Tourism officials put this down to misleading media reports around Grindavík, a prosperous fishing town on the Reykjanes peninsula that was evacuated last November due to an imminent eruption. Most of the 3,700 residents have moved elsewhere in Iceland, leaving it like a ghost town. Fissures remain open, houses are cracked and a mass of lava about two metres high stands where it ploughed through the streets.
Nevertheless, Grindavík reopened in late October in the hope that an influx of volcano tourism may help keep it alive. This gives former residents, such as Ali, mixed feelings: he fears people may break into houses just to see the damage or loot.
“It’s a bit too soon,” says Helga Torfadottir, a volcanologist at the University of Iceland. “It’s still an open wound for a lot of people.”
Aside from sympathy for former residents of Grindavík, Icelanders exhibit a sort of optimistic nonchalance towards life near volcanoes.
Hot springs are among the natural wonders of Iceland (Photo: Ragnar Sigurdsson/Getty)
“At first it was kind of crazy,” says Liba Bragadottir, who works in a record shop in Rekyavík.
Ms Bragadottir went to see Fagradalsfjall when it first erupted. “Then it was sort of like, ‘Oh it’s erupted again,’” she adds. “It wasn’t big news.”
Natural hazards are just a part of life here. It’s hard to find a corner of the country not exposed to one or another, from landslides to earthquakes. But officials stress it is a safe country to visit.
Iceland has no standing army; Iceland’s battle is with the elements. Defensive barriers steer lava flow away from residential areas. Excavators shift it away from roads and build new ones on top. Lava flow is constantly monitored, using satellite radar images that can detect it building up below the ground.
Icelanders are also well versed in volcanism. Geology is mandatory to high-school level, and volcanic maps appear on the evening news. Locals talk about magma chambers filling up like British people discuss the weather.
There is a payoff for withstanding the threat of, and fallout from, eruptions. Roughly 85 per cent of homes are warmed geothermally, and well placed geothermal pipes under the roads melt away snow. Thermal baths are another unique feature and a place to socialise. Among them is the Blue Lagoon, one of Iceland’s most popular tourist attractions, which closed six times over the eight months to August this year due to eruptions.
Perhaps the resources are what convinced Norse Viking settlers to stay put, even after Eldgjá erupted ferociously in 939 AD.
It’s hard not to be swept up in the otherworldly magic of the place. In the Reykjanes Peninsula, sulphuric geysers hiss and bubble through neon-coloured rocks, and boiling mud pools release giant clouds of steam.
The 700km-long Volcanic Way includes eight volcanoes en route (Photo: Chris Burkard Studio)
This year, the country launched the 700km-long Volcanic Way, a road trip route through South Iceland and Reykjanes that takes in eight volcanoes.
You can take it a step further at Þríhnúkagígur: the only volcano in the world you can enter, via a butt-clenching lift. Inside, water drips through the magma chamber, coloured in hues of yellow, red and black, like nature’s Sistine Chapel.
My only slight disappointment is that I don’t see an eruption. During my geologically short lifetime, there should be ample opportunity. The next time one pops off, I’ll be booking a trip back.
Getting there
Play has round-trip flights from Stansted, Dublin, and Liverpool (seasonally) to Iceland Keflavik, with connecting flights to the US and Canada. Return flights from Stansted to Reykjavik start from £99, flyplay.com.
The writer was a guest of Visit Iceland, which has route maps for drivers, map.visiticeland.com.
Staying there
Courtyard by Marriott in Rekjavik has doubles from £199 per night, marriott.com.
Storm Hotel in Rekjavik has doubles from £108, keahotels.is/storm-hotel.
More information
visiticeland.com
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Publish date : 2024-11-03 22:24:00
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