We have agreed to see the two sites left by the Golden Circle at this time. The hotel will start serving breakfast at 8am, so we are optimistic that the return time will be just right.
There are three sites on the regular Golden Circle route. If you want to go scuba diving in Silfra, or to another attraction, and you're not the kind of person who sleeps in the car and gets out of the car to take pictures of your visit here, then one day is nowhere near enough time. Like us, we didn't have time to go to the geysers or the Golden Falls yesterday.
At 4:15, the alarm went off right on time. After brushing my teeth and washing my face, I looked outside my room. The ground was wet and it was drizzling.
The pony was crawling on the far side of the lawn, its mom grazing next to it.
There was a bird to the left and right of the wooden table, the super-mini one on the left.
The rain had stopped by the time we left at 5:00 on the dot. A few minutes after driving out from the hotel, I suddenly came across this picture. The slanting sunlight wasn't too strong, and the morning mist drifting over the road made it look like a fairyland. Before I could call the car to take a picture, the destination of my trip had already arrived. What I saw before was not morning mist at all, but hot air emanating from the geothermal heat.
Gesir Geyser
Gesir Geysers are hot springs that erupt intermittently and are mostly located in areas of active volcanic activity. In volcanic areas, the hot lava raises the temperature of the water in the surrounding strata to the point where it turns into water vapor, which rises along the cracks in the rock when it encounters them. When the temperature drops below the vaporization point, it condenses into very hot water. The accumulated water, as well as the groundwater in the upper part of the formation, rises to the surface along the cracks in the formation and erupts at regular intervals, forming geysers.
Geyser means treasure spring in Icelandic and is one of the world's famous geysers.
We would have been the first visitors. It's an open area with no fence and no entrance fee. In fact, almost all of Iceland's natural attractions are free, except for Keri Crater. We parked in the parking lot at the entrance to the visitor center. The sun was like a naughty child, sometimes hiding in the clouds and sometimes coming out of them. No, it was only a few dozen meters from the parking lot to the attraction across the street. I was tired for him, because the sun appeared and disappeared.
Brush you in the sun, here we come.
Rain moves in the sun.
The ground is covered with pink flowers.
Not all geysers jet constantly. When the conditions for its jetting are lost, it's just a puddle of water or a patch of land. Like the largest geyser here, it's called a geyser. It has fallen into a deep sleep. Because there is a layer of soil about 20 centimeters thick covering the old siliceous layer, the geyser will not erupt again.
Stoke Geyser is the only geyser here that still erupts normally. Every eight minutes or so, the jet ejects two or three times in a row, with a water column of up to 20 meters.
Strokkur shoots ahead.
We were looking at the view when it suddenly sprayed in front of us and suddenly got excited and rushed past. There it was waiting for the next flight.
The most famous geyser sight is not the huge columns of water spewing out or the high frequency of eruptions every few minutes, but the 0.5-second blue pearl bubbles that are about to erupt. Many people stay here for a long time just to capture that wonderful 0.5 seconds.
I didn't get the best of it.
We waited for it to erupt several times in order to get the best shot, as it didn't always erupt up to 20 meters high, and on a few occasions it shyly dropped only a few meters. In the moment of waiting, all of us moved like statues, the one with his hands up was tired.
But I still had to hold it up for fear that I wouldn't be able to film the whole spraying process. Every eruption is not without warning. It's also brewing energy. A few seconds before the spray, you'll see it start to churn. You might ask, you can't wait for it to stir before you raise your camera to take a picture. Theoretically, you could do that, but in the field, we're afraid that if we're not careful, it'll be too late.
It's photo and video. I was really busy! I wanted to bring a video camera on this trip, but then I decided I was too busy. Luckily, I didn't.
Siao Yan, who took videos of every attraction with her cell phone, inspired me. If you travel next time, make sure you put a sling on your phone and hang it around your neck. It's handy for taking videos. If you haven't been there yet, this should be a wonderful way to go if you like to take pictures and don't want to miss out on the videos.
The whole spraying process
The surface temperature here is so high that there are warning signs of heat standing there.
The sunlight adds a touch of glamor to the place.
Sort of like the water in Jiuzhaigou.
Bles
Blesi, which means flame in Icelandic. The lime green color is eye-catching. It once spewed a meter-high column of water.
From accounts relating to the last century, it can be seen that the water spewing from Blesi formed a stream, and that Blesi consists of two basins in a field split by a fire.
The spring near the south is deep, clear, hot and colorless, so it looks dry on days when it is not erupting. The water from the spring flows through this "flame" in the basin to the northern spring, which is blue.
