2012.10.10
Curious about Snaefellsjökull
Iceland, land of glaciers, wind and fire, is home to the volcano chosen by Jules Verne as the “access portal” for his Journey to the Centre of the Earth.
Located on the Icelandic peninsula of Snaefellness, the “cone” of Snaefellsjökull is a powerful place, perfect for feeling the spirit of Lowell North’s Tigers even in Europe. The visionary French author imagined it as an entrance for dropping into the heart of the planet, describing a metaphysical journey requiring courage and greatness.
Snaefells is a volcano with a crater covered by a cap of ice and said to be one of the primary sources of earthly energy that travellers accumulate and use for meditation. We don’t drop down inside the crater like Prof. Lidenbrock, but we do climb up its slopes to explore the lava zones.
Then we move to Vatnajokull, Europe’s biggest glacier, which is slowly melting and sliding into the icy Arctic Sea, filling the bay with enormous pieces of ice that float like drifting rafts towards the open sea.
Everything is slow, primordial and wild. The traveller is surrounded by a surreal calm, interrupted only by a few curious awkward sea lions and the almighty splash of some iceberg slowly rolling into the water.
Iceland is a land of eternal contrasts and after the giants of ice you will most likely come across the famous geysers.
“Geysir”, as the natives call it, stands for “earth’s fury”. A secondary manifestation of volcanic activity: a dull thump, a bubble of blue water that inflates and finally explodes and a jet of boiling water shoots up into the sky. The “Great Geyser” and the Strokkur are the most famous.
We continue our trip along the island’s only paved road: Ring Road 1. It owes its name to its circular shape, from which the traveller can take dirt roads into unexplored places. A ring of energy that recalls the never-ending cycle of nature.