Iceland Golden Circle Tour

Here's our quick overview of the Golden Circle Tour of Iceland. They take in these smaller buses, not the ginormous buses. We had a fun tour guide, his name was Gulli. Check him out. So guys, we are exactly here at the yellow spot. We're driving from Smoky Bay here Gaze into your thermal area over here, then a little bit further. Goodfoss the waterfall, turn around there. Chilling the crater and then back to the city. And this is why we call it a circle. And the name gold and the golden circle comes from the waterfall. The waterfall is called Goodfoss. Goodfoss means gold waterfall. So the name of the tour was already on the map. Maybe we can also say that the first official golden circle was done in 1907 when one of our kings, Frederick number something, they all have a number, came to visit Iceland. And back then we had absolutely no road system. So authority made a special road for him, king's road of course, and imported a special horse wagon for him. But then the king, he was a horse rider himself, so he took just an Icelandic horse, rode the whole tour on the back of the horse. And the special imported wagon was only used for his booze and his toilet. Maybe that was the first official golden circle tour. But okay, what do we see on the map here? The biggest lake in Iceland. From the biggest lake comes the biggest freshwater river. There's only one small river running into the lake. And now it's the answer to your question. 90% of the water that comes into the lake comes here filtered through the lava field. So that means also the water in the lake is very clear, pure. Yeah, biggest freshwater river coming from the lake. But we have other rivers. Why do I call them freshwater rivers? These rivers are glacier rivers and all glacier rivers are colored. We think otherwise they must be pure or something. No, they are colored. And why are they colored? Both because glaciers, especially here in Iceland, they hold a lot of ash from previous volcanoes. And also the glaciers, they are constantly moving here on top of the mountains and breaking them down and shaping them and pouring dust and sand into the rivers. So all glacier rivers are colored. Some more, some less. Some of them are just dark brown where there's really a lot of volcanic ash in the glacier. Glaciers here are covering in Iceland 10% of Iceland's size. This is the second biggest glacier. We have some small glaciers around. This is not a glacier anymore. It used to be, but because of global warming, authorities announced a few years ago that it is not a glacier anymore. They even had a ceremony up there. People cried. Not me. The name of the mountain here is called Ork. Ork spelled okay. Okay. There's a story about a U.S. pilot in the second world war. He was lost flying around. He had a map. Okay. He actually landed there. I don't know about the other part. I made that up myself. But he landed there. He survived. But one thing we can see on this map are these long rigs here. And this is one of the specialties about Icelandic volcanic activity, because the tectonic plates, they are drifting apart here. So all volcanic activity starts on long fissures, all of them, except one. And then they usually end up in one crater and through the thousands of millions a year, the mountains builds up in these big rigs. Though we have some other types. Well, like this one. It is called a shield volcano. You can see it over there. And this actually mountain is called Skaldbred, and that's where the international name shield volcanoes come from. You see it has the same shape in all directions. Shield volcanoes usually erupted just when ice ages were ending, and the ice melted away, and the weight of the land lifted up. So these eruptions lasted a really long time. We are now standing on the North American tectonic plate. When you walk down the canyon, you are walking along a tectonic plate. But here in the national park, it is not so simple that you can have one leg North America, one in Europe. In fact, it is almost impossible to say exactly that because it is breaking down. And the only time you actually know where you are on the end. Especially here in the national park, between the North American tectonic plate and the Euro-Asian tectonic plate is a rift valley going up here. A rift valley. Scientists have not even decided yet if that rift valley is a special small plate or does it belong to either of the tectonic plates. But all together we can say that the tectonic plates are moving like one or two inch every year. But it spreads over a big area, so it's not like you can just sit. We're here in, I think I'm here, national park. And there's so many rocks. There's a dead glacier over there. And like rocks that are at the fall on our head. And lots of tourists. The thing about Iceland is it's cold. It is cold. It's June and then, you know, it's chilly here. But beautiful scenery. Reminds me a little bit of Hawaii. Yeah, a little bit. You know, the volcanic activity. So let's take a look around. So the cool thing about this is you can actually be between two continental shelves, I think they're called, or tectonic plates between North