Blue Spring is only 1m deep and because it doesn't have its own source, its water is colder, only 40 degrees.
Bryce
The front is spraying again.
The land on the hillside in front is a deep red color.
Geothermal landscape under backlight
My silhouette
Red is the soil, green is the grass, and yellow is the flowers.
Struk from another angle
Curious BY wanted to touch the water on the ground to see if it was really hot. His hand was already in the water when we screamed. Just as we couldn't bear to look at his scalded face, he said something that surprised us, "This water is cold."
Cold, I looked around skeptically. Oh, it was a walkable path, not a geothermal hot spring. It's supposed to be hot only where it's enclosed.
Last look at the blue spurt.
There are two places to eat. One is the buffet at a nearby hotel. It's not expensive, but there are a lot of tour groups, especially from China. The other is the visitor center, where the fast food is not expensive and much cheaper than the fast food in Golden Falls.
Tourist Board
Cute fridge stickers, made in Iceland.
It takes about 10 minutes to get to Golden Falls from the geyser.
Gullfoss is 2,500 meters wide and 70 meters high and is the largest faulted canyon waterfall in Iceland. The Tar River forms two waterfalls here and the river narrows into rapids downstream. Gullfoss is a majestic waterfall with spectacular views. The turbulent water flows down into the canyon with a drop of more than 50 meters, making a deafening roar.
Under the sun, in the steamy water mist, there are some water beads glittering with gold, bright rainbow hidden, as if the whole waterfall is made of gold, so the name "Golden Falls".
When it comes to waterfalls, you have to mention rainbows. Previously, when looking at other people's photos, there are often rainbows, but we are weak. Every time we went to the falls, there was either no sun or no rainbow. The only time I saw a rainbow was when I saw the penultimate waterfall of the trip, and that was the only time. Should I say I'm lucky if I don't see them once the entire trip?
Golden Falls is divided into Upper and Lower Falls, with two parking lots. There were already a few cars parked there when we arrived, just after 6am. There seemed to be a lot of people catching an early start. Iceland is arguably the country with the highest number of people taking pictures with camera equipment that we have seen abroad in recent years. It is a country that many photographers and travelers must visit in their lifetime.
The observation deck overlooks the entire waterfall. The waterfalls are so strong that there is no vapor until you see the falls.
Look at the vapor in front.
I always walk at the back of the line. When I reached the waterfall for the first time, Xiao Yan excitedly told me that she saw a rainbow near the waterfall. I was excited too, but I looked forward. There was none, and she pulled out her cell phone. There was no rainbow near the waterfall in the photo. Xiaoyan was afraid I wouldn't believe her, so she took BY's cell phone and said he took a clearer picture. I looked at it and it looked like it was a little, almost invisible.
Steaming water mist
The sun in the sky was there there until I left and he didn't show me the rainbow for a second! I said Golden Falls, isn't it a bit unreasonable for you to show me a rainbow with all this fog?
Golden Falls was spectacular.
Walking along the trail.
Afterward, we walked along the trail to the waterfall, which was bathed in misty water, and I put on my rain jacket. Actually, I don't need a raincoat when I'm wearing a jacket.
Make sure to protect your lens when shooting from this angle, which has the most water vapor.
Come on, feel the water vapor.
You can always see different angles of the falls along the way. You have to walk the whole way until you reach the front of the waterfall.
The front of the waterfall.
The Canyon
Golden Falls can definitely be ranked in the top three of all waterfalls in Iceland. The Golden Circle's gold content is real, not only because of its proximity, but also because of the attraction's spectacle.
The slopes are covered with small flowers of all colors.
When we did our previous guide, we saw someone say that there was a pen across from the Golden Falls Visitor Center that housed a lot of horses. We forgot to look because we had to go back to our hotel, but our hotel ponies gave me enough to look at.
When we got back to the hotel, we went to breakfast. BBs like this abroad are actually quite economical, offering bed and breakfast, but Icelandic accommodation is still quite expensive in high season. There was a little joke at breakfast. We saw a bowl of porridge or something like that and ate it. We didn't realize it was an ingredient for waffles. An old man sitting next to us showed us how to make waffles, but this ingredient was also cooked and edible and tasted similar to oatmeal.
After breakfast, I went back outside to see the ponies as a sort of goodbye before I left.
When I touched it, it turned around. Great, it didn't move at all.
Too smart.
Cute pony
The pony went back to its mom for milk.
Bidding the pony a reluctant farewell. When our car started, it ran away again. Maybe it couldn't bear to say goodbye to us either.