Iceland VIII - North to Snaefellsnes - Aug 19/26

This was another long drive day. Heading direct, there is not much to see in the northwest corner of Iceland. Following a guidebook recommendation, I had us heading north in a more scenic route along the north coast, specifically the Tröllaskagi peninsula. It was nice, with a curvy road (mostly decently maintained) that required some concentration to drive on, with some gravel sections. 

One surprise that popped up was a one-way tunnel. Iceland is full of one-way bridges and these are really no big deal. Basically the car on the bridge has the right of way and when it's free, you can go. A one-way tunnel, especially one that is 7 km+ long with a 50 km/h speed limit, is another thing as you can't see cars coming, and it's dark, and every time you wind a corner you couldn't be in a collision path directly into oncoming traffic. Thankfully I remembered reading about these tunnels before we came. Basically there are slightly wider "passing" sections throughout the tunnel. Whoeever has these to the right of them has to give way. I was pretty conservative on these as I wasn't sure how often the passing sections came along. I did make one mistake (at this point with several cars behind me, all pulling over at the passing sections). I didn't have quite enough room to reach the passing place, and of course I couldn't back up with all the traffic behind me. It was only one truck with a trailer I was head-to-head with, so thankfully he backed up slightly, enough room for everyone to pass. The rest of the tunnel went smoothly, but this was probably the scariest driving I did in Iceland.

After that we decided to stop in the next town, Siglufjordur, at another guidebook recommendation, the Herring Era Museum. 

This was about the herring fishery in Iceland. It became a major industry starting in the 1920s and going until the fishery collapsed in the late 1960s. The museum had a few buildings on display - one of them had two full, restored actual fishing boats (one of which you could climb on);:

the second building housed industrial equipment showing how the fish oil was extracted and the remainder salted in barrels or canned, with fishmeal being mainly used as animal feed. 

The third building had information on the lives of the people working in the fishery, with a particular focus on the "herring girls". It had displays on their lives and living quarters, as well as what looked like the operation's office.

Overall the museum was well done and worth a stop.

We continued along the peninsula and back the "mainland". Our next stop was yet another guidebook recommendation, the Glaumbaer turf farm museum. It was another good and informative stop. There are several buildings put together - the first few are a smithy, storage, and outbuildings, but there is also an elaborate main house that was once the home of the pastor in the local Lutheran church, complete with a study, bedroom, large sleeping/eating area, kitchen, and food storage/prep areas. 

We took a "direct" gravel route into the Snaefellsnes peninsula, where we were overnighting. We stopped briefly in the town of Blondes for a break during the long drive, and took a look at another ultra-modern church. 

A little further and we made it to Kolugljufur Canyon, with some nice waterfalls and a bridge over the gorge. 

A church meant to be shaped like a whalebone was the main reason for a detour north to Stykkishólmur. 

We finished off at our worst accomodations on the trip, near Grundarfjörður. It was a guesthouse with five rooms all next to each other. The walls were paper-thin and the whole place was very run-down. We could here the baby crying from  two rooms away as if it was next to us, and the beds were squeaky and tiny, as was the room. All food options were closed, so we went with what we had on hand. The one positive to the place was the location, looking our directly onto the mountains. There was auroral activity this night, but it was too dark to see anything.

Iceland VII: Myvatn - Aug 18/26

Our lodgings were in a great location so it was a very short drive to a large volcanic crater, Hverfjall, that was to be our first stop of the day. There was construction ongoing though (I think due to the early hour) so we continued a few minutes down the road to Dimmuborgir, famous for its lava fields and dramatically-shaped rocks. Here we found a trail to Hverfjall that was only a couple of km so we decided to just walk there even though I was pretty sure the road would be free later on. A windy trail through forest in the lava field did indeed leave us to the base of the volcano. Unfortunately the trail was straight up on rocky shale but we went for it and walked all the way around the crater. (Cars were already in the original parking lot by this point and the trail up from there was a lot easier than our slog). The crater was massive and it was a nice but windy walk with great views of the lake. Every side of the mountain had a different view - pastoral farm landscapes, a red hellish area representative of extensive geothermal activity, the lake, or a lava field with basalt dumped over a large area, with trees growing in between.

We then got off the volcano and hiked back to Dimmuborgir, which was getting pretty busy with some large groups. There were several trails around the area, taking in views of different rock formations left by the last eruption. We did most of them and saw many cool-looking lava towers.

Next we drove a little further up the road to see the pseudo-craters at Skútustaðagígar.  These are not true craters as lava did not erupt from them; instead lava passed over water and caused a steam explosion. We did not find this all too engaging after seeing real craters but took a quick walk near the lake, getting swarmed by flies all the while (the worst thing about Myvatn without question).

We also stopped in at the restauarant at Dimmuborgir, where they had an unlimited soup buffet (lamb, vegetable and coconut curry). They also had bread though the selection was more limited than the tomato soup we had the first day.

On the way back, we stopped briefly to take a look at some interesting rock formations and walk on the shore of the lake.

Next we headed up a mountainous road where we saw a the Krafla geothermal power plant en route.

