The Golden Circle

The most famous daytrip in Iceland is the Golden Circle, a collection of natural wonders and historical sites located along the southern part of the island. There are several variations of the tour, but most versions give you a chance to visit the Kerith volcano crater, Skaholt chapel, the Gulfoss waterfall, the geysers of Geysir and Thingvellir National Park. This gallery covers all of those places, except for Thingvellir, which we felt merited its own gallery.

	Andy stands on a rocky hillside in southwest Iceland.		Susanne and the Icelandic countryside.
	Far off in the distance you can just make out Iceland's second largest glacier.		Mount Hekla, Iceland's most famous volcano.
	The countryside east of Reykjavik.
			A geothermal farm, known to tourists as Eden, manages to grow plants from all over the wold due to the heat generated from the hot springs below the earth's surface.
	A sod gnome head greets visitors to Eden.		Kerith, an extinct volcano, collapsed upon itself and eventually became a lake.
	View of the crater lake from the hillside.		Susanne poses just outside the crater.
	Laxifoss, or Horse's Mane Falls, a beautiful waterfall just past the Kerith crater.		Laxi from another angle.
	The bishopric of Skaholt.		Originally home to the Catholic bishops of Iceland, Skaholt became the center of Icelandic Lutheranism after the Danish spread the religion on the island.
	Grave stones to the rear of the church.		A cross just outside the church faces Mount Hekla.
	The approach to Gulfoss, one of the most magnificent waterfalls in Iceland.
	Andy poses along the Gulfoss gorge, still a 10 minutes' walk to the falls.		Millions of gallons pour off the falls into the gorge.
	Mist sprays hundreds of feet into the air.		Andy gets a little closer to the falls.
	Water sprays in every direction as it drops 70 meters into the gorge.		Another dramatic view of the mist shooting skyward from the falls.


	Susanne poses by the lower falls.		Susanne gets sprayed with mist near the upper falls.

	Strokkur geyser shoots steam into the air in the town of Geysir, the place that gave geysers their name.
			After the geyser finishes spouting hot water, some of the water drains back into the spring.
	It takes eight to 10 minutes for the Strokkur geyser to blow off its steam, but it's spectacular when it does.		Sometimes you'll get a second or third burst of spray after the initial expulsion.
			Closeup of Strokkur spring, following another eruption.