on the rocks please

I went to bed late last night. It must have been around midnight once I fall asleep. I was lucky with the youth hostel as there was only one other guy in my room who wasn't there when I went to bed. He actually came home at 4 in the morning and went to bed after a quick flash of light and a huge noise of stuff falling down from his bed. He snorted.

Payback time was at seven in the morning when my mobile went off to wake me up so I could get ready for the trip with Icerock, another flickr user. I arranged the trip with him a while ago after seeing his pictures on flickr - after all, someone with such cool pictures can't be a mass murderer, right?.

He was waiting for me outside the hostel with a friend (another flickr user called Labbi) and I jumped into the car as fast as I could after a very delicious 800 ISK breakfast at the hostel. As every second person in Iceland, he was driving a 4WD - a greenish Nissan I think.

We did a short introduction, fueled up the car and were on our way towards a path called Golden Circle - consisting of þingvellir, Stokkuer, Gollfuss and more. The first hour or so went by as we drove towards the biggest natural lake in Iceland - between grey mountains with a little bit of snow on top - just as little as could get stuck in the stormy winds.


We arrived at the lake around nine thirty where we made our first pictures. The weather was extremely cold with strong winds and so I was glad to have my snowboard jacket with me. Here is a picture of Labbi with his cool hat.


Our next destination was the þingvellir (meaning "Parliament Plains") national park. According to a very informative website (www.thingvellir.is):

No single place epitomizes the history of Iceland and the Icelandic nation better than Þingvellir by the river Öxará. At Þingvellir – literally "Parliament Plains" – the Alþing general assembly was established around 930 and continued to convene there until 1798. Major events in the history of Iceland have taken place at Þingvellir and therefore the place is held in high esteem by all Icelanders. Today Þingvellir is a protected national shrine. According to the law, passed in 1928, the protected area shall always be the property of the Icelandic nation, under the preservation of the Alþing.

Also this area is where the tectonic plates meet so it is also of great geological importance. We watched the sun rising at the lake and went for a walk behind a big wall of rocks to see an artificial waterfall. A perfect way for me to test my new hiking shoes. I managed to survive a fall through thin ice into a bit of a water without braking my leg or even making it too wet. So my new investment was fully justified!!!

Next our trip took us deeper into the mountains and we stopped on our way a couple of times whenever we saw some interesting rock formations like this:


Icerock was so kind and brought some sandwiches with salmon to eat during our trip. Both he and Labbi were great hosts - full of information about the places we went to - and very entertaining at the same time. Labbi managed to make a really nice picture of Icerock and myself while shooting some pics:


Next station was the world famous Geysir geothermal field - yes the one and only, the original Geysir!!! For a perfect explanation of how this works, please check out

this site. We spent the next hour or so trying to catch that perfect picture, getting completely soaked in warm sulphurous water and our fingers frozen while holding our cameras in position for many minutes waiting for the eruption to happen. I managed to shoot some nice pics actually.


After the Geysirs came a short photosession at a nearby church - a perfect setting for a nordic light session in the following days. Yes, I have not seen the nordic lights due to the bad weather conditions, but Icerock and Labbi will try to take some nice pics end of this week when the conditions will be better.

The great waterfalls of Gulfoss followed (golden falls), which is the greatest waterfall in Europe. Unfortunately the weather was not the best for taking photos due to the mist, but I can imagine this being a fantastic experience in the summer. Captain Catan will return!!!


I will especially return to the hut nearby where I had the most delicious icelandic soup - Labbi told me there is actually a club of icelandic soup lovers who eat this soup all around the country and give it points. It is a bit like the Gulyásleves from Hungary, but also different. You have to check it for yourself to understand what I mean (nothing filthy, don't worry ...)

To cut a long story short - we spent the next hours looking for a perfect place to shoot some pictures of icelandic horses - which are pony-sized and have longer fuzzy hair than their bigger relatives.


The last station of our trip was the south coast near the biggest prison in Iceland - with an interesting story about the guards spying on the nearby village ...


We arrived back at the hotel in the late afternoon and I said goodbye to Icerock and Labbi. Thanks again for the fantastic day - the good stories and the superb guided tour that I am sure not too many people had the luck to be part of ...

Oh, almost forgot - don't forget to check out the pics of Icerock and Labbi on flickr!!!