Volcano eruption!

So it happened! Over a month after the evacuation of the town of Grindavik, the magma that had been accumulating under the surface erupted along a fissure.

In the month leading up to our trip to Iceland, we had been watching the news fairly closely. The initial evacuation of Grindavik had been headline news around the world. The concern was that an eruption would disrupt air traffic due to how close to the international airport it is. A similar eruption in 2010 caused 20 countries to close their airspace due to the massive volcanic ash plume. As we got closer to our arrival, reporting showed the seismic activity had settled. Yet the authorities were still unsure of where and when an eruption may occur.

We woke up on our last day in Iceland to the news that it had finally breached the surface. Erupting about 4km from Grindavik, we would drive past it to get to the airport. Perfect! With no other plans for the day, we set off to see how close we could get. Understandably, all roads in the area were closed off. However, from the highway we were still able to see the lava spitting high into the air across the 4km fissure. Very very cool!

After that excitement, we went and checked out the Viking Museum. It turns out that the same tectonic plate split that runs through Thingvellir can also be seen nearby. The North American and Eurasian plates actually meet directly through Iceland. We went and checked out a point that a symbolic bridge has been built between the two.

And then that was that. A jam-packed 6 days of snow, ice, waterfalls and stunning scenery. Iceland, you have been incredible! Definitely living up to your name, we can’t wait to come back to experience it in summer with the midnight sun.Read more