Land of the Gods

If in Iceland you're pretty much alone anywhere outside the capital, when you come inland off the country's ring road, you're definitely alone in the face of nature. The interior is unaccessible without a four-wheel drive, in fact unaccessible altogether for most of the year when covered by snow and ice.

Just a few hours' drive from Reykjavík, Þórsmörk could be another planet. It's a magical valley, shaped by the movements of the volcanoes and glaciers that surround it, full of weird rock formations, gorges and caves. A geologist would tell you more, but we were told that the dark rock is palagonite, a very soft volcanic material from which shapes are easily sculpted by the elements.

There are lots of hiking paths which are well marked. We opted to climb the peak of Valahnúkur. On the way up we chatted to a group of Israelis, one of which had grown up on an orthodox kibbutz. The guy at the little information booth had warned us against taking a lot of photos at every curve on the climb upward, which we understood when we got to the top..

360° views across the mountains and the three glaciers, Tindfijallajökull, Eyjafjallajökull and Mýrdalsjökull.

Impromptu waterfalls, pools and streams running off the glaciers.

Just as much a land of rocks as a land of ice. These rocks were blasted over the valley in the last century when the volcano under the glacier erupted.

And rocks with wild flowers, everywhere in Iceland.

The higher reaches of the valley are known as Land of the Gods.