The sites we’ve visited so far have been on the “Golden Circle” route that is easily accessible from Reykjavík by tour bus. The most popular attractions on the Golden Circle are Thingvellir, Gullfoss and the geothermal area surrounding Great Geysir, the subjects of my last two posts.

The last Golden Circle site we visited was the Kerið Crater, a water filled caldera south of Geysir on the road to the town of Selfoss.

The crater is relatively young, having come into existence about 6,500 years ago. The water that fills it is not from rainfall. Rather, it fills from below, its surface being the level of the natural water table.

We walked around to the opposite side which provided a better view of the contrasting colors within the crater.

From Kerið Crater, we drove south to Iceland Route 1, commonly known as the Ring Road. The rest of our time in Iceland will be driving the Ring Road all the way around the perimeter of the country.

For the most part, the Ring Road is a two-lane, paved road with no shoulders or painted centerline. The speed limit is 90 kph, about 55 mph. Many of the bridges are single lane, similar to what we experienced in New Zealand. If you decide to rent a car to drive the Ring Road, you might want to bookmark this website which has the current road conditions. There is great cellular internet coverage throughout the country.

Leaving Selfoss on the Ring Road, our next destination was Seljalandsfoss, a string of waterfalls east of Selfoss near the coast. You can walk behind two of the falls, but be prepared to get soaked. If you look closely at the photo, below, you might be able to make out a couple intrepid hikers behind the torrent.

The water flowing over the falls at Seljalandsfoss finds its source in the ice sheet covering Eyjafjallajökull, the volcano that blew in 2010, disrupting air travel throughout Europe during April and May of that year. I’ll be writing more about Eyjafjallajökull in my next post.

From Seljalandsfoss, we backtracked a few miles to our somewhat remote lodging for the next two nights, Hotel Lækur, a family-run operation, formerly a sheep farm. We were greeted at the gate by three Icelandic horses.

Icelandic horses are pony-sized and very distinct. They are a breed peculiar to Iceland and very hardy. We saw them all over the place once we started driving on the Ring Road. In order to keep the breed pure, no horses are allowed to be imported into the country and those that leave are not allowed to reenter.

Some breeders focus on color, others on gait. We saw several horses being exercised along the road doing the tölt, a gait somewhat resembling a trot.

Who wouldn’t be captivated by this beauty?

Other breeders of the Icelandic horse focus on improving the animals’ capacity for work, while some raise them for meat.

Yes, horse meat is eaten by Icelanders and is available in grocery stores, although I can’t personally attest to that yet. Nor have we tried horse meat. We have noticed that Icelanders seem to be self-conscious and slightly embarrassed of the custom. But I don’t find it that peculiar. After all, the French eat snails and in Florida you can try a little fried alligator if you’ve a mind to.

But not to fret for our three friends, above. They’re pets more than anything else. I’m pretty sure they’re safe for now.