Hvolsvöllur is a small town in the south of Iceland

Iceland

Iceland , described as the Republic of Iceland, is a Nordic and European island country in the North Atlantic Ocean, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Iceland also refers to the main island of the country, which contains almost all the population and almost all the land area. The country has a population...

 about 106 km to the east of Reykjavík

Reykjavík

Reykjavík is the capital and largest city in Iceland.Its latitude at 64°08' N makes it the world's northernmost capital of a sovereign state. It is located in southwestern Iceland, on the southern shore of Faxaflói Bay...

.

It is situated in the inland swamps of Landeyjar, in the municipality of Rangárþing eystra

Rangárþing eystra

Rangárþing eystra is a municipality located in southern Iceland in the region Suðurland, between Eystri Rangá in the west and Jökulsá á Sólheimasandi in the east.As of 2007, it had a total population of 1,741. The total area is 1,841 km²....

 and has, as of January 2011, 860 inhabitants.

Overview

The hringvegur

Route 1 (Iceland)

Route 1 or the Ring Road is a main road in Iceland that runs around the island and connects all habitable parts of the country . The total length of the road is ....

 (road no.1) traverses the town which has 800 inhabitants. In the surrounding areas there is an additional population of about 600 people, who are also part of the municipality.

Not far from Hvolsvöllur is an airfield which offers flights to Vestmannaeyjar (Westman Islands).

Þórsmörk

Þórsmörk

Thórsmörk is a mountain ridge in Iceland that was named after the Norse god Thor . It is situated in the south of Iceland between the glaciers Tindfjallajökull and Eyjafjallajökull...

, a beautiful valley below the glacier

Glacier

A glacier is a large persistent body of ice that forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. At least 0.1 km² in area and 50 m thick, but often much larger, a glacier slowly deforms and flows due to stresses induced by its weight...

 Mýrdalsjökull

Mýrdalsjökull

Mýrdalsjökull mire dale glacier" or " mire valley glacier") is a glacier in the south of Iceland. It is situated to the north of Vík í Mýrdal and to the east of the smaller glacier Eyjafjallajökull. Between these two glaciers is Fimmvörðuháls pass. Its peak reaches in height and in 1980 it covered...

, is also not too far away.

The area is the scene of one of the most famous sagas of Iceland, Njál's saga

Njál's saga

Njáls saga is one of the sagas of Icelanders. The most prominent characters are the friends Njáll Þorgeirsson, a lawyer and a sage, and Gunnarr Hámundarson, a formidable warrior...

. The town of Hvolsvöllur has a Saga Centre dedicated to this and other Icelandic sagas.

In 2010, the volcanic eruptions at Eyjafjallajökull

Eyjafjallajökull

Eyjafjallajökull is one of the smaller ice caps of Iceland, situated to the north of Skógar and to the west of Mýrdalsjökull. The ice cap covers the caldera of a volcano with a summit elevation of . The volcano has erupted relatively frequently since the last glacial period, most recently in...

 caused evacuations in the surrounding area, with people being relocated to Hvolsvöllur, where Red Cross mass care centres has been set up.

External links

• Tourist informations
• Hvolsvöllur webcam (at the Esso
  Esso
  Esso is an international trade name for ExxonMobil and its related companies. Pronounced , it is derived from the initials of the pre-1911 Standard Oil, and as such became the focus of much litigation and regulatory restriction in the United States. In 1972, it was largely replaced in the U.S. by...
  
  station)
• The official Njal's Saga website—The Njála museum in Hvolsvöllur, Iceland