After our trip to Norway in 2011, one day a discussion started at office about different places and the air pollution. I was pitching for Norway that the Air quality is best there. And my colleague Stefan told Iceland is the Best and showed some of the pictures from their Iceland cycling trip. And there through the seed of dream for next vacation was planted in my mind. Planning went quite easy as we did not plan to drive, instead wanted to take package trips. An apartment was booked in the Capital of Iceland, “Reykjavik” which is also the largest city of Iceland. All the day tour packages were booked at “http://grayline.is”. We had 10 days to explore Iceland.

While reading about Iceland and its geography, came across the waterfall “Gulfoss” and the popular story about it. “In the early 20th century foreign investors wanted to harness the power of Gulfoss to produce electricity. And they wanted to buy the waterfall from Tomas Tomasson, a farmer who owned the waterfall at that time. Tomas instead leased the waterfall to Howells. Sigriour Tomasdottir, daughter of Tomas wanted to have the rental contract voided and went to court. She seemed to have threatened to throw herself into the waterfall if the construction would begin.  Her struggle was fruitful and the waterfall was preserved. “After reading this story, my interest to visit this waterfall got stronger.

I had packed all my camera accessories as this was a dream trip. We had a toddler(1.5 years) and a 6 year old child to carry along. After reaching airport I realized that I had left my Camera bag at home. This was a dream trip and there was no chance I would have compromised. Luckily I had a compact camera Panasonic TZ41 packed in another bag. I was bit relieved, though not fully happy without an SLR. Don’t know whether to call it luck or bad luck, when we reached Iceland and were travelling by bus to reach our hotel, I could smell something burning and realized that fumes were coming out of my little compact camera. Removed the battery immediately and waited. After reaching the apartment realized, that camera won’t work anymore. So, there was no other option other than either to buy a new camera or just capture everything in our memories. And we went in search of a camera shop next morning. We found a Camera shop at Reykjavik. The collection was poor and prices were exorbitant. As there was no other choice, I decided for a low end DSLR with a general purpose sense. The happiness could not match that of having my Canon 7D.

The first day trip that we booked was “Golden circle classic”(8.5 hrs) which covered Gullfoss, Thingvellir National Park ( remarkable geographical site located by Lake Thingvallavatn. The Canyons running through the national park is actually the meeting point of Amerian and Eurasian tectonic plates) and the Geysir geothermal area where numerous hot springs and geysers are located. Tour costed around 64 euros per person.

The travel guide in the Bus told about Icelandic culture and the way she explained was really funny. She told how Icelanders drink coffee making sound Slurrrrr….just like how Germans clean their nose when they have cold. She showed making sounds of both, drinking coffee and cleaning nose. It was so funny but true…She was making fun of Iceland Bankers and their intelligence. We came to know that Iceland is a country without standing army but limited military.

Thingvellir National park:

Our first top was at Thingvellir National park.

Unless one knows the geological importance of this place, one may not like this place. Knowing that we were at the rift valley which marks the Mid-Atlantic Ridge being the boundary between North American and Eurasian tectonic plates, we were trying to enjoy  being there with admiration.

Thingvallavatn, the biggest lake in Iceland

Gulfoss Waterfall:

Our next stop was at much awaited Gulfoss Waterfall.

From the parking lot one has to walk down the road for around 250 meters to reach the waterfall.The river Hvita plunges in steps to create this waterfall with an average of 140 cubic metres of water running down the waterfall in summer and 80 cubic metres per second in winter. First view of Gulfoss, the waterfall seemed to vanish into the earth as a part of it was obscured from the view.  The river flows down broadly creating a “staircase” effect and then plunges in two stages into crevice. Memorial of Sigriour, the lady who is believed to have saved the waterfall from exploitation for power project by Foreign investors. 

On the last day of our trip, we had booked some day trip package. When we reached the Bus stand to catch the bus, the Driver of the Bus going to Gulfoss, who was familiar with our faces as we were travelling almost everyday with their company asked our little one, “are you not coming with us?” And don’t know why, we changed our mind, went inside the Tourist office and changed our package trip to visit Gulfoss again. And on that day, this is what Gulfoss had to offer us, a Complete Rainbow. 

Geysir Geothermal Area:

Our first day trip’s last stop was at Geysir Geothermal Area. There are numerous hot springs and Geysers. The formation of Geyser is due to hydrogeological condition, due to the proximity of magma. When the surface water works its way down to contact hot rocks, the boiling of pressurised water results in the geyser effect which creates a  hydrothermal explosion.

Initially the site looks like a well with water.Gradually the water in the well seems to overflow creating a turkis blue effect.And suddenly a fountain like eruption of water happens leaving a pungent smell.

And the water flows down again into the well leaving only the steam. And these eruptions happen every 6-10 minutes at the Geyser named “Strokkur”.

Numerous hot water springs are located in the whole area which do not erupt, but only create  steam all around with water above boiling temperatures.

Best part of Iceland day tours was that the bus used to drop us right in front of hotels. And after a long day trip of 8.5 hours it was truly comfortable to get a drop till the Hotel.