Iceland Part 3: the Golden Circle & chasing the Northern Lights

Along with the Blue Lagoon, The Golden Circle tour is on the top of most people's "must see" lists when in Iceland, and I shall not be bucking the trend. For those of you who've not heard of it, The Golden Circle encompasses a handful of SW Iceland's most spectacular natural sights. The order sometimes differs but ours started off at the geothermal power plant, Hellisheiði. The scientific details were, to be honest, a little lost on me but it was interesting all the same, plus, we got to see their gigantic turbines. We actually got stuck at the plant (along with a lot of other coaches) due to the insane amounts of snow from the storm the night before. A waffle with jam and cream later and we were on the move again, our next stop was Kerið, a volcanic crator lake. It was completely frozen over (obvs) but the view from the top was amazing. En route to the first of two waterfalls (Faxi), we stopped to pet (and feed) some v.friendly Icelandic horses. They looked like ponies but our guide assured us they were small horses.

After Faxi we headed to the Haukadalur valley, home of two famous geysers: Geysir and Strokkur. The former is actually "asleep" but the latter errupts fairly regularly, every 5-9 minutes or so. I wasn't really sure what to expect but it was pretty cool to see the geyser do its thing. I tell you what wasn't cool though: the smell. A lot of people had warned me about the sulphur smell in Iceland, particularly the water, but it honestly didn't bother me until we stupidly stood downwind of a hot spring in Haukadalur, SUCH an eye-wateringly eggy stench.

The penultimate stop on the tour was the breathtaking Gullfoss (that's golden falls to you and me). It being March, the closet path to the waterfall was completely lost beneath about a foot of snow so we admired the beautiful, half frozen waterfall from afar. Our final stop, and my favourite, was Þingvellir, Iceland's stunning national park. Not only does it boast some incredible views, it's also the location of the old Viking parliament. Oh, AND it's where the North American and Eurasia tectonic plates are slowly drifting apart from eachother (increasing the size of Iceland by 2cm every year), which has left a sort of sunken section, known as the rift valley.

It's actually impossible to pick a best bit of our Iceland holiday but The Golden Circle tour was one of them. For us non-drivers, it gave us a chance to see more of the country but also learn a little bit about the culture. Our tour guide kept us entertained throughout the trip with stories and myths, local history and even pointing out sights (such as, "here was where they filmed Game of Thrones").We booked our tour with these guys and I would highly recommend them.

Our last night in Iceland was spent on a "Northern Lights" tour which essentially consisted of being on a coach travelling way too fast for my liking, listening to Icelandic ghost and troll stories (courtesy of our guide) surrounded by the blackest night I've ever seen. Alas, we didn't see the northern lights, despite a bitterly cold and cloudless night. We did, however, see a spectacular star scape (there were literally no lights for miles, I've never been anywhere that was so dark).

For our last half day we: ate breakfast (bloody good pancakes) at The Laundromat Cafe, purchased some wool (I'll share this soon), visited The Settlement Exhibtion (centered around the 2001 discovery of the remains of a Viking long house and settlement in Reykjavik) and demolished a fish burger from Reykjavik Fish and Chips. On the coach journey to the airport I remember thinking how I'd got used to the completely white and mountainous landscape, and how strange, grey and kinda of boring London would be. And, truthfully, it is, but maybe that's because I'm still, two weeks later, suffering from a holiday come-down. All I can say is this: save, save your money and go to Iceland, for the culture, the delicious food, the chilled-out and friendly vibe and, of course, for all the island's stunning scenery and natural wonders. Can you tell I loved it there? :)