Reykjahlíð

Reykjahlíð [' rεi ː ca ˌ li ː ð ] (Eng. " smoke slope " ) is a town in north-eastern Iceland. He is the chief town of Skútustaðir in the region Norðurland eystra. On 1 January 2009 lived 185 inhabitants in the village.

Geography

Reykjahlíð located northeast of Lake Myvatn (Eng. " midge "). To the northeast is the Krafla volcanic system for belonging Hlíðarfjall, a little further away is the Leirhnjúkur.

East of Reykjahlíð is Mount Námafjall, which can be reached via the pass Námaskarð. To the south and south-east of the village you will find the caves Stóragjá and Grjótagjá and the tuff ring Hverfell. The volcanic system Fremri - Namur is located about 25 km south of Reykjahlíð.

Climate

Since no month has an average temperature of about 10 ° C, Reykjahlíð can be attributed to the arctic climate zone. Due to the eastern location, the maritime influence of the North Atlantic Current deprives the place something Reykjahlíð has a comparatively more continental climate than more places on the south-west Iceland. This favors the occurrence of extreme temperatures than on the west coast of Iceland, which is also reflected in the record high temperatures of 25.6 ° C ( July) and -30.9 ° C (March) shows.

History

The settlement escaped in 1729 at the time of Mývatn fire ( volcanic eruptions of Krafla ) narrowly escaped a disaster. The inhabitants were fortunately all gathered in the slightly higher church than a large lava flow destroyed their houses, but the church hill spared. The present church was built on the same site and opened in 1962.

Culture and sights

Reykjahlið is the starting point for the Krafla with their steaming Solfatarenfeldern and the turquoise crater Víti (Eng. "hell" ), for Námaskarð, for Hverfjall and the pseudo craters of Skútustaðir. About 2,000 years ago were formed the Dimmuborgir (German "dark castles " ), a labyrinth of lava formations.

In the near Reykjahlíð there are two filled with warm water caves. An underground lava flow has become very heated the water in the Grjótagjá for a bath. Closer to the city is the Stóragjá. In it, the water exchange for a ungefährdetes bathroom is too small.

In addition to the outdoor pool in the east of the village there since June 30, 2004, a natural pool with turquoise geothermal similar to the famous Blue Lagoon on the Reykjanes Peninsula.

Traffic

Through the town the Islands main road runs Hringvegur. The distance to the capital Reykjavík is 488 and Egilsstaðir 165 kilometers of roads.