Reykjavík Grapevine - 03.02.2017, Page 58

The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 02 — 2017
56
The Golden Circle is the Icelan-
dic travel standard. Like ‘It’s A
Wonderful Life’ as a Christmas
movie, or that golden magical
brew we call beer as the drink
of choice when meeting friends,
the reason for its stature is obvi-
ous—it’s the best way to soak up
the maximum amount of beau-
tiful nature and Icelandic his-
tory in the minimum amount of
time.
On the day we went, the cir-
cumstances were quite special.
All tours had been held up for
two days, as Iceland had been
going through a storm, so the
tour providers were transport-
ing three days worth of travel-
lers around the circuit. As a na-
tive, I hadn’t travelled this route
for quite a few years, and it had
changed quite a bit since my last
round. It ’s a testament to the
dedication of Iceland’s tourism
stakeholders that even in the ex-
treme circumstances of that day
all my fellow travellers seemed
to fully enjoy themselves, bar
one.
Extreme sport
Our tour began an hour late, be-
cause of bus problems, but the
passengers didn’t seem to mind.
The weather was still quite ex-
treme w ith heav y w inds and
rain in the morning, so the drive
to Þingvellir wasn’t so much
about the dramatic landscape as
the dramatic weather. Being a
grumpy Icelander, I decided to
give Þingvellir a miss. I sat with
my laptop in the lovely new visi-
tor centre at the edge of the park
while the wind howled and the
sightseers flew across the land-
scape.
Back in the bus, one of us—a
New Zealander, if I read the ac-
cent cor re c t ly— compla i ne d
that he was ill-prepared for the
conditions, and his pants al l
wet from the rainstorm. He ad-
mitted that he’d rather be on a
sunny beach, but he loved his
girlfriend and she’d been very
excited about going to Iceland.
The others seemed happy with
hav ing their leisurely strol l
turned into an extreme sport.
Some had never before experi-
enced this type of weather.
The storm peaked at Geysir,
the natural phenomenon where
pressure builds up underground
before regularly shooting out a
metres-high stream of hot wa-
ter. I’m not a geology nerd, so
I can’t precisely describe the
process—sue me. The weather
was crazy while we watched the
“ejaculation” (as our poet slash
photographer described it) hit
the powerful wind. This was
truly a sight to behold, hear and
feel. The rumbling in the ground
and the smell of sulphur, the
wind politely but firmly push-
ing against the onlookers. As
we were leaving, the weather
calmed down, and the air was
fresh and new.
Iceland waterfall
Gullfoss (loosely translated as
“golden waterfall”) was as beau-
tif u l as ever. Some theorise
that language evolves with the
meaning it is given at any given
time. If this is the case, Gull-
foss should be renamed “Iceland
Waterfall,” as Kim Kardashian
renamed it to her ten gazillion
Instagram followers, who prob-
ably now know it as such. But I
digress.
Our last stop was the Secret
Lagoon. This decades-old swim-
ming pool was converted into a
tourist destination a few years
ago. It doesn’t look or feel like a
modern swimming pool in any
way—it’s a large lake, square-ish
in shape, with walls built from
slabs of raw stone. We could feel
the three-day build-up of travel-
lers, all descending at the same
time. I felt a sense of trepidation
seeing the mass of people con-
gregating at the reception and
changing room building, but my
worries were alleviated. The fa-
cilities and staff smoothly han-
dled even a freak day like this,
w ith minimal waiting times
to enter. The pool comfortably
held this stampede of people. I
found myself a quiet corner and
gazed at the travellers, listen-
ing in to their languages, see-
ing their different postures and
body languages. The area looked
interesting, with a decrepit hut,
a steaming river, some nearby
hills, and other things to inves-
tigate. But I was more than con-
tent to sit in the steaming water,
perusing the crowd and reflect-
ing on the day.
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Storms &
Stampedes
Words SVEINBJÖRN PÁLSSON Photos ART BICNICK
A grumpy Icelander does
The Golden Circle
Trip provided by
Arctic Adventures - adventures.is
How to get there
Book a tour or take Route One North, Route 36, then
follow signs for Þingvellir, Geyser & Gulfoss.