Tingvellir Diving, Geysir and Thórsmörk.
Back on the mainland, we drive up to Tingvellir National Park. This is where you can see Geysir, the Gullfoss waterfall and the rift between the continental plates.
Thingvellir is famous for the great Tingvalla plain where the Alting met and Holmgang could be fought to settle important disputes.
With this place, Iceland is one of the earliest countries in the world to introduce democracy in the year 930.
The independent Icelandic Republic is also proclaimed here on 17 June 1944
We go for a walk up to the rocks, there is a nice paved road all the way.
It is impressive to walk through the rift and know that exactly here is where the continental plates drift apart, with many earthquakes as a result.
Silfra is a fault in Thingvellir that flows into Thingvallavatn. The water is crystal clear, as the meltwater from the Langjökull glacier is filtered through the porous lava rocks all the way down to the lake.
The gorge, which is full of water all year round, is also a very famous diving spot. Precisely because of the extremely clear water, with long visibility.
Johnny has packed diving equipment from home, so now it's just a matter of jumping in the water and seeing if it's as good as it says.
Very impressed by the visibility and the rock formations, Johnny comes up to the surface again after half an hour.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with the view, but the water temperature is 2 degrees.
So it's a bit chilly, even in a dry suit.
After changing clothes and thawing out Johnny, we drive over to the Geysir area.
There are many buses when we arrive, but it doesn't seem overcrowded for that reason.
We walk around the area most of the day waiting for the right light to take pictures in. In the evening we find a secluded place to camp for the night, from here we can lie down and enjoy the view of the thermal area until it becomes completely dark.
After a good walk-breakfast, we start to zig-zag along F-roads through the area and set our course towards the Thórsmörk area.
The drive itself goes through rough rocky terrain with glaciers, problematic places with quicksand and oozing toxic gas species. When there is a definite warning on signs about the challenges - you have to take it seriously.
Icelanders are not the ones who are unnecessarily fussy, and expect even tourists to have common sense when it comes to safety.
This is a very active area.
After many (about 26) water crossings, we arrive at the Básar camp area.
Learned by previous expensive experience, we choose not to cross the last river - we have seen a heavy tractor drive through it - it is too deep and too strong a current.
Fortunately, we don't have to drive all the way to the last camp – Básar is fine enough for us.
We arrive late in the afternoon and enjoy the beautiful sunset.
The rest of the evening is decidedly camp fun, and we also get to look at pictures from the last few days. It is so beautiful and different in Iceland, so the subjects are queuing up to get into the camera.
After a long day, it's nice to go to bed in such a beautiful place.
We will definitely have to explore the area some more tomorrow.