Iceland 2011

Geysir is the most popular site in Iceland for its geysers and especially for Strokkur and its blue bubble...

Geysir did not take this name for the geysers it preserves, but on the contrary, it is the origin of the name "geyser".

But Geysir itself has long been a renowned geyser, cited as early as 1294. In 1845, its jet was reported to reach a height of 170 meters. Then, it settled into its cruising rhythm with a quite honorable height of 80 meters, but in June 2000, an earthquake interrupted the geyser's force, which now only irregularly reaches small heights... © Wikipedia

Strokkur is now the highest geyser on the site. Note, however, that my old friend from the United States, "Old Faithful" in Yellowstone, beats the Icelandic geyser! 

Another "tiny" geyser on the site: Litli.

And the star of the geysers that everyone comes to see: Strokkur! Its reputation is mainly due to its blue bubble that forms just before the explosion. And the spectacle happens frequently, as you only have to wait a few minutes for the water jet to reappear.

The crater of the Strokkur geyser. The calm before the eruption...

And boom, 20 meters of water gush out for only 2 or 3 seconds!

And the crater fills up and the cycle thus restarts endlessly.

A small GIF of the different sequences of Strokkur's cycle.  

The blue bubble... These are actually the boiling water and all its air bubbles formed deep down that rise to the surface, lifting the pocket of water and gushing abruptly from the crater.

The ebb and flow of the boiling water around the crater deposits thin layers of limestone (travertine or tufa) that draw these frozen ripples for millennia...

The bluish color is due to thermophilic bacteria and other microorganisms that swarm with pleasure in this heated basin. 

Around an Alaskan lupine, Strokkur does it again!  

And here is the historic Geysir, which played shy and remained flat. 

Come on. One more little Strokkurian bubble explosion before we leave. When you love something, you don't count!

We continue the day (if the sheep let us pass) with the next and not least important stage: Thingvellir, the historic site of Iceland's creation.