Golden Circle Tour, Part I

Signed up for an all-day tour on Sunday. Selected one with a small bus, as I’ve found the camaraderie of the group makes or breaks the day. This time had a good group — 13 of us plus Thorssten, our guide. Fellow travelers were mostly American, with two Brit/Americans (who live down the street from my old house in Cary), two Torontonians, and a Japanese fellow.

So settle in … pour yourself a tea, a drink, a big glass of water, maybe get a snack … this post is almost as long as the tour.

I was told that I’d be picked up outside my hotel between 11:30 and 11:50 on Sunday morning. When the bus arrived at 12:15 I was … a little chilly. Fortunately, things picked up from there. The bus was cozy and Thorssten had lots of stories for us as we drove out to Thingvellir National Park, about 40 minutes outside of Reykjavik. Thingvellir is the site of Iceland’s (and the World’s, they will tell you) first Parliament; the site is marked now only by an Icelandic flag. Other than that, it was very natural and beautiful. And cold. Did I mention cold? But pretty. Note how low the sun is at early afternoon. But I won’t quibble; we had sun!

Back on the bus, we were now headed for a very unique lunch. A half hour later, we rolled up to Fridheimer Farm — a series of greenhouses where they were growing tomatoes year round. In Iceland. Ha. First off … warm and cozy greenhouse. Nice. That yummy smell of hot tomato plants. Also nice. They harvest a ton of tomatoes every day; I mean 1.0 ton, not just “lots.” Yeah, enough about plants. We were there for food. In particular, their tomato soup and AMAZING bread. OMG.

The “restaurant” was right in the greenhouse. Maybe more of a dining area, but very elegantly set up. That’s my group over to the left.

Each table had a really beautiful basil plant with a pair of scissors attached to the pot. The intent was that you cut off a few leaves (or a ton of leaves) and cut them into your soup. Ohhh … the smell of fresh basil. Yum. There was also sour cream to spoon into your soup if you like it creamy. And the bread. Did I mention the bread? Four or five types spread across the buffet table, tumbling onto the floor, and onto my plate. Again and again. Amazing Icelandic butter, of course, which they kept bringing to the table. And a cucumber relish that was wonderful on top of the butter, on top of the bread. Yum. All you can eat. And we weren’t shy. It was only soup, after all. Oops … and a Bloody Mary made from their own tomatoes, of course.

When I couldn’t fit anymore bread and butter and cucumber relish into me, I wandered around and found a little gift shop that sold … wait for it … their cucumber relish! Woohoo. I tucked that away for a picnic later in the week. Fridheimer Farm; highly recommend it. Warm and cozy and yummy. And so surprising to find in Iceland.

At this point, it occurred to Thorssten that we were running way behind and were rapidly losing the sun. We bundled up, headed out to the bus, and unbundled as we drove another half hour to Gullfoss waterfalls. Y’all know that wicked, wicked, sharp cold wind? Yeah, we jumped out of the bus, snapped photos, and jumped back on. We had one more sight to catch before the we totally lost the sun. And we still had more food stops after that!

Geysir, pronounced “Gay-sich, is the original geyser that all geysers are named after. Thorssten handed out headlamps, but we managed to squeeze in our visit and see three eruptions without needing to turn the lamps on. While the erupting geyser was pretty awesome (involuntary shouts may have been involved), just standing there watching the sun set was pretty amazing on its own. Waiting for the geyser …

Letting the geyser do its thing …

Ok, ok, I’ll give you mercy. I’ll hold the rest of the day for the next post. Stay tuned.