“Thank you to all the inhabitants of Vik for your assistance and hospitality & rdquor;. With these words, the Netflix series ‘Katla’ closes the credit titles of its chapters, and it makes perfect sense. The Icelandic television production that last year was a surprise among the premieres of the platform not only has an attractive plot, a combination of drama, folklore and science-fiction around a disturbing volcano, but also turns into one more protagonist the fascinating landscape of southern Iceland.
Visiting the locations of the series, shot mostly outside the city of Vik, in the Icelandic Golden Circle and 186 kilometers from the capital, Reykjavik, is an original way of doing tourism, if one travels to the country. The series could not be more inspiring: from the first sequences, the Katla volcano, which extends its powerful influence over the city, is the common thread of the plot. Katla is not just one of the more than 120 volcanoes that populate the island, it is the most fearsome of all: its eruptions, which occur every 100 years, are highly destructive. The last one that occurred was in 1918, so the inhabitants of the area are more than prepared for an eventual explosion. Not that many people live in the area: Vik is about 70 kilometers from other inhabited areas, and the city itself has about 700 registered inhabitants, which skyrockets during the tourist season, when hotels offer many rooms with that easily double the population.
The city is about a four hour drive from Reykjavik, and if you watch the series, even though the city was occupied and almost literally covered in ash to make it look like it had survived a volcanic eruption just a year ago, some of its landscapes are so awe-inspiring that they are a must-see in Iceland.
Two of its beaches, for example, long and black sand, are beautiful. The main one, at the foot of the town, is the best known, but a few meters away there is another beach, Reynisfjara, which has the singularity of volcanic basalt walls that appear in some background episodes. From both beaches you can admire another unique geological formation, the Reynisdrangar, three rocks that emerge from the sea and that Icelandic legends say that they were formed when some trolls entered its waters and did not realize that the sun was rising, that the petrified.
The facade of the Vik hotel, where several of the protagonists stay, is actually a hostel called Arsalir Guesthouse, an Icelandic-style construction that is still active, although its interior does not correspond to the interiors of the series, which were shot by the production company by Baltasar Kormatur, RVK studios, on their sets near Reykjavik.
The church that in the series has become the office of the chief of police in charge of the area towers over the city, and although it holds religious services, it is actually the emergency meeting point for the population in case of problems with the volcano, whose threat is always present.
Another curious element that appears in the series is also worth a visit, the remains of an American plane, a DC3, which crashed in 1970 a few kilometers from Vik.
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But population apart, it is the fascinating nature of Iceland that can most attract the visitor. The hot springs in which the two protagonist sisters bathe in one of the most disturbing moments of the series have become a natural bathing center that aims to rival the mythical Blue Lagoon, near Keflavik airport.
The Sky Lagoon, as the new thermal complex in the area is called, is much more picturesque and promises the mountainous views of Katla. In addition, it is possible to live experiences around the volcano, such as entering an ice cavern that opens in the area, always hiring the trip with a local guide, or approaching the glacier that extends over the volcano, the Myrdsalsjokull: right there rThe film crew owed the scenes where missing people are seen emerging from the earth, covered in ash and volcanic mud.