A 6h30 drive separated us from our last stop, to the south, and the Golden Circle. Here we are. We even managed to visit the Althing at the end of the day, in the Thingvellir National Park. We found the sun with this return to the south, at least a more present one. The Althing is the Icelandic parliament, founded in 930. For centuries, it has also been a court of law and the opportunity for trade (hence, a large market). On the site, there remains… nothing, or not much. There would be the location of a “hut” that served the market (the base was hard, most of the structure being removable). It is a place both full of history and where nature is very present. The rift between the two continents European and American also passes by here; it is somewhere under our feet as we walk along the rivers. The rivers are also home to salmon trout of impressive size.
We continued our “adventures” with Geysir, or rather Strokkur, since Geysir is only active after earthquakes. Strokkur, welcome us with an eruption every 5 to 6 minutes. The most impressive is to see the water swell in a huge bubble bubbling inside. Its explosion and the launch of water to 20 meters high, it is for the plume, that of the sweets.
Not far from here is Gullfoss, composed of two successive waterfalls, whose power is impressive. There have been plans for the development of power stations, abandoned to throw the site to the tourists. The three sites of the Golden Circle are very well laid out, with trails, explanatory panels, restaurants, souvenir shops and tons of carparks for the bus that pour their lot of visitors eager for beautiful photographs. So it was a bit far from the wilderness.
In revenge we then went to Stong. It is not very far, it is an archaeological site at the end of a crappy and stony road. There were originally eight Viking farms discovered by archaeologists, only one remained “open” and the site is protected by a construction. They have been destroyed by volcanic eruptions. It was only us, who are more or less lost in the woods in search of the second site of Gjain (where scenes of Game of Thrones were shot). Let’s say we were not on the right side of the river.
Tomorrow, we go back to the fumaroles peninsula.
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