Day 65 – July 23, 2025 – Hveragerdi, Iceland
We met for breakfast at 8 and then had an hour’s drive to Geysir Geothermal Field. The Great Geysir, the original one, is no longer active yet the geothermal field around it still steams, boils and bubbles nonstop. The term “geyser”, used internationally, describes eruptive hot springs and from the Icelandic verb “geysa” meaning “to gush”. The Great Geysir was known to erupt up to 70 meters (about 230 ft.) high but became less active in the 20th century, with activity declining around the 1930s. The nearby geyser, Strokkur, is in the same field and is the primary attraction now. It erupts reliably every 6-10 minutes and reaches heights of 15-30 meters (49-98 ft). If you’ve seen Old Faithful in Yellowstone, then this is not as exciting, but still neat and puts on a good show. We walked around the rest of the field, took some pics and moved on.
Our next stop was the Gullfoss Waterfall, located in the Hvita River canyon. Gullfoss means “Golden Falls” in Icelandic and gives the Golden Circle its name. The waterfall drops in two stages, first a 36 ft fall, followed by a dramatic 69 ft plunge into a rugged, narrow canyon approximately 105 ft deep. The canyon was carved by glacial floods and continues to be shaped by the force of the Hvita River. During peak summer flow, the waterfall’s average water discharge can exceed 140 cubic meters per second, creating a thunderous roar and mist that can often produce rainbows in sunny weather. We did not have sunny weather, lol! We did both stages and had some spectacular views!
We also stopped at Kerið (Kerid) Crater, which is also on the Golden Circle route. It was formed about 6500 years ago and was likely formed when a volcanic cone collapsed inward after its magma chamber emptied. It is about 890 ft wide, 560 ft across and roughly 180 ft deep. Loved being able to walk around the rim and then hike down to the lake edge.
We headed back to town and had lunch at Matkrain and split a roast beef smorrebrod, which was very good!
After lunch, we headed back to the hotel and John got some work done and I read. We had a visitor join us (not sure who he/she belongs to) and they were very friendly. The weather was decent so we just had the back door opened and in they came, lol!
We went for a walk around the property and then met up for dinner at Hofland Eatery where we split a salad and a pizza. There are not many choices for food where we are, so we went with what was there.
Headed back to the hotel and we played Hand and Foot; girls won! We called it an early night as we head out for home tomorrow!!!! I’m very excited to be home!
