Re: Winter 2016 | Page 65

caught our first glimpse of the mighty Gullfoss Falls with the river appearing to plunge into a deep crevasse. According to Mike, this fearsome waterfall has all the natural power and spectacle of Niagara Falls without having to travel half way round the world to see it. As the weather was actually quite cold and drizzly, we decided to go back the following day and clamber down into the valley to get a closer view. We then got back in the car and off for an evening visit to the site of the Geysir Geothermal Area in the valley of Haukadalur. Our timing was good as the coachloads of day-trippers had been and gone. By now just a few scattered groups of people were walking among the hot springs. In the cool air, sulphurous steam billowed eerily across the rocky landscape. Hot pools of all shapes and sizes ringed the central geyser, some lively with bubblings and splutterings, others ominously calm and tinged green, turquoise and pale blue. In the air, the smell of the earth was warmand dank. No wonder this volcanic “land of fire and ice” is rich with tales of strange, other-wordly spirits and trolls. A small crowd then gathered around the pool of the famous Strokkur geyser, watching and waiting. All eyes and cameras fixed expectantly on the simmering, rising, falling, fizzing liquid. Far beneath the surface, water is steadily 63