Kirkjugolf

Kirkjugolf is a flat area of about eighty square metres where the tops of basalt columns are exposed at ground level, worn smooth by ice and water, so the surface looks like a deliberately laid floor of hexagonal slabs. The name means church floor, and the long-standing local story was that a church had stood on it - but no church was ever built here and the pavement is entirely natural, which the site's own sign now says plainly. It has been protected as a natural monument since 1927. The whole visit is a few minutes: a short path from the road, the pavement itself, and the view across the fields around Kirkjubaejarklaustur.

What you actually see

• Column tops as a pavement - about eighty square metres worn flat.
• A name that misleads - no church ever stood here.
• Ice and water as the mason - the smoothing is glacial and fluvial.
• Protected since 1927 - one of the older natural monuments in the country.

When to go

May to September; accessible whenever the ground is clear. Half an hour.

Honest expectations

This is small and takes ten minutes, and people who drive out of their way for it are usually underwhelmed. The stones are slick when wet. There are no facilities at the site itself, though the village is next door.

Nearby

Systrafoss is in the village; Eldhraun and Dverghamrar are along route 1.