Private Luxury Silver Circle Tour plus VidGelmir option

Description

The Silver Circle Day Tour in Iceland:

The Silver Circle starts with a drive into the 30 kilometer long and beautiful fjord Hvalfjördur or if translated “Whalefjord”. This fjord is not only exceptional with view of Icelandic rustic nature, but you will see special sights and waterfalls not commonly seen with tourist visits. You will learn about the not well known very special Historic events that took place in the fjord during world war II and the major support given there by Iceland that helped to end the war.

Historically, Hvalfjörður was home to one of the main whaling stations in Iceland, with ships heading out into Faxaflói Bay. It was one of the most important naval stations in the North Atlantic during World War Two, when Iceland was occupied by the Allies after the Nazis conquered Denmark. The old whaling station and a war museum can be found in the fjord

After exploring the Whalefjord we will head over to Borgarfjordur where we will drive through age old landscape with first visit will be at Reykholt.

At one time this was one of the intellectual centers of Iceland for many years one of the most important schools in the country. The poet and politician Snorri Sturluson lived in Reykholt during the Middle Ages.

Records of the Old Norse language and mythology of medieval Iceland by Snorri Sturluson are invaluable to modern scholars.

Here the remains of his farm and a bathroom with hot pot „Snorri´s Pot“ can be seen and a tunnel between the bath and the house can still be visited.

We will then visit Hraunfossar Waterfalls (Lava waterfalls) often described and being wide and gentle. Whilst not large nor powerful, or narrow and high, the fall is unusual because it is made of thousands of falls that flow out of solidified lava and run as small and beautiful waterfalls and rapids breaking out of the lava into the Hvítá River.

Next to Hraunfossar you find yet another jewl of waterfalls which is the  Barnafoss waterfall.The name Barnafoss translates as “Child’s waterfall” and as legend would have it Barnafoss used to have a natural arch. The arch was destroyed by the mother of two children who all fell from the arch to their deaths

Our next stop will be the natural hot baths at Krauma As a matter of fact, you can relax and experience nature from its core by bathing in the geothermal baths here (Entrance fee is not included ). Lunch can also be had at the Krauma Restaurant. The hot water here originates in Europe’s most powerful hot spring at Deildartunguhver. This enormous hot spring serves to heat most of the surrounding communities with hot water use and has hot waterpipes reaching the town of Borgarnes which is our next stop.

Borgarnes is a town located on a peninsula at the shore of Borgarfjörður in Iceland and is the largest town in the Borgarbyggð municipality with a population of about 3800 residents. It is a main junction in Iceland and the gateway to the Snaefellsnes National Park. Iceland's capital Reykjavik is 69 kilometers from the center of Borgarnes. The second largest bridge in Iceland, the Borgarfjarðarbrú, connects traffic to and from Reykjavik.

After a short city tour of Borgarnes we will stop at the Settlement center Landnámssetur Íslands | Settlement Center (landnam.is) Based in two of Borgarnes’s oldest buildings, the Settlement Center is devoted to recreating Iceland’s earliest days, including one of the best-known heroes of the Icelandic Sagas, Egil Skalla-Grimsson. There is also a cozy licensed restaurant, a café and a souvenir shop.The center is made up of three buildings: the warehouse, the merchant house and the reception hall.

The exhibition entrance fee is included in the Silver Circle price. Here is a opportunity to have a late lunch or early dinner before returning back to Reykjavik.

POSSIBLE OPTION

Vidgelmir Cave excursion

Víðgelmir is perhaps the best preserved cave of the well known caves in Iceland. This is due to ice buildup during the 1960s finally closed off the only access into Víðgelmir in 1972. It was re-opened in 1994 and closed the following year with a metal gate. As such you will still find lava formations that long since have been destroyed in other well known caves.

The Cave Víðgelmir is located in a lava field called Hallmundarhraun, which is the largest lava field in Borgarfjörður. Both the exact starting time and duration of the eruption are not known, but it has been estimated that the eruption lasted 1-4 years and the start of the eruption is usually set at around 900 AD.
Four of the five largest known caves in Iceland are located in Hallmundarhraun, and many other smaller caves are scattered throughout the lava field. Archaeological remains are found within many of these caves, along with Víðgelmir, but sadly very little is known about most of these remains.