LucianS photography

"Like gold leaves fall in the wind
When farewell time, autumn has come
All these years they have passed
Like the wave on the shore of the sea"

Just offshore from the black sand beach in Vík, the basalt rock formations, Reynisdrangar, stick up out of the Atlantic like fingers. As the folklore goes, these spindly rock formations are actually trolls frozen in time. Trolls are mythical night dwellers, trying to drag sailing ships ashore when they were caught in the sunlight and turned to stone.

First snow of the season on Fagaras mountains ridge.

Mount Olympus, home of the ancient greek gods. Mytikas peak was their meeting place and theater of their stormy discussions. The Throne of Zeus (today Stefani) hosted solely him, the leader of the gods. From there he unleashed his thunderbolts, expressing his godly wrath.

Close look at the basalt formations at Vík í Mýrdal beach, southern Iceland.
These spectacular geological wonders were formed when extruded molten lava cooled, crystallized and cracked along precise angles.

It was an eerie stillness, wandering through the vastness of this harsh volcanic land, under the neverending sunset (or sunrise)... This land carries many scars of ancient struggles between the mighty forces of nature. And at the horizon, the queen of icelandic mountains, Herðubreið, was watching us.

In the year 999, icelanders made christianity the official religion of Iceland. To mark the occasion, they threw some norse gods statues into the water here, making Goðafoss the famous symbolic site of Iceland´s conversion.