The glacier is visible silhouetted against the sky when you look out the window at Hotel Laki, and below it you can make out strange figures sculpted by the black lava sprawling between glacial ice and green fields.  To the south, black sands stretch out into the embrace of the blue Atlantic waves.  History and mystery beckon around every corner.

When driving from Reykjavík towards Hotel Laki, Efri-Vík, you traverse a lava field created by the most devastating volcanic eruption in the history of Iceland.  This eruption at Lakagígar in 1783 is known as the Laki eruption or “Skaftá Fires” and expelled more lava at a single time than any other on Earth in recorded history.

The Laki eruption and the resulting period of sickness and famine that followed it (1783-4) represent Iceland’s worst natural disaster.  Sources say that some 10,000 individuals or what was then 20% of the population died, as well as a large number of inhabitants’ livestock.

But it was not only in Iceland that the effects of the eruption were felt.  Ash from the volcano fell over a large part of the land, dust was carried to the United States and continental Europe and a haze could be seen in the air as far east as the Altai Mountains in China.

On the volcanic island of Iceland, the volcanoes are still active and do erupt from time to time.  However, modern technology now allows us to closely monitor the Earth’s movements and therefore these eruptions rarely come to us as a surprise.

You can therefore visit us in Efri-Vík assured of your safety and return home filled with a new understanding of the wonder of the Earth.