A Landscape for Trolls
Eldhraun. The land of the trolls. Where the land dips and rolls over rocks and valley, covered with vibrant green moss. The type of green that makes you feel deep in the forest of a mystic, mythical place - and in many ways we felt shrouded by a type of magic. We understand the lore of the land so much better in a place like Eldhraun, where you can sit in complete silence and feel the living carpet surrounding you. While you are not supposed to walk on the moss, as it is living and has taken a very long time to grow atop the lava landscape, we stuck to the edges and the little dirt paths. Iceland is such a dynamic landscape, but our favorite energy came from this place. You can see how imagination has transformed these carpeted stones into tiny troll heads - being of the land - and given them healing powers of heart and mind.
In Thingvellir National Park, we desperately wanted to stay longer. This is a place of two worlds - or rather, where the Eurasian tectonic plate meets the North American tectonic plate. No where else can you see the two plates as clearly, since Thingvellir is above sea level. So when the plates shift, a rift valley forms and natural spring water fills it. You can dive and swim in the fissure between these plates, and see fish that are no where else in the world due to its unique evolutionary isolation.
It is also a place of cultural significance, and was once the original site for a way to settle arguments - a modern day parliament. While that particular history I am not well educated on, I do know it was a lot of shouting toward walls of rocks and land.
A last minute stop we made was to Fjadrargljufur, an other-worldly canyon formed from a river over 2 million years ago. The over hanging mist gave depth to the colors of green and gold, and even when the sun came out, we felt wrapped in the luster of the landscape. It was so perfectly beautiful and unintentional, that you stood in awe of everything beyond your control. “Icelandic canyons are calling, and I must go.”
Our main mission was to see the Northern Lights, and while those did not show for us, we took home the memories of the land and water, the fire and ice - and the image of Bronte going crazy for the horses. We stopped roadside to pet some horses that came up to us, and Bronte did a giggle that seized up her whole body, so much so she lost her chin to her neck. She was just so happy! Roadside stops are so fun in Iceland, not just for the accessible waterfalls everywhere, the glacier photoshoots, but to say hello to the grazing sheep, the roaming horses, and the tiny huts build into the mountains.
