Tue 01 Oct
Today was a massive day, kicking off at 0630 with PT when my body naturally woke me up. The gym in the hotel is a bit basic, with only two benches, some free weights and cardio machine – but better than nothing.
Breakfast was continental style but quite tasty, with a selection of bread, cheese and meat as well as hard boiled eggs. This was included in my booking for each morning.
I then made my way to the bus stop, timing it perfectly for when my bus arrived at 0800. The tour today was of the Golden Circle, consisting of Þingvellir National Park, Geysir geothermal area in Haukadalur valley, and the Gullfoss waterfall. I also included an additional experience of snorkelling in the Silfra Fissure, a gap between the Eurasian and North American continental plates located in Þingvellir.
The snorkelling experience at Silfra was amazing. Given the temperature of the water – about 3 degrees – we had to get suited up in drysuits. As opposed to a wetsuit, the purpose of the drysuit (as the name suggests) is to keep you dry – however, some leakage of water in is inevitable. You go into the drysuit fully clothed with a base layer but parts of your face will naturally be exposed. The tour is conducted in groups no larger than 6 with a tour guide/photographer who goes with you.
The water was
cold to the point of hurting. After a while your face does go numb but to begin with it’s painful, starting off as a tingling and then becoming a dull ache fet predominantly on the lips and forehead. But the views underwater and the experience overall definitely made up for it, with crystal clear visibility for hundreds of metres. Photos are included in the package, but may take up to 24hrs to be uploaded so standby for those. All up, it’s not a very long expedition, covering only a few hundred metres of the fissure, and lasting about 40 minutes in the water all up – however given how cold it is you probably wouldn’t want to do more unless you were a pro. If you’re doing the Golden Circle, I’d definitely recommend considering this experience as an addition.
After this we got back on the bus and proceeded to our first stop, the Geysir in Haukadalur Valley. There are two geysers here, Strokkur and Geysir. Geysir is actually dormant now, but Strokkur erupts every 5 or so minutes, shooting boiling water up to 20m in the air. Here is also where we stopped for lunch as there is a visitor centre nearby. Dining options are expensive and limited, with a canteen serving some limited options. I had a traditional Icelandic soup and then grabbed a beer out of interest in seeing what Icelandic beer was like – this (with complementary bread) cost 3,750 ISK – about $40 AUD! Whilst the soup was tasty it wasn’t mind blowing. The beer was pleasant but hoppier than expected for a session IPA.
Moving on, we drove to our last stop at Gullfoss waterfall, which was stunning. Although the weather put a bit of a damper on the day as it was overcast and rained pretty much consistently throughout, it is hard to deny that Iceland has some pretty stunning views.
After spending about 45 minutes here, it was back on the bus for the 2hr drive back to Reykjavik. I was in a bit of a rush because I had booked well in advance a dinner at 1 Michelin star restaurant ‘Dill’ in the city. Thankfully we made it back on time, and I had just enough time to duck back to my hotel and get changed, before making the short 200m walk down Laugavegur to dinner.
The dinner was very good, with menu below. I won’t bother showing pictures of every dish because it was a typical succession of small plates. I had it with the wine pairing. The standout wine was the ‘Agatha de Blouge’ Syrah, which was the lightest red I’ve had and went very well with the pork. The menu focused on showcasing local Icelandic produce and featured interesting dishes such as cod tongue and chervil. Interestingly, rather than a wine
tasting, each drink on the menu was a full serve – i.e. I got a whole can of beer rather than a glass, and a full glass of each wine rather than a 75ml pour which is standard at most restaurants. I walked out a bit tipsier than expected!
After that I took a brief walk down Laugavegur to check out the shops and restaurants (nothing really caught my eye) before it was straight to bed for the same again tomorrow. As a data point, food here did look expensive, with one place selling edamame for 2,700 ISK a plate, another Italian restaurant had appetizers starting at 3,800 ISK so yes, be prepared for expensive food if you eat at the restaurants.
