The vast landscape of moss-covered rock known as the Edlhraun Lava Field covers parts of the southern coast of Iceland. Add some time to stop and take it in, but with multiple roadside pullouts along the highway there’s no need to pinpoint a specific stopping point.
It’s hard to picture how these mossy green rolling rocks hardened from a massively destructive eruption almost 250 years ago. Today, it looks serene, especially when the green hues contrast a calm, overcast sky. It’ll hit you the most when you step back and think about what’s managed to grow in the past couple hundred years - just moss. No trees, no bushes, just a thin layer of moss permeating into the porous rock. The almost eerie quiet is deeply set into the landscape centuries after the violent eruption that disrupted ecosystems far beyond the island.
The moss seen here is extensive and resilient, but delicate. Other than moss, very little vegetation has found a way to flourish on the volcanic rock, making the land both green and barren. You can take in the vast landscape from one of many roadside pullovers with marked paths that allow you to go for a short walk without disturbing too much of the delicate vegetation making its way across the rocks.
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