Iceland is memorable in many unique ways. There are so many experiences to share, yet words and pictures alone can never fully capture them. I hope my next few posts will give you a taste of what we discovered—and perhaps inspire you to include some of them in your own journey.
Iceland has among the most diverse geologies, and the most beautiful natural formation. The world-famous Jokulsarlon Glacier Lagoon is otherworldy beautiful. I would never get tired of strolling on the black sand beach, picking up rocks of different colors or touching the freezingly cold glacial ice cubes, like diamonds on black sand. On one side of the Fellsfjara/Diamond Beach, there are glaciers and icebergs floating on the lagoon. On the other side, there is the Atlantic Ocean drumming. Iceland is the place to feel connected with the mighty nature and to feel deeply humbled.
The birth of Iceland was millions of years in the making. Iceland, now an island sitting alone in the North Atlantic Ocean, did not exist before. Hundreds of millions of years ago, there was one big landmass, Pangaea. Pangaea eventually drifted apart to become North America, Europe, and Asia. That actual separation and the creation of Iceland occurred through geological events over many millions years. There was the separation of supercontinent pangea into North America+Greenland tectonic plate and Eurasia. This tectonic rift opened up what is now the North Atlantic Ocean. As the continents drifted apart, a massive volcanic hotspot, a mantle plume, stayed deep beneath the ocean floor right along the rift. Over tens of millions of years, this hotspot spewed out immense amounts of lava. Eventually, so much volcanic rock (lava) piled up that it broke through the ocean’s surface to form the island of Iceland. Iceland was born directly on top of the crack where North America and Europe split. We visited the Þingvellir (Thingvellir) National Park, the only place on Earth where the Mid-Atlantic rift rose completely above sea level. It is surreal to walk directly along the Almannagjá fault of the rift.
Iceland by its name does not tell you about its abundance of volcanoes. Iceland has over a hundred volcanoes, to the extent that it does not describe individual volcanoes, but volcanic systems, 32 of them. The 2010 Eyjafjallajökull subglacial eruption sent such a massive ash plume into the atmosphere, causing the grounding of over 100,000 flights in Europe, and stranding around 10 millions travelers for nearly a week. Lava and black sand beaches are the reminders of these eruptions, as are the geothermal hot springs and the unique sulphur smell as we turn on the hot water tap. The Perlan museum showed an immersive video of volcano eruptions. The video got us inside the Þríhnúkagígur volcano and we ‘descended’ into the only accessible lava chamber on planet Earth.
Water takes many forms in Iceland. The Icelandic water, from the tap, tastes pure and delicious. The hot water, from the tap, smells like sulphur and it reminds us of the many volcanoes and geothermal hot springs everywhere. There are also glaciers. The gigantic Vatnajokull glacier, the largest in Europe, occupies 8% of the Iceland landmass.
Iceland by its name does not tell you about its abundant waterfalls. In most other places in the world, we make an effort to visit a particular waterfall. In Iceland, we surreptitiously found a few very beautiful waterfalls that are unnamed and unmapped. A search shows Iceland has an estimated 10,000+ waterfalls, most of them are unnamed and unmapped. I never got tired of finding another waterfall. Waterfall lovers can just go wandering.
I thought of Iceland as a big flat piece of land in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. In reality, the Central Highlands of Iceland make up an uninhabited, volcanic plateau covering about 40% of its landmass. We had one of the most scenic 3-hour hikes among the Landmannalaugar highlands with its colorful rocks painted by the different minerals: copper, sulphur, chloride, iron. It was a day of fine weather but we were told that the weather was severe a day ago with biting winds,downpours and likely frigid cold.
Iceland offers glaciers, volcanos, hot springs, waterfalls, the highlands and so much more. Many places can come across as we are on Mars, while many places have unparalleled beauty of nature.
There are more that you don’t often hear about (to be continued).
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