These pictures were taken at an unmarked beach to the west of Reykjavik; we rode there, along the sea, on our bicycles just as the sun came out and a light rain ended. Reykjavik weather, we both heard and experienced, tends to be windy and drizzly; we saw a rainbow almost every day we were there. When we returned from this little trip, our friends told us the name of this place is "Castration Beach." We asked why, of course, and they ventured that it was where horses had been taken to be castrated. I think it's because all the rocks look like balls. Some definitely looked like they had come from the moon.
The long mountain across the harbor is Mt. Esja, which Reykjavik locals call their city mountain. In just five days we saw Mt. Esja in many moods; I agree that it's very beautiful.
The second and third, in particular, hurt, making me pine for unfettered vision like flight.
Posted by: Bill | October 26, 2011 at 03:01 PM
Hmm. There's definitely a poem in "Castrating the Moon," but I don't know if I'm up to it :-)
Wow. I'd love to go.
Posted by: Dale Favier | October 26, 2011 at 03:05 PM
Beautiful and somehow very profound, Beth. Of course I love the rocks - very interesting with all the small holes in them - unlike any I recall seeing.
Posted by: Marja-Leena | October 26, 2011 at 03:37 PM
Dale, it would be fun if you tried!
Bill -- yes. There are a few hang glider and ultralight flight videos of this area on YouTube if you really want to go UP, but none of them are terrific...
The rocks are all volcanic, Marja-Leena; I'd never seen any like them either. In some of my geologic reading, post-trip, I read that not all rounded volcanic rocks have been tumbled by the ocean, some of them actually emerge out of the volcanoes this way. Of course I have no idea about the ones on this beach, and there were certainly many others nearby that looked less regular and less well-worn.
Posted by: Beth | October 26, 2011 at 03:51 PM
Wonderful photographs. I was asking my husband if we had ever seen rocks like that, and he said there are similar ones on the Oregon coast, but not with holes in them. I'm speculating that the rocks started to cool before all the gas got out of them, and that made holes as the gas escaped.
Posted by: Hattie | October 26, 2011 at 04:52 PM
On our trip, we did not travel west of Reykjavik, so these pictures reveal an unseen face of Iceland. They also show that there is a universe, beautiful and unexplored, right at our feet.
Posted by: Parmanu | October 27, 2011 at 04:43 PM
What beautiful shots and scenery! Makes me ache to go there!
Posted by: Literary_rat | October 28, 2011 at 06:15 AM