My first day in the road was a feast for my eyes! Only a hour or so drive from Rek is the Golden Circle called that due to the amount of money made from the bus loads of tourists that flock to see these same sights.
Thingvellir is really nice. The seat of the first Parliament in the western world in the 9th century, it is here that you can see the rift formed by the expansion of the NA and European tectonic plate. I then went to Gesysir to watch the tourists watch the Geysir explode. From there to Gullfoss, a really big waterfall but seen from above. Tourist buses were everywhere and I laughed as they pulled out their cameras to take photos rather than actually looking at the sights. And I’m no expert but I’m not sure that using your flash helps when photographing a waterfall!
I didn’t take any photos but I ended the day searching for the secret secret lagoon near Flúðir. The photographer in Rek told me about it and I searched and searched until I finally found it. At first I ended up at the Secret Lagoon, a hot pool that, again, was packed with tour buses. I knew this wasn’t the right place so I tried again, this time not using GPS. The hand drawn map was spot on, I just turned left when I should have turned right (I followed the tourist sign). I drove down a lonely country road for 15 minutes, convinced I was on the wrong path. But then I saw a small area to park, as described! There was one car in the lot so I ventured up and within minutes was soaking in a hot pool with two young Icelandic women. SMT and ASE, the two young ladies, were great! We chatted about Iceland and things to do and to see. Soaking in this tub was literally my high point thus far. The scenery was spectacular and while it was a few degrees above zero, I was snug and warm in the pool. One of them has travelled quite often to Italy so we chatted about that and the impact of tourism on Iceland. I can say that wild hot tubbing with two attractive Icelanders in the middle of nowhere is one of the highlights of my trip this far! They even helped me with my pronunciation, although I’m sure I still can’t pronounce the double Ls!!