April 10th: Two-thirds of a circle

This series of posts will chronicle, as faithfully as possible, our recent trip to Iceland and Andalusia. Comments and thoughts are most welcome! Photos from Iceland are courtesy Gireesh, Anchal and Janani and the ones from Andalusia courtesy Gireesh. :)


Our first full day at Iceland! After months of planning and deliberation, we were finally on the road! There was quite a bit of driving planned for the day, as we would be heading off to the Geysir basin and Gullfoss, two points on the Icelandic Golden Circle. The third major node, Þingvellir, would come later. The sky was still ominous as we left Grindavik, with the wind searing through a bit more than yesterday. And green/black got another color – white! – as we headed inland on the ring road. Suddenly, unannounced, there was snow on the sides of the road, in little depressions and crevices between rocks and on the silhouettes of the mountains far away (yes, the visibility was much better!) – my Middle Earth illusion was still very much in place. We tried to get off a few times to take photos – there were three cameras between the four of us, so you can understand we were a pretty trigger happy bunch! – but the wind and the cold would pack us off to the car within a few minutes.

Soon, the rocks lent way to even flatter plains, with brown grass covering every inch of it and little tarns and streams dotting the landscapes. We even saw a few crazy fishermen standing in freezing waters and angling away – that fish better be worth it! Every once in a while, we would cross a huge snow capped rock face right next to the fields, with the melting ice creating a number of impromptu waterfalls. There were some ‘water-rises’ too – the wind was so strong that water was drifting up instead of falling down. The wind was definitely picking up, and it was becoming a struggle to just open the car door and stand outside. As a minor setback, we were also informed that our dog sled tour booked for that afternoon was cancelled because of the weather conditions. Oh well!

'Water-rise'

We finally reached the Geysir basin to gawk at THE geyser which has lent its name to sprouting hot springs all around the world. The Geysir is one of the first of its kind to be written about and in its glory days, would have been spectacular enough to have generated an eponymous noun. Unfortunately, it doesn’t erupt very regularly now. However, there is another geyser, Strokkur, which does erupt every few minutes, starting off with a bright blue bulb of water before releasing steam in quick, short bursts. Unfortunately, strong winds had been joined by rains by the time we reached the basin and it was a literal battle against the elements as we positioned ourselves around Strokkur waiting for it to erupt again and again, tripods and cameras in tow. True, Strokkur doesn’t have the magnificence of the good Ol’ Faithful and the basin is not even close to the scale and variance of the ones in Yellowstone, but it was still very special watching the water churn, holding a breath in anticipation each time it ebbed slightly and letting out a whoop each time it zoomed skywards.

Strokkur just before an eruption

We were thoroughly soaked by the time we were done with the basin, as were two of the three cameras. So we were down to one for the rest of the trip. In hindsight, it was not such a bad thing after all – we still got some good photos and we were all able to look at the magnificent scenery unfolding in front of us through our eyes instead of focusing on them through lenses. But I am the only non-photographer in the group, so I am sure the others vehemently disagree! :)

We moved on from Geysir to Gullfoss, one of the most famous waterfalls in Iceland. The weather showed no signs of letting up, so we shuddered our way into the visitor center/café to warm ourselves up. But just as we were sipping on some tea and hot lamb soup (supposed to be an Icelandic delicacy, was a bit too salty for our taste), the weather suddenly cleared up and it was bright, sunny skies outside. We scampered out in a hurry, not believing our luck, to get a first look at the falls. Gullfoss is even more beautiful than the best literature I have read about it, so I am not even going to attempt to describe it here. But standing on head of the falls, looking at the spray from the water crashing down and catching all the rainbows it created will be one of the most enduring images of this trip. It was as if the gods were conspiring to pamper and tease us, drenching us completely earlier but more than making up for it here.

Gullfoss

We left Gullfoss only when the weather started to turn again, and as we were driving out, we got caught in a hail shower as well. So many seasons in one day – and we were only getting started! :) We were quite beat by the end of it, so we just drove down to our hotel for the night, Ranga, with a few windy pit stops here and there for pictures. As we realized later, there was actually a gale storm warning throughout the region and we had been driving right through it. Quite a welcome to Iceland, I must say.

The northern light hunt carried on, just that we seemed to be moving away from it. We checked into the hotel only to be told that they caught the lights last night, and there was a strong chance of sighting it from the Northern Lights Inn that night! So it was another night of uninterrupted sleep for us (how we would have loved to be woken up!). But it had been an awesome day nevertheless and we woke up itching to be on the road again. Our appetites had been whetted and we couldn’t wait to see what lay ahead for us – wind, rain, sun, hail, snow not withstanding!