Iceland: Part 3

Our first full day at Fljotstunga Traveller’s Farm, we enjoyed a few of the many delights that the farm and surrounding area offered. For such a remote place (I literally think I was the farthest away from a population of over 500,000 that I have ever been in my life- New Mexico and other remote American places I tend to like to travel to included!) there was a TON to do.

First up we went to a lava cave, created in the year 900 AD by an eruption that covered the entire valley around the farm in tons of lava. Obviously now it’s all dried up- if you ever wonder what dried, relatively young lava looks like, here’s a peek:

The cave was made from two caves, actually, the top just collapsed into the bottom, which made me feel really very safe as we descended into its dark depths…

 

It was really cool to turn on my headlight and do a little spelunking though, as nervous as I was as I clambered down into the cold cave. The little lines you see are actually lava spit up- that isn’t obviously the scientific name, but it seems apropos since its the drippy bits of lava that have cooled and dried on the cave walls.

Also got to hold a little stalagtite that fell from the ceiling ages ago.

I was really happy to have company down there, it was a little dark and scary despite being super interesting.

My favorite part was notoriously the hardest to get a picture of- the Ice City, stalagmites made of ice in the deepest, darkest part of the cave. No one really knows how they form, but I’ll let you in on a little secret our tour guide told us: ice elves make them.

They’re pretty tiny in this picture but apparently they can grow over 6 feet in the wintertime.

After all the spelunking, we were a little hungry, so we went blueberry picking amongst the lava rocks. There are actually a lot of blueberries that grow on the shallow topsoil above the rock- crazy!

 

After a bit of berry picking we went for a drive through the countryside to look at various waterfalls. It’s Iceland- we found quite a few!

There’s nothing that makes you feel more on top of the world than being in Iceland (which I feel literally IS on top of the world) than a day of caving and waterfall hunting. Except for a lovely dinner of Iceland’s best hotdogs and Pippin Hill Chardonnay, that is (and a veggie sandwich for yours truly).

Have I talked you into visiting Iceland yet?!