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Sunday we went on another Iceland Guided Tour, igtours.is, to the Golden Circle, one of the most popular tours in Iceland. Another beautiful day, very unexpected again, with out tour guide Odinn.
So again we got some history on the island...
It's made up of 800 volcanos; 200 of which are active, 20 which are very actively and 10 which are highly active. They average having a volcanic eruption every 3 years. And part of the reason for this is that Iceland lies on a continental divide. Iceland was actually created when part of the mode Atlantic ridge rose above sea level. Due to the fact that it hasn't separated like other countries, Eurasia and the Americas, that means it is constantly being stretched. Interestingly if you divide Iceland from south west to north east, half belongs to Canada half belongs to Europe. Also has different weather for this reason.
We learnt about the little purple flower that we saw everywhere. It's called Lopin and was imported from Canada in the 60s. It's able to grow in the harsh Icelandic conditions of gravel and ash, and also produces its own fertiliser. Over time it's able to change the soil so they other flowers and plants can grow, so eventually Iceland may have more trees. (There are hardly any at the in Iceland, not a good place for a tree surgeon!)
So a bit about the actual trip..
We visited Thingvellir National Park, which is the home of Þingvellir, where as a nation, Iceland took its first steps on the way to independence. You find out how Iceland was born and how it is still growing geologically. This is where Iceland held its first parliament meetings, completely in the open with rivers and a rocky ridge, and the people slept in caves whilst there. Also went to a tiny waterfall Faxi, where Kenny got to educate on the salmon run. Then headed to the big one: Gullfoss waterfall, huge and pretty cool. On the way stopped at Kerid crater, which was amazing: unlike the other volcanos we had seen in the distance, this crater actually looked like what you would expect it too, a big hole in the ground that you would expect magma to shoot out of.
Lastly we visited Geysir hot spring & Haukadalur thermal area; in the top four highest Geysirs in the world that regularly spout. Strokkur erupts every 3-7 minutes, so everyone is waiting with cameras and if you don't get a shot, so wait again with baited breath. Kenny stands for 8 minutes, recording a video, and his camera dies before it goes off, hilarious!! Geysir, the bigger of the two geysirs there and where the name for 'geysir' actually came from, hasn't erupted in a few years but is triggered by a volcanic eruption and is a lot larger than Strokkur.
Aside from both cameras dying, forgetting the spare battery, an iPhone dying and out of all of that, being left with one iPhone camera, it was a great wee day.
Ps Icelandic horses are amazing, pulled the bus up and they all surrounded it, just wanting to be petted. Aww
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