, Strokkur, that erupted every 10 minutes or so.

Our final stop for the day was Gulfoss. I have been fortunate to see many waterfalls in my life time. Gulfoss is the most impressive waterfall my eyes have seen. The sunshine and (literal) rainbows were added bonuses.

At the end of the day, we spent over 10 hours on the road exploring the sights of the Golden Circle. The most amazing part of it all is that all of the sights were free to enter. The only sight-seeing expense we had was paying $7.50 to park at Þingvellir. Once again it’s almost 10 PM and as bright as midday outside. Tomorrow our plan is to explore more of the South coast.

The bright sky at 10 PM