Next stop was the Geysirs of Haukadalur.
Geysir is the one which all geysers all named after (accounts date back to 1294). It used to be a magnificent sight, spouting upwards to 60 meters. Now it rarely erupts... in order for it to show off, tons of detergent are dumped down the shaft, but due to environmental reasons they don't do that anymore. Strokkur (meaning "The Churn") is a two minute walk from the granddaddy of them all and we "made due" with Strokkur's 20 meter burst every five minutes or so. Lucky was amused by the bunches of people surrounding Strokkur in complete silence with cameras positioned just right.
There were plenty of other geysers and hot springs in the area which is prone to earthquakes. The earthquakes affect the activity of these natural phenomenons. A museum in the gift shop demonstrated the most recent earthquake. It also had a nice display about farming in the late 19th/early 20th century.
Labels: iceland, nablopomo
