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Mark H

From the archive, on this day in 2015 we were in for the first time and undertaking the obligatory Golden Circle Tour.

On a grey and often damp day we visited the rift between tectonic plates at Þingvellir, Gullfoss waterfall, and Strokkur geyser and hot springs at Geysir.

You want natural marvels? Iceland's got you covered!

We're beside a shallow stream bubbling over rough, nearly-black boulders and stones, having just dropped from a small elevating over similar large rocks, all coming from somewhere further up the gently-sloping but very uneven ground ahead of a wall of yet more stone. We're on the split between two tectonic plates and it's easy to picture the ground to the left of us being forced upwards as that we're on sinks with the water run-off from the higher land creating this water feature amongst the dull-coloured scrubland and volcanic-looking geology.
We're on ground beside nearly flat-topped, broadly smooth boulders overlooking the drop on a wide, powerful waterfall. Spray forms a ghostlike shape in the air over the falls while the water churns mostly white with hints of blue-green to our left just before it disappears ahead of us. Either side in the distance the landscape shows a wide valley through which the water cuts a path with sheer sides and short grass and moss on any flat-enough surfaces, the colour showing later Autumn. It's an overcast day. You feel small and deafened by the roar of the cascade ahead.
We're on a nearly flat plain with knee-length grass pale, having lost the greenery of summer, becoming a dirty yellow under the very overcast sky. There are the smallest ridges of very distant mountains on the horizon. A few dozen metres ahead of us is a group of several dozen people dressed for cold or wet weather although it doesn't quite feel like it's either right now. They mostly have their backs to us, facing instead towards a point in the centre of their circle where a wide geyser is erupting, shooting a column a few metres wide and over ten metres high straight up into the air.
We're on broadly flat, wet, muddy ground, brown but with a hint of red in it indicating volcanic activity. That can also be seen in the geyser that's just started to erupt a dozen metres in front of us. It's a few metres wide and high, almost spear-point-like in form, and with the light behind through an overcast day just enough to show off glacial blues in the otherwise boiling white water jet. A man with red waterproof coat is just in front of us also looking at the natural marvel.
#GoldenCircle#Photography#TravelPhotography
Nov 05, 2024, 09:52 AM·Public·Web
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Mark Wyner Won’t Comply :vm:

@neonbubble stunning. It’s my dream to visit Iceland. Heck, I’d move there if I could. I’m happy you were able to make the trip.

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Mark H

@markwyner We've now been three times, looking around different parts each time. It is by some way our most favourite country in Europe to visit.

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Mark H

@markwyner No. If I find the time I'll try to.

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tiny_m

@neonbubble Gulfoss is so amazing and I can't believe they let you just walk right up to the edge of it and peer over the top, if that was in the UK you'd be stood 20 foot back from any form of danger and they've just got a rubbish bit of rope barrier along the path, I wonder how many people have slipped in by mistake

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Mark H

@haiku_shelf It wasn't too bad when we went there.

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Angelika Wienert

@neonbubble

I visited some places twice or more than twice, so I had the joy 'not too crowded' sometimes. Away from Golden Circle there are calm (and beautiful) places and interesting 'everyday things' (strawberry greenhouses and a chat with the farmer and things like this).

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Mark H

@haiku_shelf We went to a greenhouse as part of this tour - it was a bus tour we picked up from the capital - but I think it was mostly tomatoes growing there.

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