TRAVEL ARCTIC BLAST
One of the hiking trails on the south rim has already been closed due to the lava spill and there’s still a danger of it reaching the nearest town of Grindavik six miles away, whose residents are ready to be evacuated if needs be.
That first glance, gazing across the sea of steaming magma, quite literally takes your breath away and is strangely hypnotic. Most people have taken the route up to the high rim in the hope that it rewards them with a view straight down into the crater itself… it doesn’t.
It’s busier than peak season on Everest so we head left and wander along the edge of the lava field.
Volcanologists have worked out the lava is coming from 19 miles within the earth and emerges at 1,242C.
We’re in the extremely competent hands of guide Sveinn Snorri Sighvatsson of Troll Expeditions. An Icelander and an adventurer who has seemingly seen – and done – it all, he is one of only five guides in Iceland who are qualified to take you ice climbing, hiking, driving and even volcano trekking. You name it, he’ll do it.
It is, however, perhaps his most recent exploit that will cement his notoriety in Iceland. When the volcano first erupted, not only was he one of the first on the scene after trekking through the night with nothing but a head torch and a map, he famously stripped naked bar a pair of rose-coloured sunglasses, and stood on the edge of the boiling lava to be photographed “promoting” his friend’s sunglasses range. Obviously the shot went viral – all the way to CNN. Sadly I can’t tell you what it did for sales of the sunglasses.
We clambered over the stark, rocky ground, all the time getting further from the crowds, with Sveinn warning us not to get too close to the gas as it can cause you to faint. Luckily a strong breeze is blowing.
With distance between us, it was only then that we could really take in the magnitude of the scene.
The power of nature and the speed at which the world can literally open up is mind-blowing.
The steaming lava takes your breath away and is strangely hypnotic
The whooshing sounds from beneath the magma, the cracking of the crust and the occasional opening to reveal glowing red lava remind us this volcano is active.
The Reykjanes Peninsula in the south west is where the Eurasian and North American tectonic plates are drifting apart. Consequently, volcanoes and sometimes up to 200 earthquakes per day are not uncommon here. Currently green list Iceland has 32 volcanic zones with many highly active, although this latest eruption has been the first in the area for 800 years.
They don’t call Iceland the Land of Fire and Ice for nothing.
Much of the area surrounding Reykjavik is a craggy landscape of moss-coated lava, jagged peaks and wide valleys. It’s eerily beautiful yet feels fiercely inhospitable.
The capital’s population extends to a mere 125,000, with another 230,000 in “outer” Reykjavik and the rest around the coast making a total of 370,000. The country is the only place in the world where Icelandic is spoken. Everyone also speaks immaculate English.
They’re extremely relaxed people and that has nothing to do with the weather which tends to change every
hour. One constant this time of year is the 24/7 light, which makes it the perfect time to visit and cram as much as possible into a long weekend.
Reykjavik is a charming city of coloured buildings, narrow streets and pretty flower pots bursting with blooms outside shops.
Every tourist makes a beeline for its most prominent landmark, the distinctive Hallgrímskirkja church with its stepped concrete facade, before wandering off down the main thoroughfare of Laugavegur, lined with restaurants, bars and shops selling hiking gear and fluffy puffin toys.
Turn back the clock and delve into Reykjavik’s past at the beautifully laid out Arbaer Open Air Museum.
Thirty houses have been relocated from downtown Reykjavik onto a
farm on the outskirts of town. It offers a realistic depiction of life in the 19th and 20th centuries.
The attention to detail is extraordinary. Staff wear period costume, the ticket office was a house built in 1901 and sells toys, sweets and products from the era.
Wander in and out of properties dotted around the “town square”, including houses once belonging to farmers and a workshop with original tools and an old Ford car.
Iceland’s traditional turf-roof houses are dotted on hills near a tiny church also covered in grass. A favourite is a hut used by scouts in 1920, complete with bunks, sledges and drying undergarments.
After all this activity, chilling out is required and Iceland is just the place to do that. While the Blue Lagoon, with large pools of geothermal waters that heal almost anything, is firmly on the tourist trail, a new experience, the Sky Lagoon, is taking floating in steaming pools to a whole new other-worldly experience.
Its design resembles a volcanic cave from which you emerge into a steaming pool dotted with gigantic volcanic boulders. Its infinity edge gives the illusion of merging into the North Atlantic at the edge of the world.
What a finale to a short break to the Land of Fire and Ice.