These are Iceland rocks. They're not even rocks we found at some lava field. These were the regular rocks on the path to the Gulfoss waterfall. They were just lying there looking all normal until we bent down to pick one up and realized how full of holes it was. Hmmm... I guess it is a lava rock after all. Seems like no matter where you go here, you can't escape the fact that you are on a really hot rock.

For example, you could just be driving along the road and then suddenly, whoosh, a geyser erupts!

Okay, I'll admit it: after our trip to the Hellisheiði power plant and our discovery of the Kerið crater, we were on our way to see Geysir, the giant geyser that is the origin of the actual word geyser. When you arrive at Geysir, you park your car in the big lot next to the food and souvenir shop and then cross the street to this:

A huge mass of stinky (remember the sulfur?), steaming earth. It's a whole bunch of little hot springs, all steaming away. Many, like this one called Litli-Geysir, have continuously bubbling water bouncing around in them.

geysir is from the Icelandic for "gush" and litli is pretty much the cutest way of saying "little" I can imagine

Big Geysir actually doesn't erupt anymore on its own. The last time it went off was after an earthquake in the area. (Sometimes they force it to erupt, using some sort of soap solution or something, for national celebrations.) But, luckily for all us tourists, right next to it is Strokkur, which is only half as big as Geysir (but still about the same size as Old Faithful) and erupts every 5 minutes or so. Here it comes now...

And then it is quiet again.

Wanna watch a geyser go off with me?

watching a geyser involves a lot of waiting

The next stop on the Golden Circle tour, just a few kilometers down the road from Geysir, is Gullfoss, or golden falls. (Every tourist to Iceland makes this so-called Golden Circle tour of Geysir, Gullfoss, and Þingvellir, the original site of Iceland's 1,100 year-old parliament. They are all relatively close to one another and also relatively close to Reykjavik. The "golden" in the name is from the falls, Iceland's largest waterfall by volume.) So we're driving along, following signs and Garmin, and we know the falls are coming up soon. But we're still driving in the middle of flat earth, as far as the eye can see. Hubby says, "I don't see how there's gonna be a waterfall here in this area." Then we saw a little side road rest area. After our experience with the Kerið crater, which we discovered by pulling into one of these tiny little parking spots, we thought, what the heck, let's pull over and look around. Sure enough there was a little ridge in the land.

We hiked a little closer.

And a little more.

gasp

All that was running back parallel to the road we'd been driving on! And in the other direction...

There it is! That waterfall must be massive if this is the ravine it feeds into. Sure enough, the actual site did not disappoint.

You tend to lose a sense of scale in pictures of Iceland's landscape. See those people walking along the path to get down to the water. Tiny. And the water? Big. Loud. And once you get down onto the path, wet. Iceland travel tip #2: it does not have to be raining in Iceland for you to need your rain jacket.

Wanna see and hear Iceland's largest waterfall?

You could also climb up to a cliff to get a different view of the falls.

Can we talk about how there are absolutely no ropes up there on that cliff? There weren't any ropes by that gargantuan ravine either. I have to say that I'd enjoy a little more ropes. I pretty much felt like I was gonna die any minute at every one of these sites. But then again, to make it all safe, you'd have to rope off like 90% of Iceland. Travel tip #3: be careful out there, folks, okay?!

Now, remember how I told you that when you're looking at one really amazing thing in Iceland, all you have to do is turn around to see another? Well, when we got to the cliff to look at the falls below, we turned around and saw this.

That there is a full-on, g.d. glacier, people! I guess it can't be all hot on an island called Iceland.

Alright, on to Þingvellir, which is neither steaming water, nor frozen rock, or even an old building with a big museum. It's just a valley where Iceland had its parliament until the the 18th century. I thought this site might end up being a bit anti-climactic after all we'd seen that day. Iceland punished me for this thought by taking us there on a terrifyingly narrow gravel road while simultaneously opening up the heavens with the rain it'd been threatening to dump on us all day.

wanna ride on a gravel road in the rain with me?

