theDIBB - Iceland road trip day 14

We had breakfast at the hotel - by now pretty samey stuff.
We decided to drive the Golden circle route today and we set off heading for Gullfoss as the furthest point. The weather en route was changeable - sunny, cloudy and by the time that we arrived, wet!
I did this circuit when I came to Iceland 13 years ago and I wondered if it had changed.
The waterfall was shrouded in mist and low cloud. It didn’t make for a great picture...(but when has that stopped me?)

There is a huge gift shop and food complex there now, which I felt obliged to browse! 13 years ago - there was nothing!
Next stop was Geysir. We tried to take a photo of the eruption but once again - white sky, white steam didn’t make for a good photo! It was fun watching it though!

Also listening to people squeal when it went!
After this (and the gift shop) we stopped to see a small waterfall, but it was a 7k hike to get there, so we carried on to our next stop - the tomato factory. We had see this on a you tube video and thought it looked like a good place for lunch, I had read about the need to book - but thought that we would be fine.
The restaurant opened at 12 and we arrived at 11.55. We got the last table!
There was a limited menu but the main attraction was the limitless tomato soup and bread. Each table had a basil plant for you to use and a carafe of water with cherry tomatoes in it. Our server came over and told us about the place - they produce 1 tonne of tomatoes per day! Looking at how much soup was consumed, I can believe it!

They also have lots of bees and hives to pollenate the plants.

Satisfied, we looked at their small gift shop and then stopped to talk to their horses on the way back to the car. 😀
Our next stop was Thingvellir National Park. We stopped along the way to watch a key Brexit vote take place (another one!). The 4g over the whole island was great throughout our trip. A lovely view!

Once at Thingvellir we saw a pretty little waterfall - Öxárfoss

And then we walked along and up the main fissure.
At the top, there was another gift shop, coach park and cafe - I can’t believe how this has all grown since I was last here 13 years ago.

We hoofed back down to the car and decided to head back to Reykjavik to get into the church before it closed. It was a 45min drive and we arrived at 4.15 (closed at 5). We parked in the church carpark and then found that it was closed, unless you had a concert ticket for an event that evening. Damn!

We headed back to the hotel, but first stopped at Bonus to pick up some remoulade and cocktail sauce to bring home.
We ate at Skalli again - this time Si had a chicken burger and I had beef burger - once again, really tasty and good value.
Back at the hotel it was time to pack bags ready for an early start - alarms set for 4.45am for our 8am flight home.