Although I’ve seen Old Faithful in Yellowstone, I didn’t know much about geysers.  Until we went to Iceland in May, I didn’t know that the English word”geyser” comes from the name, Geysir, of a giant geyser in Iceland. “Geysir” as a name comes from the Icelandic word meaning “to gush”.

Anyway, on the bus tour I took of the area near Reykjavik, the furthest-most point we traveled was to the Haukadalur valley on the slopes of Laugarfjall hill. That’s where the geyser Geysir is located, along with a bunch of other geysers.  A whole valley of geysers, actually.

Now, Geysir has grown fickle in the past few years, and doesn’t erupt all that often any more. However, its neighbor Strokkur goes off regularly about 10 minute apart. It alternates between impressive and hugely impressive.  In the gallery below, the tallest eruptions are from Strokkur; the little baby geysers close to the ground are names I didn’t retain, although some names are visible on signs in the photos, I think. Also, note that the last photo is not out-of-place; it’s the kind of flowering plant that grew wild all over that valley near the geysers.

BTW, for those keeping track, this was stop #2 on that Golden Circle bus tour I took in Iceland. Next stop: the waterfall at stop #3.  Stay tuned – I will get those photos sorted one of these days, I’m sure. 😉