More than a thousand years have passed since adventurers from Northern Europe arrived in a land that is both beautiful and harsh. In that thousand years they have tapped its abundant resources and tamed some of them but it is unlikely that they will ever conquer them.
The fire of Iceland has its source in the volcanic depths and shows itself in more than two dozen active volcanoes and hundreds of hot springs and geysers, some of which erupt into columns of steam and boiling water.
The ice is most noticeable in the form of the central glacier, Vatnajokull, which at 3000 square miles and half-a mile deep is Europe's largest. Ice melt water results in Iceland's (and Europe's) most spectacular waterfall, Gullfoss.