It was July end –both me and
Prateek tired of our monotonous work lives longed to take a break, breathe in some
fresh air – we were getting restless. As we sat down to decide where to go, the
first place that came to both our minds was Iceland; our eyes lit up at the
mere mention of this beautiful country – but then was it feasible? The major
concern was that the tickets might have become very costly by now, as we had
decided to go for our holiday in mid September which was just a month and half
away! We immediately checked the ticket prices and as expected, it was costly...my
heart sank...I sighed deeply; and then suddenly, Prateek said that if we
delayed our plan by a week, we might still get a reasonable deal!
It was decided, we were going to Iceland! I
was ecstatic.
(We had wanted to visit Iceland for long, but
because of some or the other reason it had never worked out – so now that we
were finally going, imagine how elated I was!)
We had landed at Reykjavik
airport – my excitement knew no bounds. It is correct that I was extremely excited
but at the same time was feeling damn nervous as Prateek hasn’t really driven
around much in India – And after hearing so much about the unpredictable
weather in Iceland, couldn’t help wondering if we will be able complete our
planned drive around the ring road!
We picked up our car and started
our journey towards the Golden circle route. Iceland is breathtakingly
beautiful right from the word “Go”; Enormous lava fields, covered in stunning
autumn colours of green, yellow and red lined the roads on both sides – Oh what
a lovely sight it was!
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| Beautiful play of clouds and sun rays! |
We traversed through the beautiful surroundings, soaking
in the surreal sights, to reach our first stop, Thingvellir National Park. Thingvellir
National Park is located in an active volcanic area and is considered as a UNESCO
World Heritage site - surrounded by varied mountains, featuring the beautiful
lava fields with autumn colours in full bloom, streams flowing through,
waterfalls – it was all an amazing spectacle!
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| OOooo - What a view!!! How many colours do you see?? |
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| Beautiful stream flowing through |
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| Curiosity taking me towards the mist - what is it? |
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| Oh there it is! - Beautiful "Oxarafoss" |
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| The Autumn hues! |
The most interesting feature of
the park – continental drift between the North American and Eurasian
Plates can be clearly seen in the cracks or faults which
traverse the region. We visited one such fissure i.e. Silfra fissure. The
amazing feeling of being able to witness this geological wonder is
inexplicable!
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| Which continent am I in? |
We hiked through the park,
absolutely thrilled by the amazing views and features we got to witness. What a
wonderful beginning of our journey to this stunning land of fire and ice!
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| Wish I could go back! |
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