(ANSA) - ROME, MARCH 22 - Thousands of onlookers flocked to the erupting volcano in Iceland to admire the hypnotic spectacle of the red glowing lava rivers, the bravest people grilled hot dogs and marshmallows on the embers.
The eruption of a fissure near Mount Fagradalsfjall, which began late Friday, was the first in the same volcanic system in some 900 years.
The volcano is located just 40 kilometers from the capital Reykjavik and can be reached after a 90-minute hike from the nearest road.
"It's absolutely breathtaking," says Ulvar Kari Johannsson, a 21-year-old engineer who spent Sunday visiting the site.
"It smells rather unpleasant. But what was most striking was the colors of the lava: much, much more intense than you would expect," he said.
Glowing lava bubbles and gushes from a small cone in the Geldingadalur Valley, accumulating in the basin and slowly becoming a dense black sea as it cools.
So far, according to experts, about 300,000 cubic meters of lava have poured out of the ground, although the eruption is considered relatively small and controlled.
(HANDLE).