Leiðarendi Lava Cave, Natural lava tube system near Blue Mountains, Iceland
Leiðarendi is a lava tube system extending more than 1 kilometer beneath the Reykjanes Peninsula. The cave displays layered formations created by successive volcanic flows, allowing visitors to walk through passages shaped by ancient eruptions.
Two distinct volcanic eruptions created this cave system at different times in the past. These separate events left behind the layered passages that form the cave visitors explore today.
Local stories told of trolls living in these underground chambers, reflecting how people once tried to explain the strange formations beneath the earth. Today, visitors can walk through spaces that ancestors found mysterious and frightening.
A professional guide is required to enter the cave, and visitors receive helmets equipped with lights for safety and visibility. Winter visits may require additional gear such as crampons to navigate icy passages safely.
The cave's name means 'end of the road' and came from the discovery of a sheep that wandered inside many decades ago. This unexpected event became part of the location's identity and naming story.
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