This was way more scary than I was able to capture. It was very bumpy, with huge potholes. And we were in the middle of nowhere in a crappy little Chevy Aveo! Hubby was swerving left and right to avoid the potholes and then driving treacherously close to the edge whenever another car appeared. And always, there were crests and sharp curves in the road that you'd have to drive over or around not knowing if another car was coming. (Chances are, in Iceland, there isn't, but still...). The real proof of how scary this ride was, is that my husband was totally loving it! He said it didn't really matter what we ended up seeing, that drive was worth it all on its own. But Iceland still hadn't convinced me, so when we finally arrived, it really started to really pour. And out came the rain gear.

Me, being a trooper

To appreciate this picture, you need to know that I have never owned a rain jacket and I certainly have never even thought about owning rain pants. I am just not a let's-go-out-and-hike-around kind of gal. Don't get me wrong, I would not prefer dresses or heels. Just Merrells. On sidewalks. So this was a big deal for me. But I'd made peace with this possibility, er, probability, long before we came, so I just took a deep breath and slipped on the hideous rain pants. Because visiting Þingvellir - Iceland's first national park - is about walking around. And today, it was about walking around in the pouring rain.

it was so peaceful here - the only sound is hubby taking off his rain pants!

We walked through the massive ravine up to the visitor's center, perched high above the valley. After our walk in the rain and a not so quick trip to the bathroom to struggle with four layers of clothing, the rain stopped (I guess I'd learned my lesson by then) and we could enjoy the spectacular view. What a beautiful setting for a people to meet! Every year, chieftains and farmers would meet here in this valley, where the law speaker would recite the laws of the land (this was before there was writing, so he had to memorize them all), new laws would be made, trials would be heard and reparations or punishments decided and carried out. In fact some of the places on the site are named after the punishments, such as the burning ravine and the drowning pool. Here is the Law Rock, where the law speaker would recite the laws:

The massive rock wall behind him would have carried his voice farther out to the people listening. Very convenient, that rock wall. In fact, that whole ravine that we'd walked through is actually a rift caused by the two tectonic plates separating right here through Þingvellir. There are many rifts and fissures in the land here. They are visible in the zig zag path of the water as well. Because of the shifting of the earth, earthquakes are common here too, along with flooding from Lake Þingvallavatn, Iceland's largest lake, which feeds into the valley. Now it becomes clear why this might not be the best place to have the government. Thus, the move to Reykjavik.

Þingvellir, literally shaped by nature

Do you see that unsightly gravel circle on the right there? That used to lead up to a large red building, which you can see in any postcard you buy of Þingvellir and in pictures in guidebooks (including the one we had from 2009). There was no info in the tiny little info stand about what happened to it. And thus, we were left to solve the mystery of the missing red building ourselves. It seems that it was a hotel. A lot of these sites have a neighboring hotel. There is Hotel Geysir, right across from the steaming hot springs and geysers and right next to the gift shop. And there's a Hotel Gullfoss on the road between Geysir and Gullfoss. The missing red building apparently was Hotel Valhöll, which burned down last fall because of a fire in the kitchen. Hubby solved the mystery by finding this youtube video someone took of the building on fire. No one was seriously hurt so I hope it's okay if I say I kinda think I like the view better without it. If only they could get rid of the driveway!

After enjoying the peace and sublime beauty and power of landscape here, we were ready to return to Reykjavik. It was late! But we brought with us one last mystery to solve from our tour of the Golden Cirlce...

sheep or rocks? there are so many of both here, sometimes it was hard to tell

No, not that. These:

We first spotted these on a hill overlooking Geysir. They are stacks of rocks that look like funny little magical people watching the hot springs from above (they tend to have this irregular, pointy shape that reminds me most of the Sorting Hat from Harry Potter!). There were more at every tourist site, as well as every little roadside stopping point near a view.

These are clearly not the work of Mother Nature. What are they? Who is making these? And why? There was no information at any stop about them, nor was there anything in my guide books about Icelanders making rock stacks. Hubby searched the internet and found that they are cairns - something I've never heard of, but which were used in ancient times to mark paths, landmarks, or burial sites. There is a huge field of them in Iceland at Laufskálavarþa, the site of a 10th century farm destroyed by an early eruption of the volcano, Katla. An info sign there explains that each person passing by is supposed to add a stone for good luck. But it seems that the Icelanders build these rock sculptures everywhere. They greet you at every stop! They are strange and fascinating, familiar and yet other-worldly. Just like Iceland.

Stay tuned for more posts about our trip to Iceland!