5We made an early start this morning to visit Gullfoss at sunrise, but were slightly delayed as the temperature was -9degC and the car windows were covered in a thin film of rock hard ice. After clearing the car, we were still the second car in the car park, and managed to catch the best of the sunrise. Gullfoss is translated as the Golden Falls, and is of the most impressive waterfalls in Iceland, dropping over 30m in two steps into a narrow gorge.
After visiting Gullfoss we drove the short distance to visit Geysir, stopping off briefly to photograph some Icelandic horses. Geysir is the location of the first geyser known to Europeans and with a slight change in spelling has given its name to geysers all over the world. Geysir is one of the largest geysers in the world, but today it erupts only infrequently, usually increasing its activity following an earthquake. However the neighbouring geyser of Strokkur puts on a fine show, erupting in short bursts every five minutes or so. At the start of eruptions the geyser pool forms a dome of blue water, but it requires a quick finger on the shutter release to catch this phase as the dome quickly bursts into a plume of spray. We were fortunate today as it was erupting to a height of about 30m, which is towards its upper limit.
To finish off the day we had planned to visit Bruarfoss, however the previous access to this waterfall through a holiday home park is now prohibited, so it requires a 3 hour round walk to visit. As we were short of time, we decided to visit Faxifoss instead, which requires no walking at all, as there is a pay and display car park at the top of the waterfall.