American plate and European Asian plate at the same time. Nobody knows exactly where the differential is because it keeps moving and it's underneath and scientists disagree on which plate is which and it's crazy. This is a really nice gift shop and get yourself a nice warm coffee because it is cold outside. It is June but it's like 48 degrees and you see all these people got these puffer jackets on and gloves and hats and you need them. And you can buy hats and gloves here. And if you forgot a jacket, you can buy that here too. They've got some snacks and some drinks and the prices are not absurd regardless of what people will tell you. It's about the same as any big city in the United States and a pretty good selection of stuff and souvenirs to choose from. And there's a couple different stores at a lot of these stops so you'll be able to pick up what you need. Now they're mostly dirt trail. Some boards here too. They are not in America so they're not ADA compliant. If you have a wheelchair, you're going to have a hard time getting through this thing and if you have a fused ankle or if you have a hard time with inclines, you may have a hard time navigating this. Some of the incline is pretty steep and there's random steps splattered all over the place. And I've noticed like a lack of handrails. They tend to not do handrails in Europe. I guess they trust that people won't go where they're not supposed to go. Unlike in America where we just fall off things I guess. I don't know what's going on here. But yeah, it's going to be really hard. So you've got to be in pretty good shape to be able to get up all these steps and all these inclines to see what you're going to see. A few rocks here but not any real hiking. You don't really need hiking boots for these particular attractions. So the signage was lacking here. Supposedly this is where the the tectonic plates separate but who knows. So this guy made another stop at Lagerwatten and there's like a private, this is like a big lake but it's heated by geothermal activity for, I don't know, 10 meters out. So people go swimming in this thing regardless of what the temperature outside is. And showed us some other stuff here. And there were a lot of midges here. I mean this is probably the worst that we saw. They're kind of in your face. I don't recall anybody getting bitten. I didn't get bitten. I did have my net but I didn't need it here. Ooh! Surprisingly these midges, they usually just attack Americans. I don't know why. But you see these parts here over here with the stone here on top. Actually the locals, they're using the hot ground here as an oven. They're baking rye bread on the hill. Big husk being here feeding all the houses here. You see the boiling water here on the shore. And the lake that you saw in the natural park is one of the famous lakes we find on this planet. Don't step into it but you can go and check out if the lake is warm. All right it's nice. But as soon as you come into the lake a few meters, it's just a normal lake. So this is the public side and next to it there was a private. They charge you like, I don't know, it's like a hundred bucks. And you go in here and they have showers and changing rooms and lockers and a little dock you can swim at and a bar. Some refreshments and stuff. But it's the same water and just about anybody can use it. Our friends took their kids here at midnight. This is actually midnight and it's broad daylight. It's freaky. And you see one kid ran out of here. The other one's like, this is really cool. Geothermal activity. So it's fun to watch the guys as they blow up every, I guess, eight minutes they say. And the purple lupines in June, they're in bloom. This guy's up here weeding them. But they're gorgeous. Now the next stop is the Goldfoss Waterfall. It means gold waterfall for some reason. Nobody really knows why. And we were disappointed. We wanted to go to Skogafoss Waterfall that you can walk behind, but this one you cannot really get that close. So you can see a couple different angles, but it's not as picturesque as some of the other waterfalls you may see in Iceland. But nonetheless, it's a majestic and powerful waterfall and it's something you really should see at some point. But not the one you can walk behind sadly. Then we had another random stop on this dirt road where this farm and these horses just come up to you. I guess they're expecting to be fed. And I don't know, there's a cute little foal there and hung out and they let you pet them. They're beautiful Icelandic horses. There's a lot of riding opportunities. We didn't see any on our trip, but a ton of riding opportunities of Icelandic horses all over the country. You probably should book as a separate tour. And then the obligatory Fridheimer greenhouse stop. Now this is amazing if you're into agriculture because a lot of things, it's very expensive to ship things to Iceland. So they grow a lot of their own fruits and vegetables, strawberries and especially tomatoes. And this is kind of, they call this a tomato farm, which actually has a restaurant in the middle of one of their tomato greenhouses, which just blew my mind. A lot of people come