The next attraction was the Leirhnjukur volcanic cone, where you can look around the epicentre of another eruption. A trail led around the rocks. In places, steam continued to rise from underground.

Just a short drive down the road was the Viti crater. While smaller than the one we had seen earlier in the day, this one was more appealing, with a lake at the bottom. Paths led about halfway around the crater.

Next, a long drive west, which we broke up by stopping at the Godafoss waterfall, just off the road. Legend has it when Iceland converted from the old Norse religion to Christianity, the speaker of the national assembly at the time threw all his statues of the old gods into this waterfall.We managed to catch an intermitternt rainbow over it as well. 

Next was a long drive to Akureyri, the second-largest city in Iceland (20,000 people) and the "capital of the north". We had skipped the Myvatn Nature Baths, a commercial hot spring pool. All the guidebooks recommend taking part in Iceland's longstanding bathing culture by visiting a local pool. Akureyri has the highest-rated pool in Iceland (as voted on by Icelanders) so after finding our apartment (a nice Air B&B basement suite) and starting some laundry, we headed off for the pool. Akureyri is a popular cruise ship stop so there were some foreigners like us there, and the front counter was ready with a laminated information sheet for visitors to make sure we followed all the rules (shower thoroughly since there is no/low chlorination in these pools, make sure to shower naked, etc.) The pool was pretty good with several hot pools, a lap pool, a sauna, a large warm pool and two good waterslides (one of the toilet-bowl variety and the other an enclosed fast slide). I saw other adults going up the glass tower to go down them so I went for it and nobody blinked an eye. 

We made a short walk down to near the seashore to take a look at the church there, designed by the same state designer who came up with the Hallgrimskirkja in the capital. 

After getting gas and provisions, we headed back to our apartment.

Iceland VI: To Myvatn - Aug 17/26

 Just outside of Egilsstaðir was a small waterfall we skipped the day before due to time. We started early today to visit Fardagafoss. It was short hike right off the route to Seyðisfjörður. The top led to a section right around the cliff by the waterfall, where chains were bolted into the rock to guide you around and get the best view of the falls. With more tree cover, you could have told me we were in Kananaskis and I would have believed you, so we felt right at home.

Back on route 1, we drove a short distance on gravel north to visit a reconstruction of a turf church. You could only view the outside but it was interesting. No parking charge (which is rare) so we spent a few minutes admiring the dedication of the landowner, who seems to have done this recreation as a passion project. The original church on the site seemed to be just for the farm it sat on.

A little further along, there was a more substantial collection of turf buildings - a smithy (itself a former church) and three outbuildings that were most recently used as winter sheep pens. 

The next planned stop was at the Rjukandi waterfall. We were definitely back on the tourist track as many cruises stop in Akureyri and I assume do day trips from there. Despite the moderate crowds it was a great-looking waterfall and a short but steep climb up to get closer. 

The day highlight was certainly a stop off the main route to Stuðlagil canyon. This canyon was "discovered" in 2009, when the construction of the hydro plant (that we missed visiting the day before) lowered the water level in the canyon, revealing striking basalt rock formations. 

We first went to the west side of the canyon (which was the Google Maps route). Here we found a very busy parking lot with many tour buses and long lines for bathrooms. (I sorted out a credit card issue on the phone here while waiting). Some metal steps led to various views of the canyon. While there, we noticed people on the other side playing down in the water, but could not see a way to get there. With some Googling we found there is also an east access some distance earlier on the road. After taking our photos, we headed there. The road was extremely rough and poor gravel with large potholes that threatened to awallow our trusty Picano. On top of all of this the parking lot was a 40 minute walk from the canyon, whereas the west side parking lot overlooked it. We trudged along the unassuming gravel path and were rewarded with much better access and views to the canyon. In the end I judge it worth it, though I wouldn't bother with the west side next time. 

Next was Dettifoss, marketed as the most powerful waterfall in Europe. Here we made sure to stick to the plan along the paved west side, where we got a great view overlooking the falls (getting a little wet from the mist in the process). We even saw a rainbow in the waterfall. A small further walk allowed us to make a loop to also see Settifoss, though not as close. 

Nancy found a bonus waterfall that was off a gravel road on the way back to Route 1. This was another road that our car had some trouble with due to the many rocks sticking out of the roadbed and a multiude of very deep potholes. With some careful driving, we made it and went for our short hike to see this waterfall. It looked like the trail had at one time gone right up to the falls, but now it is roped off for nature presentation, so we had to keep our distance.

The final sightseeing stop was Hverir, another site where geothermal activity lead to an otherwordly landscape. Mud bubbles at the furnace and steam rises out of natural vents in the ground. 

We next stopped into our lodgings, which were in a great location at Lake Myvayn, a shallow and beautiful lake. We a private room with a sink (nice middle ground) and shared showers and bathrooms (individual toilets and showers) which gave us a 15% discount at Daddi's Pizza, right next to the campground. This pizza was honestly awesome, not sure if it was because of the long hiking day or not but it was exactly the thing we needed.