I enjoyed Reykjavík, but I was curious to see the famously stunning countryside of Iceland. Since I had a car, I decided to visit sights along the Golden Circle at my own pace and with an overnight stop in between. I left the hostel later than planned due to friendly chatting with a fellow roommate. Setting the built-in navigation to my desired destination proved to be more of a challenge than expected. I wanted to go to Þingvellir/Thingvellir (Parliamentary Plains) National Park. However, among the languages in the satnav, there was no Icelandic, and the English spelling did not yield any results. What now? I found the location on my phone and tried to transfer to the spot based on nearby rivers and roads on the map of the car’s navigation. Then, I set off, trusting that there would be some signage for tourists closer to the site.
As soon as I left the capital’s metropolitan area, driving east, the mostly treeless landscape opened up and showed off its mosses and low-growing plants in stunning autumn colours ranging from soft sage green via bright orange and deep red to dark green, broken up by glossy black rocks and silver shimmering lakes. Mountains in the background, some white-capped, framed these colours beautifully in various shades of blue. The vastness of the view was breathtaking and reminded me of my road trips through the west of the USA.
