Valhalla’s Gateway: Iceland’s Picturesque Inferno

It’s incredible to think that snaps like this are real – not the work of a special effects artist or a genius with acrylics. Yes, the simultaneously serene and geologically seething landscape of Iceland is a reminder that there’s no more sparkling a creative maestro than Mother Nature herself. And nowhere epitomises this more than the geothermal lagoons of the country’s Námaskarð pass.

Námaskarð is renowned for its volcanic clusters of bubbling mudpots, or solfataras, as well as its fizzing jets of volcanic gasses and steam, called fumaroles.