Rock arch by the shore
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Gallery: rocking your world in Iceland

April 15, 2024 / 71 Comments

When one’s life is conditioned by a landscape dominated by rocks twisted by volcanic action, wind, and water into ferocious and alarming shapes…the imagination fastens on these natural phenomena.

B. S. Benedikz, Basic Themes in Icelandic Folklore

How does it feel to stand in the middle of a living geology lesson? To see for yourself the many ways the world’s surface has been shaped over the millennia into often fantastical shapes? Go to Iceland, and you will find out. There almost every view tells you something about the power of fire or water to carve, split or even destroy rock.

It’s not that long since I posted a gallery of dramatic rock formations for a Lens Artists challenge set by Amy. So for Donna this week I decided to focus on the rocks of just one country. Iceland is a land created from fire and the movement of the earth’s rocks. It lies on the boundary between the Eurasian plate and the North American plate, which are gradually spreading apart. It also lies above a volcanic hotspot known as the Iceland plume. The plume is believed to have caused the formation of Iceland itself, about 16 to 18 million years ago.

The Hidden People

But rocks don’t just form the country’s backbone, they also shape its folklore. Many Icelanders still hold to their old folkloric beliefs, in particular about the Hidden People, the Huldufólk, who have been part of the folklore here since people first came to live in Iceland. They say that the Hidden People live in the rocks, invisible to man. Icelanders will rarely throw rocks, because they might accidentally hit one of the elves. Construction and road-making projects are sometimes altered to prevent damaging rocks where they are believed to live, and they are said to have interfered with machinery, making work impossible to complete until plans were altered to avoid their homes.

One account of the Hidden People’s origins places them within the Christian belief system. The story goes that God planned a visit to Adam and Eve. The latter wanted to bathe all her children and dress them nicely for the visit. But God arrived before all the children were clean, so she told those that were not ready to go and hide. God asked if the children he could see were all the children they had, knowing of course what she had done, and when she lied and said that they were he declared that the children she had hidden would remain forever hidden from everyone, and their descendants too, and thus the Hidden People came into being.

Some of the photos I’ve used here have already appeared in my posts about Iceland. But I thought it would be interesting to bring them together to show that in this country the world really does rock!

Sea stacks off a beach with mist and spray

A misty day on Reynisfjara Beach on the south coast

Columns of dark rock slanting downwards

Rock formations at Reynisfjara, on Iceland’s South Coast

Tall cliff with angular columns

Near Bjarnarfoss, a waterfall on the Snaefellsnes Peninsula

Tall cliff with angular columns
Tall angular columns

Basalt columns at Gerðuberg on the Snaefellsnes Peninsula

Curved rocks on mossy ground

Lava tube remains at Saxholar on the Snaefellsnes Peninsula, Iceland

[Just one spot which many Icelanders believe is home to the Hidden People]

Rocks covered in lichen

Lichen-covered rocks near Saxholar, a former volcano

At Djúpalónssandur on the Snaefellsnes Peninsula

Jagged piece of rock
Large sea stack near a beach

The Troll Rock, Djúpalónssandur, Snaefellsnes Peninsula

[said to be said to be a troll known as Karl]

The Lifting Rocks at Djúpalónssandur

[Fishermen used to lift the boulders to test their strength; if they couldn’t lift at least the third largest they were considered too weak to face the pressures of a life at sea]

Four large round boulders on a stony beach
Looking at the sea and flying gull through a rock hole

Hole in the rocks, Arnarstapi, Snaefellsnes Peninsula

[my feature photo was taken near here]

Jagged rock in the sea with birds perched on it

Rocks form a perch for seabirds at Arnarstapi

Seaweed covered rocks in the sea

Rocks in the sea at Arnarstapi

I last visited Iceland in 2018, when all these photos were taken

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