Saturday 31 May 2014

Iceland 28: The Golden Circle (part 3)

The final leg on our "Golden Triangle" tour was Gullfoss, one of the largest waterfalls in Iceland.  Again the car park was absolutely heaving, so we decided not to spend too much time here.






The falls were, indeed, very impressive; but the gift shop was something else.  In addition to the inevitable "Ice-Tat" which we'd found absolutely everywhere, there were also fox-pelts plus seal and reindeer skins.  It reminded me rather of the bearskin coat and fox stole which used to be my grandmother's pride and joy.  The window display showed what the well-dressed Icelandic woman is wearing (although, presumably, it gets a bit nippy in the Winter).


Eventually we'd had enough and headed away from the falls and back towards Hveragerdi.  Rather than going straight to the hotel we explored the town a bit, driving up to the golf course which had steam vents as natural hazards.  We then went to the information centre and earthquake "museum" (closing and closed, respectively) and a handicraft shop (also closed).  By this point we couldn't face visiting the "Bonus Pig" supermarket, so went back to the hotel to download pictures.



Having effectively missed lunch we were getting hungry so went to the "Kjot & Kunst" which specialised in cooking all its food in geothermal ovens.  The earth bread was excellent (shaped like a muffin) and both our fish dishes were very good indeed.  It was staggeringly expensive for what it was, though - the most expensive meal of our entire stay in Iceland.  Still, like the thermal baths in Myvatn, we just had to do it.




The final highlight of the day was "Futtock Jumping" (actually called "tussock jumping" in the guide book).  At this particular attraction it was possible to leap from one artificial and brightly coloured mole hill to another in what looked like a children's play area.  A bit of innocent fun, though, and I have the pictures to prove it!



By the way, the final picture is my one and only "selfie" from the trip...

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