Hello!! Welcome to day 2 of Iceland!
Today was packed from start to finish. After breakfast, we got on the bus and drove about an hour from Reykjavík to Thingvellir National Park. This place is incredibly important to Iceland’s history because it was home to the annual parliament, the Alping. We spent the morning walking along the beautiful trails and learning about how this area shaped Iceland’s early government.
After leaving Thingvellir, we headed to Fontana Laugarvatn Geothermal Bakery, which might have been the highlight of my day. Because of geothermal activity, the hot soil near the lake acts like a natural oven. The rye bread dough is placed in a pot and buried in the soil for 24 hours. When we arrived, they dug up the pot of bread right in front of us. It was funny watching bread get shoveled from the ground, but it actually tasted amazing. We paired it with some butter and fish. The bread was warm, sweet, and really soft.
On the way to our hotel we stopped at Efstidalur II for ice cream. This place is a farm, so while we were eating ice cream we could actually see the cows through the windows.
After the ice cream stop, we also visited Kerid Crater. We walked around the rim of the crater and got to look down into the snow covered lake! The view was incredible at the top.
By the time we got back to the hotel, it felt like we had packed a lot into one day: hiking between tectonic plates, learning about Iceland’s first parliament, watching bread get dug out of the ground, eating ice cream next to cows, and standing on the edge of a volcanic crater. Definitely one of the most memorable days of the trip so far.
Peace out!
Swanson School of Engineering 