Gallery: Iceland Is Beautiful Except for the 2 Million Tourists

  • Iceland The silent epidemic.Islande L039pidmie silencieuse.
    Denis Meyer
    01

    HL-DMEYER-ISLANDE-WIRED-9.jpg

    The Jökulsárlón Glacial Lagoon lies on Iceland’s southern coast. It’s more than 800 feet deep and filled with chunks of ice that break off the nearby Breiðamerkurjökull Glacier.
  • Iceland The silent epidemic.Islande L039pidmie silencieuse.
    Denis Meyer
    02

    HL-DMEYER-ISLANDE-WIRED-8.jpg

    Many tourists attractions, like this one in Stokksnes, sit on private property, and it is up to the owners to care for them.
  • Iceland The silent epidemic.Islande L039pidmie silencieuse.
    Denis Meyer
    03

    HL-DMEYER-ISLANDE-WIRED-6.jpg

    A tourist floats in the Blue Lagoon, which sits in a lava field in Grindavik. It’s a manmade lagoon, built in 1976 and fed by water from a geothermal power plant. People flock to the lagoon to bathe in the silica mud.
  • Iceland The silent epidemic.Islande L039pidmie silencieuse.
    Denis Meyer
    04

    HL-DMEYER-ISLANDE-WIRED-4.jpg

    Construction at Skogafoss waterfall.
  • Iceland The silent epidemic.Islande L039pidmie silencieuse.
    Denis Meyer
    05

    HL-DMEYER-ISLANDE-WIRED-5.jpg

    Tourists fill a cafe at the Blue Lagoon.
  • Iceland The silent epidemic.Islande L039pidmie silencieuse.
    Denis Meyer
    06

    HL-DMEYER-ISLANDE-WIRED-11.jpg

    This US Navy plane crashed in Solheimasandur in 1973. Over the years, the site has become a stop for tourists.
  • Iceland The silent epidemic.Islande L039pidmie silencieuse.
    Denis Meyer
    07

    HL-DMEYER-ISLANDE-WIRED-18.jpg

    A tourist at Breiðamerkurjökull Glacier. Due to melting, the caves change from one year to the next, sometimes leading to discrepancies between image advertisements and reality.
  • Iceland The silent epidemic.Islande L039pidmie silencieuse.
    Denis Meyer
    08

    HL-DMEYER-ISLANDE-WIRED-3.jpg

    A sign warns visitors to keep out.
  • Iceland The silent epidemic.Islande L039pidmie silencieuse.
    Denis Meyer
    09

    HL-DMEYER-ISLANDE-WIRED-1.jpg

    This sculpture, Sun Voyager, by Jón Gunnar Árnason, sits by a road in Reykjavik.
  • Iceland The silent epidemic.Islande L039pidmie silencieuse.
    Denis Meyer
    10

    HL-DMEYER-ISLANDE-WIRED-13.jpg

    A geyser shoots into the air at a geothermal field in Geysir, Iceland.
  • Iceland The silent epidemic.Islande L039pidmie silencieuse.
    Denis Meyer
    11

    HL-DMEYER-ISLANDE-WIRED-16.jpg

    Construction facade in Reykjavík.
  • Iceland The silent epidemic.Islande L039pidmie silencieuse.
    Denis Meyer
    12

    HL-DMEYER-ISLANDE-WIRED-10.jpg

    Tourists stride across the Svínafellsjökull Glacier in Skaftafell National Park.
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