The Geysir

At about 1h30m by car away from the Capital Reykjavik, Geysir is an area which is close enough for a day trip and far away enough to feel like an adventure! And we love adventures!

This adventure was particularly cool to me because going to Iceland and not seeing a geyser is like going to Rome and not seeing the Pope! It just had to be done!

To get there you need to pass the small centre for travellers and simply walk across the street following the increasingly stronger Sulphur smell. A word to the unprepared, Sulphur has a very pungent smell of rotten eggs which I have experienced many times back home in the Azores (Sulphur, not rotten eggs) and if you are planning on making this a romantic day, do make sure your better half can stomach it. Literally.

A passed the test with flying colours!

In any case, remarkably unremarkable in the way it is a hole with a small sign at the end of a path in a field, Geysir is one of several geysers on the site and in reality, it seldom erupts. What does make it different is the fact that it was the first geyser to be identified in a printed source and literally gave its name to the phenomenon. I guess the saying on that famous T-shirt “I´m # 1 so why try harder” may be Icelandic after all because Geysir did not bless us with an eruption that day. It tantalized us with the possibility of seeing a 70m tall water gush but it wasn´t to be and perhaps it is better that way as many of the times it becomes active precede volcanic eruptions.

What did bless us with more than one eruption was Strokkur. The somewhat smaller geyser which sits just a few meters away. In fact, when it did go it scared the bejesus out of me with its 30m gush and sudden loud sudden sound!

Now that is a geyser you can trust!