Another rainy day, but we were not disappointed! We visited the Fridheimer Farms (Peace Farm) where we toured an amazing eco tomato greenhouse and learned about the beautiful Icelandic horses who are the only horses that have five different gaits compared to the three gaits of horses (walk, trot, and gallop) Icelandic horses have the tolt which is a sped up version of walking, but more impressive because the horses lift their front legs up high, and only one foot touches the ground at any time. The other gait is the flying pace - we saw a rider holding a glass mug of beer while her horse did the flying pace -and the beer never spilled out! They say it feels like you are sitting on a couch when the horse does the flying pace! Then Eyrun, our tour guide and driver, took us to an area where ravines caused by the earth’s movement between the American plate and the Eurasian plate fill with melted water from the Langjokukk glacier. The water has traveled underground for decades thru the porous lava rock and that filters the water. Eyrun filled out water bottles from one of the ravines and we had delicious cold water! Then we went to another beautiful waterfall, Gulfoss. Our next stop was the most amazing views of the split in Iceland between the mid-American rift and the Eurasian plate - a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Pingvellir. You can only see the edges of the rift above sea level between both plates in Iceland. It was awesome to see the enormous power of Mother Nature that caused these rifts and continues today. A unique & educational way to end our tour and say goodbye to Eyrun and our great tour group.
Icelandic horse demonstrating gaits
Eyrun filling my water bottle
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