Iceland: Fagradalsfjall Volcano Eruption
One of the reasons to go to Iceland was to see the active eruption of the Fagradalsfjall volcano, a once in a lifetime opportunity. On March 19 2021, the Fagradalsfjall volcano, near the town of Grindavik not far from the airport and the Blue Lagoon, erupted after lying dormant for 800 years. The eruption hasn’t stopped to date, with lava flowing in rivers, lava lake and fountains boiling and exploding in fountains. The eruption has been changing every single day with observation possible from various areas that are constantly changing. We left the volcano hike for the last day of our in-depth Iceland exploration. The day of the hike we read that the volcano went quiet and dormant the night before – so disappointing. We hiked anyway in the late evening and everybody we met told us that the volcano wasn’t erupting, and just smoke was visible. When we got to the ridge, we also saw just smoke….. until…. a fountain of lava burst, and then another – the eruption restarted in full force just in front of us (in the distance though). We saw the lava flowing rapidly from the lava cone in a wide red river, fountains bursting over and over and over again – absolutely mesmerizing and surreal and unbelievable! We watched for hours! (The last pic is from the live video feed from the night of our hike, later in the night).
