Day 2.  Tour of Golden Circle tourist areas and the Secret Lagoon with Your Day Tours Group

We had breakfast at the hotel and proceeded to the appointed bus stop to wait for the minibus.  We were supposed to be there, ready to go at 8am.  The bus may show up between 8 and 8:30. This day it seemed our bus was the last to arrive, well after 8:30.  $114.00 per person.

While waiting for the bus we made friends with a couple from Long Island, NY.  Afterwards we kept meeting them in other places.  It was fun to keep seeing their friendly happy faces.

The bus was okay, I wish there was more space.  It felt a bit tight.  Our guide was a nice lady from the Czech Republic.  

1st Stop. Thingvellier National Park. This is one of the places that most symbolizes Iceland and its history. Many Icelandic major events have taken place at this site.

It sits in a rift valley, formed when two tectonic plates moved apart. It is impressive seeing the cracks and gorges throughout the park.

We were there for 45 minutes.  It went very fast.  We didn’t have a chance to see it all.

2nd Stop. Gullfoss Waterfall, Blaskogabyggo.  This is a gorgeous two step waterfall with several viewing platforms.  It is so incredible to be in front of nature when it exhibits such force.

Sigrid Tomasdottir, pictured in the plaque below, was the daughter of the owner of the land where this waterfall is.  It is been told that her father sold part of the land with the waterfall, not realizing that the the new owners wanted to use the fall and in essence destroy it.

She then took on the part of the protector of the waterfall and embarked on a long journey to save it.  At one point, even threatening to throw herself in the fall. Fortunately, with the help of a lawyer that later became Iceland’s first president, the waterfall was saved.

There are also gift shops and cafeteria there. We were at this stop for 40 minutes and it was enough time to see it. 

3rd Stop. Woolmarket Myrkholt . This is a very small store in a farm, featuring homemade sweater, and other items from the local farms.

When we were there, we spent a few minutes with the horses housed there.  They have sheep also, but they were all scattered around the land, so we didn’t get to interact with them.  

We spent 20 minutes there and to me was fine, since I had no interest in shopping.

4th Stop. Geysir, Haukadalu – A field with many erupting hot springs.  The most famous is Strokkur, referred as the son of Geysir.  

It is hard to time its eruption to get a picture, so one has to stand there ready to act. We were lucky we got to see several.

This location is where we stopped for lunch.  I had fish and chips and Michael had the vegetarian quiche.  We repeated that same order in various places.  I had a coke and he had a beer.  I had a chocolate cake and he had a cheesecake. They were all good.  $45.00 for the meals and drinks and $21.05 for the desserts.

This stop was 1 hour and 15 minutes. It felt like it was enough time to eat and see the geyser, but I wouldn’t have minded having more time to walk around the hot springs more.

5th and last stop. The The Secret Lagoon, in Fluoir.  It is the oldest geothermal pool in the island. I was very underwhelmed by it.  It is small and it felt slimy under my feet.  I would pass on this one next time. I agree with a reviewer that said: “it is neither a secret or a lagoon”. 

The stop was for one and a half hour.  I didn’t stay long in the pool, but took my time in the shower afterwards.  In this and every pool in Iceland,  they really stress upon the need to take a shower completely nude before getting into your bathing suit and going into the pool.  It is really interesting to see the dynamic in the showers.  Some are very free with their bodies, while others wanted to run and hide.

I forgot to get a picture of the Secret Lagoon, but here is the sign 🙂

I am not sure what time it was when we got bag to the hotel.  We weren’t hungry. Besides lunch, we spent the day eating snacks in the bus.  We had gotten them at the market the night before. We spent $35.82 and got chips, cheese, cookies and chocolate.

I also bought water.  Believe it or not, I was having a problem with the taste of water, and was trying to see if the bottled water would be better.  I know it is the same water and a waste of money.

Iceland has one of the best waters in the planet.  It is said one can even drink from natural sources such as streams and rivers. So clearly, the problem was me.  For some reason, it felt heavy on my tongue, and totally unpleasant to drink. That feeling/taste was still with me for a whole day after arriving home.   

After leaving our backpacks in the hotel, we went a few doors down to Gaeta Gelato. We both had small cups of gelato.  I had 2 flavors, passion fruit/mango and tiramisu.  Michael had a coffee with chocolate chunks.  They all were delicious.  $15.24 for both.

In the end it was a great day! The tour was great and has its pros and cons.

Then back to the hotel and get stuff ready for Day 3.

“We only know a tiny proportion about the complexity of the natural world. Wherever you look, there are still things we don’t know about and don’t understand. […] There are always new things to find out if you go looking for them.” ― David Attenborough