| A growing number of visitors are taking Iceland | | | | But it's the eruptions occurring every five or ten |
| holidays to see the country's impressive collection of | | | | minutes that will feature on the itineraries of most |
| natural wonders - the kind you once heard about in a | | | | package holidays. Iceland is famous for its geysers, |
| Geography classroom. The package holidays Iceland | | | | especially for those at the town of Geysir, after which |
| offers include walking on volcanoes and glaciers, | | | | the hot fountains are named. Some of these plumes |
| swimming in hot pools, and seeing the place where the | | | | spurt frequently; others do not show for years before |
| world gets wider. | | | | blasting boiling water sixty metres into the air. |
| The Mid-Atlantic Ridge | | | | For the water moving in the other direction, Iceland |
| Holidays to Iceland offer a rare opportunity to witness | | | | delivers generously, too. The Gullfoss waterfall, and the |
| a phenomenon that is usually concealed by 3,400 | | | | 'Queen of Iceland' waterfall provide wonderful |
| metres of Atlantic waters. A mid-ocean ridge crosses | | | | attractions for Iceland holidays; the thunderous |
| dry land here, so Iceland holiday makers get to see the | | | | Dettifoss goes one further, claiming the title of the |
| join of two continental plates and the canyons that | | | | most powerful waterfall in Europe. The volume of |
| form where the ground is splitting. This means that as | | | | Iceland's water system is enhanced by meltwater |
| the plates grow apart Iceland is getting wider at a rate | | | | drawn from its glaciers. Glaciers, too, are water on the |
| of about 5 cm per year. | | | | move in a sense, but their power is less obvious at a |
| Working-up a Lava | | | | glance. Though they appear hardly to move, their |
| This creative power is evident in the nearby island of | | | | sheer size and the magnitude of erosion that they |
| Surtsey. The island rose from the ocean floor after a | | | | force upon the landscape (such as the fjords) is |
| series of eruptions between 1963 and 1968. The "lava | | | | difficult to ignore. |
| bombs" and volcanic material cooled and hardened to | | | | More than a tenth of Iceland's area is covered by |
| form one of the world's newest landmasses, at one | | | | glaciers at some point during the year, so this provides |
| point growing at the rate of an acre per day. | | | | ample opportunity for tourists to explore the strange |
| Unfortunately there will be no holidays to Iceland's little | | | | and captivating ice-landscape. Iceland holidays might |
| brother; visits to Surtsey are restricted to those | | | | include hikes across a glacier, or organised trips on |
| conducting scientific research. | | | | snowmobiles or a tour in larger vehicles across the |
| Since a volcano erupts here an average of once | | | | larger glacial areas. |
| every five years there are many chances for those | | | | When glaciers meet the ocean they put on yet |
| on Iceland holidays to walk on a lava landscape: black | | | | another show. Seeing and hearing their ice walls |
| rippled sheets of what once was lava, floods of basalt | | | | crumble into the water is quite a spectacle and boat |
| and ash, and fields of 'scoria', which are areas of | | | | trips to see this happening in the fjords can be added |
| uneven - almost bubbly - volcanic rock. Some of those | | | | to some specialist holidays. Iceland is always in flux it |
| who take holidays to Iceland talk about how much it | | | | seems, whether it is melting, moving, exploding or |
| looks like a moon landscape. | | | | growing, it makes itself a prize destination for seeing |
| Hot & Cold Running Water | | | | this world's geological phenomena in force. |