The Icelandic soul of the underworld, which attracts tourists from all over the world (12 photos)

Gunnuhver is the largest hot spring in Iceland. His surreal view organically fits into the local landscapes with a slight otherworldly flight.





This hell pit is located on the Reykjanes peninsula and rightly considered one of the most visited natural attractions in the country. Vivid iridescent colors of the terrain around the mesmerizing hot spring and its surrounding landscape locals explain with a creepy legend (and where without it?)



Reykjanes Peninsula

According to it, a highly active geothermal area with steam springs and mud pools appeared four centuries ago. Gudrun Onundardottir or Ganna for short (the name of the woman is mentioned in census) cultivated a small plot of land leased from a local judges. That's what she lived for.



Once in a lean year, she was unable to pay Villamura Jonsson for rent. And he ordered to withdraw on account of the debt the only Ganna's valuable thing - a bowler hat, which invariably gurgled softly over her hearth. The woman became furious, refused to go to church and communion and died soon after. But the vengeful soul became a draugr - revived dead, close to vampires, who brutally cracked down on judge and his wife.



Draugr - in Scandinavian mythology, the revived dead, close to vampires

The unfortunate who caught the eye of the draugr were deprived reason. Life on the peninsula practically froze. And the locals decided ask for help known for the ability to calm the rebellious the souls of priest Einkur. He arrived from Vogsosar and developed a simple plan: handed two quick and agile guys a ball of wool with a knot on end. And he ordered by hook or by crook to try to foist yarn to the monster, leaving the ball as close to the source as possible. Ganna became interested, unraveled the knot and rushed to catch up with him. But stumbled and fell into a hole without a bottom. Which began to be called the source of Ganna.



And imaginative people even claim to see lost soul, which is doomed to forever catch up with the ball, remaining on the edge of the abyss and not getting into the world of the dead.



Which is logical, because the pungent smell of hydrogen sulfide emanating from source, may well cause visions and hallucinations after listening to stories like this.



Gunnukhver has become a local landmark relatively recently, in the 2010s, due to a decrease in pressure in a geothermal reservoir. IN As a result, the volcanic zone became significantly more active. Because of near the ocean, the area where mud and steam escape is almost entirely composed of sea water, which distinguishes the source from the rest. A high content minerals in the rocks seem to highlight the area with sapphire and topaz highlights.



Dense steam, thick fog, peculiar smell and probability bursting hot steam at the most unexpected moment make this place mystical even without legends. But who knows, maybe turned into an undead Ganna still wanders among the gloomy gothic splendor of nature, hiding in clubs of hot steam...