Geysir

After Thingvellir, we traveled to a geyser called Geysir, located in a geothermal park. Geothermal waters abound in Iceland. As a result, there are many swimming pools here. It is very cheap to maintain the pools since they are heated by the geothermal waters. As we approached Geysir (pronounced gay-zeer) the countryside became a steaming hillside. It looked very much like Yellowstone. As we approached the entrance to the geothermal park, the whole landscape was steaming (which looked like smoke rising) and so we enjoyed the irony of the "No Smoking" sign at the entrance. There was also a sign at the entrance with a list of important items such as Do not touch the water because it is 200 degrees, Stay on the marked paths, Do not break or collect sinters (whatever that is), and for the rule-breakers, the last item on the list was that the nearest hospital is 62 km away. The main attraction of this geothermal park was the geyser named Geysir, which is the original hot water spout. In fact, our English word geyser comes from Geysir. Geysir erupts every 5 to 10 minutes. We observed it erupt twice while we were there. One more word about the geothermal waters - the earth here is so warm that they commonly bake bread by placing it in the ground. After the visit to the geothermal park, we ate lunch at a nearby restaurant. During lunch we had the opportunity to meet some of our fellow travelers. We met 4 women from Arizona who are traveling together. And we met Kip who is originally from Edmonton, Canada, but who lived in Venice, Louisiana briefly, and Kip's wife Alice from Dallas.