After leaving the immense Dettifoss behind, we left for Studlagil, one of the most photographed places in Iceland.

A first contact with the basaltic geometries took place on the first day at the cliff of Gerduberg, where a strange light gray rock formation welcomed us, but only by going to Studlagil did we realize how much nature can surprise every time.

The canyon was set in a green and luxuriant area, where farmhouses with the inevitable (and always cautious) grazing sheep sprouted.

We left the car in the parking lot closest to the intersection with Road 1 and, although it was the farthest from Studlagil, it was the only one that allowed us to cross the river thanks to a bridge, to go right inside the canyon, in spite of the other parking lot geographically much closer but in a too distant and elevated position.

We walked on the pleasant path that flanked the Jökulsá á Dal river for an abundant hour, until we began to glimpse the first columns. At that point the trail began to descend, towards the canyon.

The basaltic columns are bizarre and beautiful rock formations with a regular geometric shape, arranged vertically and, even if they seem the work of man, they are generated by nature thanks to particular chemical-physical phenomena.

They form when the lava cools so quickly that it contracts, fracturing into long vertically arranged columns, which can reach a considerable height of tens of meters.

Studlagil Canyon was simply wonderful, with its characteristic columnar features arranged on the bends of the river.

The strangest part of the whole canyon was formed by an area of ​​columns that seemed to bend in the direction of the current of the river, forming an arch.

We came to lick the course of the river in a very saturated blue-green color, as if it were painted.

Studlagil canyon became so only in the last decade, because before then the whole area suffered the destructive force of the glacial river, which was able to flood the whole area.

Since 2009, thanks to the construction of a huge dam further upstream, the level and strength of the river decreased, and the whole area, formerly inhabited only by sheep, became hospitable to humans as well.

Basalt geometries can be found throughout the island, such as in Svartifoss, where they frame the beautiful waterfall of the same name in the Skaftafell national park, and in the enchanting Reynisfjara beach.

The Icelanders have established a deep connection with their land, such as to celebrate and enhance it even architecturally; for this reason, in Iceland there are structures that recall natural basaltic geometries.

The churches of Akureyri and Reykjavik, with their columns rising into the sky, are an evident example.

It was also impressive to see the Harpa, the new theater of the capital, a sinuous and elegant work, where glass and steel were arranged in such a way as to blend perfectly to recreate an emulation of the volcanic nature of the island and its surprising basaltic geometries.