Published in: Helsingin Sanomat, 4th of October, 2003

- IN THE CAVES OF ISLAND, YOU DON'T EVEN NOTICE AN EARTHQUAKE

- The cave of Vidgelmir. It drizzles a bit and occasionally it turns into a downpour. This is a typical weather in Island. During the winter time, there are storms, that will knock you down. Island is a pretty country even when the weather is bad, but your own good mood is not always enough to compete against the cold and wet climate. Tourist however don't need to be slowed down by this. You can always escape the weather to underground.

- The caves are dark, calm and chilly places, except the caves that contain hot springs. In those caves, you need to be careful, that you don't fall into the steaming water. Among the many caves, my choice ends up to a cave that is a bit off from the normal tourist path. The cave of Vidgelmir. The ice blocks the entrance to the cave regularly for a few decades at a time. For now, people have been able to visit the cave from the beginning of the nineties.

- You can only enter the cave with a guide and you need to pay for the entrance. The entrance of the cave has bars to protect it from the thief's and people who would fill the place with garbage. The farmer from a nearby farm guides our group through the meadow and down into the entrance, using ladders to climb down the steep precipice and piles of rocks. Entrance itself is a few meters long, narrow and cramped corridor, where you have to crawl to get through it. You can hear the wet ice creaking under you. After the corridor, comes a big vaulted space, with a small dripstones sticking out from the ceiling. The floor is covered with so smooth ice, that you could ice-skate here. The frostwork reflects in the light, coming from our helmets. 

- The ice room is really romantic. Cave itself has formed from the lava, that has flown here about a thousand years ago. The ice on the floor, rises and lands according to the temperature, but otherwise the conditions here are stable, our guide tells us. His relative who was guiding tourists here, didn't even notice an earthquake few years ago. 900 years old bones have been found from the cave, our guide tells us with a good English. However, he doesn't always seem to understand our questions. 

- In the beginning of the nineties, a fire place was found from the cave, along with some ornaments and a piece of bronze. So this cave has been inhabited in the Viking age. Later this place has been a cellar for the local people, when ever they had an access here and the ice didn't block the entrance. The cave is about 1,5 kilometers long, but we remained near the entrance. If one would want to visit the end of the cave, you would need to have at least half a day to reach it. There lies the more bigger drip stones, because they haven't ended up into the pockets of tourists.