here. This is definitely a tourist destination and they will have lunch here. Now they don't only serve tomatoes, but tomatoes are a big part of their menu. They do salads and things, but they do serve other things. And it's very, very busy in here. And the tables are all over the place. I think you did need reservations and it's a little pricey to eat here too, but definitely an experience to eat in the middle of a greenhouse. And you can buy some of the Icelandic tomatoes. I don't know what you do with them and you're not home unless you're at Airbnb and making your own food, but it looks pretty cool. Oh, and there's a tomato sorbet, which seemed particularly nasty. But what about the tomato beer? And then it's time for a ride to the Karid crater, where you will be able to actually walk down a legit crater, which I think is an extinct volcano. And this is the first time we've been able to walk down with crater. We thought this was fascinating. A lot of people chose not to. They just walked around the top, which is a beautiful view. And there's a lake down on the bottom of this really neat, but you can actually walk down and they've graded it nicely. There's some stairs there and it makes it accessible to people. Now you've got to be in pretty good shape, remember what goes down must come up. Oh my God, the wind. Whoa. And the last stop is going to take you a little while. You got to get back into Reykjavik or just outside Reykjavik. You may run into a traffic jam. We saw an accident here on the highway. You know, things happen. It's a big city and here's Sky Lagoon. Call it my golden minutes. So hi guys and welcome to Sky Lagoon. I would like to give you a small speech on how everything works here. So I would like to start with the wristbands. You can get brown wristbands or red wristbands. They're both with a chip inside. You can use your wristbands like a key from your locker and also like a digital wallet here. No food and no drinks included in your package. And if you want to buy something here, just use your wristband. We can put everything on your wristband and you can have it at your checkout. Okay. And also you all have access to the seven step green shop. It's a spa house with a sauna, body scrub and a steam room and you need to use yellow wristband for that. Okay. It's going to be your ticket to the spa. You can find the spa on the left side in the lagoon. So when you can see the ocean from the lagoon, just go to the left side and you can find a small house with grass on top. Okay. Just take your time in the spa because you can do all the rituals inside, just only one time. And when you finish with your steps inside, you can back again to the lagoon. Okay. You have two kinds of packages, sky and pure. With the sky, I'm going to give you a brown wristband. It's a private changing room and a private shower cabin. You can find a sky changing room to the right side here. Okay. So it's going to be a brown wristband and a pure package with a red wristband, pure changing room to the left side, pure man and pure woman. So you can find the towels inside in your shower cabin with the sky changing room and you can find in the pure after the shower room. Okay. Just to be saved. Which way? This way. And you can store your towels over here. Oh, that's nice. Oh my God. It's hot. Oh my God. This is wonderful. Oh, it's cold out there. Oh my God. No, no, no. Stop knocking the water out of the pool. Let's get a drink first. And this is where you pee. The water stays in. Where do you think the heat comes from? When you get up, it's barely warm. I have a hundred mile champagne. Champagne. For 27.90 isk. Whatever that is. What would you like? I would like the white one. White wine and a pinot grigio. How do we pay for this? With your wristband? Oh, there you go. I heard. I'm so sorry. Hey, we're sitting on a bench in the rain. It's sky looking. And it's five degrees outside. How's the water? It's refreshing. It's not refreshing at all. It's just really warm. How are your nips? They're hard as a rock. Oh my God. This is cool. Watch the bench. Bench. Yeah, bench. I think I just got benched here. Which way do we go for seven steps? Yes, the first one is already was in Laguna. The second one is a cold barge. That's cold? How cold is it? 12 degrees. 12 degrees Fahrenheit? Go, go, go. Oh my God. No, you guys are crazy. Oh, sweet God, no. Thank you. Thank you. What's next? It's part of being a movie star. All right. All right. What happens here? Do you have any allergies? Yes, I'm allergic to fur, but that's it. Okay. Do you have any other allergies? No. No. Okay. Do you take one of these? Where do you put them? Oh, it's a salt trap. I don't know why I'm in this room. I don't know what's going on here. There's a crap ton of steam and I can't see anything. It doesn't stink. We have to be quiet. Quiet and just relax. And I'll get back with you for step seven. Oh, now we have to shower in step seven. Thank you. And this is what? Step 18? And then we're done? Can I plunge again? Yeah, no way. I'm not doing it. Oh my God. Oh yeah, that's nice. Yeah, that's nice. What? Salt. Oh, you're so soft. Oh my God. It's clay and it ends up on you.