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Strokkur: Explosive Experience Along the Golden Circle of Iceland
Explosive Experience Along the Golden Circle of Iceland
Today is one of those days that I get to spend some considerable amount of time on the web. Not that I don’t on other days of the week, but today’s quite different, because I join the bandwagon of well-informed people here to do non-work stuff during actual work hours. All thanks to Trump (United States) and Kim (North Korea), because every single one of us in our office area right now are too busy being relevant and discussing the most appropriate topic of all: Trump-Kim Summit.
In case you haven’t heard, it’s history in the making! And since I know you might also want to steer away from too much serious history session, let’s have CNN tackle that for us, right?
Let’s just relax our minds and alleviate any tension of thinking about too much world news and just focus on the world. How about some travel friendly news: the Strokkur – the most famous Icelandic geyser known to everyone.
In case you haven’t heard, it’s history in the making! And since I know you might also want to steer away from too much serious history session, let’s have CNN tackle that for us, right?
Let’s just relax our minds and alleviate any tension of thinking about too much world news and just focus on the world. How about some travel friendly news: the Strokkur – the most famous Icelandic geyser known to everyone.
Sometimes known as The Great Geysir, this geyser in southwestern Iceland is all about eruption times and hot waters. It can hurl boiling water up to 70 metres in the air, probably a comical version of a waterfall, except that geysirs periodically spout hot spring waters. As soon as we arrived in the Geysir area, we have received words of warnings about the dangers of being too close to the geysers, of not following rules, and of potential deaths.
Apparently, we have not heard of a man completely dissolving after falling into this acidic spring – good thing it did not exactly happen in this particular geyser, but it was a wake-up reminder to every one of us. So much so, we walked so slow and observed every inch of the area before walking and following the map.
We could see people flying around and falling flat on the ground due to the icy and slippery floor bed, so we just walked like lethargic snails with big cameras strapped on our bodies. The Strokkur belongs to the Haukadalur valley area, where various other geothermal feature such as mud pools, fumaroles and other geysers are located around it, so we were stoked to see them all.
Apparently, we have not heard of a man completely dissolving after falling into this acidic spring – good thing it did not exactly happen in this particular geyser, but it was a wake-up reminder to every one of us. So much so, we walked so slow and observed every inch of the area before walking and following the map.
We could see people flying around and falling flat on the ground due to the icy and slippery floor bed, so we just walked like lethargic snails with big cameras strapped on our bodies. The Strokkur belongs to the Haukadalur valley area, where various other geothermal feature such as mud pools, fumaroles and other geysers are located around it, so we were stoked to see them all.
This geyser island in the Geyser Geothermal Area is in fact the greatest active geyser, that erupts more regularly than any other geyser – at least around five to ten minutes on average. Since it was winter season when we visited, we could barely feel the hot air, but we could clearly see the evaporating water smoke coming off from the natural beauty of the area.
You could see the ground’s color pallet full of yellows, greens, and red, despite the snowy layers. These colors are the elements within the main geothermal area such as sulfur, copper, and iron. I’ve never seen such a thing this close, so it was pretty cool view!
You could see the ground’s color pallet full of yellows, greens, and red, despite the snowy layers. These colors are the elements within the main geothermal area such as sulfur, copper, and iron. I’ve never seen such a thing this close, so it was pretty cool view!
After hanging around the area, with the rest of the travelers surrounding the Strokkur, we decided to visit the nearby restaurant, café, hotel, and luxury gift shop that was just across. Inside, we decided to grab lunch and enjoy the views seen from the outside of their massive windows.
What’s cool is the fact that we heard that they are actually offering a truly unique ‘hot spring bread’ experience, where visitors assist a chef to boil eggs outside in a hot spring, and dig up rye bread that has been ‘baking’ underground for 24 hours!
Good thing there isn’t any entrance fee when visiting the Haukadalur geothermal area, so people can probably spend a few dollars to experience such unique travel offering. I sure would like to try this when I go back here, perhaps during summer time, picnic? :-)
What’s cool is the fact that we heard that they are actually offering a truly unique ‘hot spring bread’ experience, where visitors assist a chef to boil eggs outside in a hot spring, and dig up rye bread that has been ‘baking’ underground for 24 hours!
Good thing there isn’t any entrance fee when visiting the Haukadalur geothermal area, so people can probably spend a few dollars to experience such unique travel offering. I sure would like to try this when I go back here, perhaps during summer time, picnic? :-)
[ICELAND TRAVEL] Read the rest of Explore Iceland Travel Blog Series:
Wow! This seems like a unique and astonishing experience you had in Iceland, Bowdy. It's the first time I am hearing about Strokkur, bur reading your article convinced me to add it to my bucket list!:)
ReplyDeleteabsolutely right, Lydia! When are you planning to visit? :-) If you’re heroic enough to brace the winter weather and stand along with the eager crowd here, the geyser experience is definitely something worthwhile. While you’re at it, you may want to do a stopover and check out the wild Icelandic horses that you will see lazing around the roadside. :-)
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