{"id":8152,"date":"2023-08-13T20:11:31","date_gmt":"2023-08-13T18:11:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.danamladin.com\/?p=8152"},"modified":"2025-08-13T21:10:49","modified_gmt":"2025-08-13T19:10:49","slug":"islanda-2-cu-trotineta-sa-prind-vulcanul","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.danamladin.com\/en\/2023\/08\/islanda-2-cu-trotineta-sa-prind-vulcanul\/","title":{"rendered":"Iceland (2) \u2013 With the scooter, to catch the volcano…"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I barely get off the plane at the airport in Iceland when I receive the following message from the police on my phone: \u201cEarthquakes! Increased seismic activity in the area. Stay away from slopes. Danger of rockfalls and landslides. A volcanic eruption may start shortly\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Great welcome, I must say!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I leave the airport, suddenly awakened by the message and the cold weather, and head towards the bus that will take me to Reykjavik. I have a paid transfer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSorry, I have a question\u201d, I try to get the driver\u2019s attention after handing him my suitcase.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMladin?…\u201d he stares at the voucher. \u201cYou can speak to me in Romanian\u201d, he says. \u201cI had a friend named Mladin in Br\u0103ila, and that\u2019s how I realized you\u2019re Romanian\u201d \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He answers my question, then, instead of \u201cWelcome\u201d, he asks if I felt the earthquake.
What?!?! Which one? When? How?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Apparently, it had just happened, probably the plane was still taxiing, which is why I didn\u2019t feel it. He tells me that a volcano located near the airport, on the way to the capital, is about to erupt, and that they\u2019re already fed up with all the earthquakes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLet it erupt, so we can be done with the shaking\u201d, he complains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Great, so I\u2019m starting my vacation in Iceland with breaking news.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the evening, after a long walk and a shower in a shared bathroom, I settle peacefully into bed with my laptop in my lap and\u2026 earthquake!!! F&@%^! I feel everything inside me going soft, but, guess what, unlike back home, where I\u2019d be thinking about how to evacuate as quickly as possible, here I calm down instantly, telling myself: \u201cwith how many quakes these people get, I must be okay here\u201d. And that\u2019s it. I get back to what I was doing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

THE LITLI-HRUTUR VOLCANO<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

…and it erupted, woohoo! It\u2019s July 10.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s the volcano that also erupted in 2022 and 2021, after 6,000 years of deep sleep…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I read something funny: normally, when a volcano erupts, people try to run as far away from it as possible. Not the Icelanders: they go for a hike to the volcano, haha. The truth is, there are so-called \u201ctourist volcanoes\u201d, the kind you can hike to, under well-established rules, of course.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So the madness begins: let\u2019s go to the volcano!!! How do we get there, which way do we go, is it allowed, is the trail hard, is it long?!?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Suddenly, tours are activated \u2013 with guides, with buses and then guides, and you can find many websites that show maps of the area with the 3 eruptions from the past 3 years (the Fagradalsfjall<\/strong> volcanic area).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But everyone is waiting for the official decision, which they say is made a few days after the eruption, once authorities assess how the lava behaves, which direction it\u2019s going, and which path would be safe for visitors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course, I\u2019m tempted to go see the volcano myself, but damn, I\u2019m just now leaving that area for another part of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I arrive at the domestic airport and spot, through the fence, the gas clouds from the eruption behind the pyramid-shaped mountain \u2013 that\u2019s how I was taught to identify the place, by the pyramid-shaped mountain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m annoyed that I can\u2019t get a better view because of the fence, the airport building, etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You think I give up that easily? I simply abandon my two suitcases in the airport \u2013 where there are only a few travelers waiting \u2013 pretending to step outside for a bit of (cold!) air. I spot a scooter parked near the airport. (For context: I\u2019ve only ever ridden a scooter once in my life, around the block, just to get a little familiar before a vacation\u2026)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I hop on the scooter and speed off for about a kilometer, to the end of the airport fence, so I can take some clean shots. I know, I\u2019m crazy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I take the photos and hurry back with the scooter, park it quickly, and stroll back into the airport like a flower, where my luggage is waiting peacefully, with no one having noticed my brief absence. Phew!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
photo taken from the plane that had just taken off<\/em><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s July 13, and I find out that the official trail to the volcano has been opened.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alright, all the curious ones can now set off!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The news is good, but the details hit me hard: you have to walk, from the point where you leave your car to the place where you can see the eruption, no more and no less than 10 kilometers. And a few of those 10 are tough, because you walk through lava rocks. You stop, stare, marvel, get shocked, take pictures, then walk another 10 kilometers back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Well, I decide to wait a bit longer, maybe the lava will take an unexpected turn and shorten the path to it…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

TRIP TO THE VOLCANO<\/strong><\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

I go about my travels across Iceland \u2013 far and wide, in sunshine and rain, wearing a T-shirt or bundled up in a winter jacket. I keep an eye on what\u2019s happening at the volcano, especially now that I\u2019m close to it again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the bus I board for a classic tour, a group of sad-looking tourists gets on at the last minute: their guided volcano tour just got canceled, and as compensation, they\u2019ve been added to our tour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The government closed the trail to the volcano for safety reasons. Good news for me, at least now I\u2019m no longer torn by the question: should I go, or not…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Well, that evening the trail to the volcano is reopened. And I start debating again. I want to go to the volcano, of course I do, but I don\u2019t feel up to it! I\u2019m intimidated by the number of people who know the route, then I\u2019m even more put off by a tour company that specializes in volcano hikes, telling me it\u2019s a difficult trip if you\u2019re not somewhat physically prepared.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oh, how much I wish I could go!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In my hotel room, I watch hypnotized, over and over, how the volcano erupts. There\u2019s a channel broadcasting live, non-stop, from the site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I even find it funny sometimes, when brave visitors accidentally stop right in front of the camera:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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