Iceland – Bridge between Europe and North America, Gunnuhver Geothermal/Hot spring and the Blue Lagoon

On our third day, we drove Reykjanes Peninsula.  It’s about 40 miles / 65 kilometers from Reykjavic.

Some highlights of our road trip includes: the Bridge between Europe and North America, Gunnuhver Geothermal/Hot spring and the Blue Lagoon.

 

Bridge between Europe and North America on Reykjanes Peninsula.

Our destination is a special bridge that connects two continents, America to the west and Europe to the east, as it lies across the point where two tectonic plates are diverging.

Iceland is drifting apart at almost 2 cm per year? The Bridge between Europe and North America is a famous stop to view the drifting apart of the Eurasian and North American tectonic plates and you can cross the bridge between the continents.

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The signage with information located in several spots does a great job at explaining what the bridge actually is. It is worth visiting, but we recommend doing this the same day as Blue Lagoon trip just like what we did because they are close in proximity.

 

 

Gunnuhver Geothermal

Gunnghver is a highly active geothermal area of mud pools and steam vents. The ground water here is 100% seawater, unlike other geothermal areas.  Underneath the surface the temperature reaches 300degC / 572degF . The wooden walkway makes visitors easy to navigate the area, and it is important to walk slowly and stick to the trails.

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Iceland´s largest mud pool resides at Gunnuhver, it is 20 meters (65 ft) wide of violently boiling earth.  When we were there we got not much to see because it rained.

Gunnuhver is named after an angry female ghost, Gudrun, whose spirit was trapped in the hot springs by a priest 400 years ago, the steamy area has an eerie atmosphere and an incredible sulphur vapor.

 

 

The Blue Lagoon

While visiting Iceland, we had a lot on my must-see list, like the Northern Lights, glaciers, waterfalls, Icelandic horses and of course the Blue Lagoon.

Click here to see more about our Blue Lagoon Experience

The geothermal plant that provides the Blue Lagoon’s waters works by venting super heated water from a nearby lava flow and using it to create turbine electricity. After, the water is passed into the Blue Lagoon. So while not exactly natural, there are no harsh chemicals to be concerned about.

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