#geysirs

Hey Geysirs! My first post-chemo trip, ten years ago.

Screen grab of Icelandinc geysir at different stages, (c) Carole Edrich 2009

How do you stop friends, family and acquaintances treating you as a victim when all your hair has fallen out, and you’ve just finished chemo? I avoided the challenge entirely by travelling as much as possible as soon as I possibly could. The doctors told me that my immune system would be back and running 4 weeks after…

It’s been another long day - seems to be the theme of this journey!  That, and unbelievable landscapes.  

It’s my fault, though.  My brother was getting in at Keflavik airport at 6.05am, and the distance from Vik to the airport was around 3 hours according to GoogleMaps.  I had checked the weather/aurora forecast and it looked like there were going to be some really nice clear skies on the drive if I were to leave a little bit earlier. Plus, you never know how long a drive is really going to take here (weather can be crazy, traffic, etc).  I don’t know why, but I woke up at 1.30am, and headed to Keflavik.  There was no aurora.  And his flight was an hour late!  So after I got to the area, I went and explored in the dark for a little bit.

There were some stars in the sky though!

At 7.30, I picked them both up and we started our journey of the Golden Circle for the day.  First stop was Kerið crater.  I’d seen pictures before but I had no clue it was actually going to be as large and deep as it was.  Total shocker.  We were able to walk the circumference.  And there was even a trail leading to the base of it.  Way cool.

The sunrise was beautiful.

The thing about the Golden Circle is that it’s essentially the whole of Iceland squeezed into a small area that’s easily accessible from the main city, Reykjavik.  So a lot of tourists that have quick stopovers will go to it, making it a total tourist hotspot.  

I was not prepared, especially after having spent two days basically alone.  There were tourists in the south, but not this many.  There were hoards of them.

After Kerið, we were heading for Gullfoss but saw a point-of-interest sign and decided to check it out.  Super glad we did because it ended up being a kickass random spot.

What is this?!! Then there was Geysir, which has a lot of geothermal activity.  I’ve never seen a geyser before (the name Geysir originated in Iceland, and the geyser it’s named after is… Geysir.  It’s been dormant for a while now, but there’s a baby one called Strokkur Geysir that erupts every few minutes.  

Fun fact: The area smelled like rotten eggs from the sulfur. Gullfoss.  What a cool waterfall.  

Þingvellir - the area where Iceland’s first parliament was formed.  Lots of death sentences were given here.  People were drowned and hanged, witches were burnt, etc.  

Once we finished up at Þingvellir, we started our 2+ hour trek to Ólafsvík in Snaefellsnes, or as Dan likes to call it, Snailfish, to stay for the night.  It was pretty smooth sailing until the last 45 minutes or so, when it started raining with heavy fog, making a drive in the dark really difficult and scary especially when going up and down a mountain. But here we are, at our Air Bnb and I’m so grateful!  The place is decorated so nicely and we have a living room and kitchen to ourselves.  Dan made fish, now both Dans are going to a bar while I type this up and then hit the hay.  It’s been a long day!

Tomorrow is pretty lax.  The main sights we’re going to see are all within an hour of this current location.  Then we’ll head back to Reykjavik to stay for the night so I can head to Keflavik airport the following day.  So soon!