Day 3 - Waterfalls, Geysers, Hot Springs

Day 3 in Iceland! As planned, this was to be a busy, blinding whirlwind during my stay. And it sure has been! And today was no different - I joined up with a tour to head back out into the countryside. First stop, waterfalls...

But before we got to the waterfalls, we came across these two crazy guys going scuba diving in this stream. That splash in front of them is them throwing their scuba tank in!

Below is Gullfoss, part of Iceland's famous "Golden Circle". These falls are runoff from the glacier. These are absolutely spectacular. Everyone kept telling me how beautiful they are, and I was starting to wonder if too much build-up might not make it so beautiful to me. Well, no worries. They didn't disappoint - they simply took my breath away! If you scroll down to my original post, you'll see this same view, but in the summer. Quite a contrast. I love the ice and snow though!

For some perspective and size, those are people on the left!

A bit closer

Where these people are standing is where I eventually ended up. And I got soaked! The video below is taken from that spot

Video: "This is where my camera lens is going to get really wet..."

After drying off myself and my camera, and having some lamb soup (their lamb here is super delicious - it's all raised locally. If you don't really care for lamb it's because you haven't had it in Iceland), we headed off to the geysers. Iceland's naturally occurring volcanic activity produces spectacular geysers and hot springs.

This one goes off every 5-6 minutes

Closeup

Hot spring. It just bubbles and releases steam all day long. Real neat!

Video of one of the geysers, taken from a couple different vantage points:

The following are some photos of the countryside, taken from the tour bus. In the summer, the entire landscape is a deep green. I think it's still beautiful, even in winter/spring.

Notice the two places where steam is exiting the ground - sights like this are common

Lastly, we headed to Iceland's largest geothermal plant. As Iceland sits where two tectonic plates collide (North America and Eur-Asian), there is tremendous volcanic activity. Iceland takes advantage of this by extracting the hot energy from the earth, and using it to generate electricity, heat homes, and heat outdoor swimming pools during the winter.

Entrance to the Geothermal Plant

View from the lobby looking out

Well, I'm off to have some seafood tonight for dinner. Tomorrow, the spa, then home!

*UPDATE*

I had to edit this post to add my meal. Iceland is known for its seafood, and I found this great place called "Prir Frakkar". This meal was one of the best I've had in a long, long time. 

Starting at the bottom left of the plate, and going clockwise: raw whale meat, salmon (both the whale and salmon served sashimi style), reindeer pate. In the upper right hand corner is raw tuna, and below it is smoked puffin (a native bird). It's been two days since I had this meal and I can smell the smoked puffin like it's right in front of me!

They made this plate special for me - I wanted a variety so I chose three or four things from the appetizer list. Icelanders are very accommodating and friendly, and truly want you to enjoy your stay.

Great atmosphere - tables close together, cozy, everyone having a great time