One of the most popular sightseeing tours in Iceland is called the Golden Circle. This tour encompasses three main sights: Gullfoss, Geysir, and Þingvellir, which are all within 45 minutes of the capital, Reykjavik. We visited all three last year around this time.
Gullfoss (Golden Falls) is a wide and powerfull waterfall that you can hear before you catch sight of it. You walk along a path, and then you become aware that the falls are below you. This is how they looked on Christmas day 2012.
I read that the photo on the Echo and the Bunnymen album, Porcupine, is of Gullfoss. Cool. Here it is from another angle.
Geysir is a geyser, as you may have already surmised. (The Icelandic word is actually the origin of the English one.) It is very close to Gullfoss, so be sure to visit both if you are in the area. It erupts fairly frequently, but not predictably, so you could be waiting a while before seeing one, or you might see two or three eruptions within 20 minutes. Unfortunately we were always a second or two too late in catching the eruptions on camera.
Þingvellir (pronounced THING-vetlir) is an area of both geological and historical interest. Geologically, it is the rift between two plates, the North American and Eurasian. These plates are separating at a rate of a centimeter per year. Plate techtonics in action. This is one of the spots where you can see Iceland sitting directly on top of the mid-Atlantic ridge.
Historically, Þingvellir is the place where the world's first parliament met. Over a thousand years ago, the chiefs of the various areas of Iceland would gather here annually to set laws and settle disputes. There is one particular spot with a great echo where the speaker would stand so that he could be heard clearly by everyone. The area was declared a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2004.
There are some nice trails and waterfalls throughout.
The lake there, seen here in a photo from early September 2013, is full of trout.
It's also a nice place to pick blueberries and crowberries in autumn.
