In the morning, we woke up and walked across the street to the Haukadalur valley geothermal area. Since it was fairly early, there were not many other people there, making it quite peaceful. We walked up the path by Litli Geysir, which was bubbling, and then came upon Strokkur. Strokkur is a geyser that erupts around every five minutes, so it did not take long before water shot up into the air. Neither one of us has been to Yellowstone or seen any other geyser, so this was a pretty cool site.
We continued along the path past the Blesi hot springs and came to Geysir. This is the oldest known geyser in the world and where the English word “geyser” comes from. It is still active but rarely erupts.
We walked back to the hotel and ate a delicious breakfast. Hotel Geysir also had one of the best breakfasts of the trip. They had this amazing bread that they called “geyser bread” that was baked in the Earth. So good.
Finally, we headed back to our room, packed up, and checked out of the hotel. We were soon back on the road and headed south toward the Kerid crater. This crater was formed from an extinct volcano and has since filled with water, forming a lovely blue lake. We walked around the top of the crater and then descended the stairs to walk around the lake at the base of the crater.
Then we were back on the road, headed to the Ring Road to start our drive down the south coast.