Early in the morning we walk into this field full of mist.

Up close we were able to see that it was the fissures in the ground that were creating these clouds along with a surreal sulphuric atmosphere. This was the Haukadalur Valley in Iceland.

This area is famous for its geothermal activity in the form of numerous hot springs. There are two main attractions here however, Strokkur and Geysir, literally meaning in Churner and Gusher in Icelandic.

Strokkur the little brother of the two, although he is much bigger diva. He bursts out every 5-10 mins making him one of the chief attractions in Iceland. Rest of the time he is a big bubbling pool.

We saw his plume as we were walking into the valley. A great bulk of water rises up and bursts open into a spray reaching up to forty meters.

And each time he takes the form of a different creature from the underworld.

I setup my camera to try and get perfect shots of the performance, and waited.

Eventually, the pool started bubbling intensely, and continued for maybe a minute . . . and then, the earth rumbled and suddenly

A jet of boiling water and steam of immense power shoots out to the sky, and it seemed like it did not intend to stop.

Out of the mists immerged yet another creature, maybe this time it was the Great Forest Spirit from Princess Mononoke

Lucky for us, this was Strokkur’s biggest show while we happened to be there in the valley, even as he continued performing as the crowds kept growing during the day.

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Now, coming to the big brother, the Great Geysir. As opposed to his temperamental brother, he was simply a placid opal colored pool. However, he deceptively hides the fact that he is one of the greatest, and in a way, the first of his kind. The word geyser comes from him. In fact, he was the first one to have been discovered and recorded in human history.

Today his bursts are few and far between, almost to the level of being dormant, last recorded burst was in 2016. But he also has been recorded to have reached bursts of the height of 120 meters in 2000 and 170 meters in 1800s, making it one of the tallest recorded geyser eruptions in history.

PS: Unfortunately I was not able to get a photograph of this historical structure due but during my research I discovered this gem on youtube.