Hellisgerði
Pocket lava-rock garden with a shrunken cave, rare trees and the world's northernmost bonsai.
Location
About this audio guide
This guide to Hellisgerði in Hafnarfjörður, near Reykjavik, centers on a lava cave that townspeople chiseled apart for building stone even though local folklore held it was home to hidden people, including a story of a girl who heard singing with no one in sight. It follows a local society formed in 1920 and a pioneer named Guðmundur Einarsson as they push to stop the quarrying and save what remained of the site. Look beneath the ferns and dwarf birch in front of you, where the hollow in the lava still sits, smaller than it once was.
This audio guide was created using AI.
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