Overnight, we sailed down the longest fjord in Iceland, to the capital of north Iceland, Akureyri, at the very tip of the fjord, 60 miles inland. Since last week, when a baby girl was born, the town officially has 20,000 inhabitants!
In the morning, we drove away from town to go inland to Lake Myvatn. We first drove along the fjord, enjoying the reflections of the mountains.
And then went to the other side of the fjord, inland, where green valleys, lakes and salmon rivers are often interspersed with huge lava fields.
A lot of the roads are prettily lined with lupines. These are non native Alaskan Lupines, and are invasive. They are however helpful in preventing erosion because of their complex root system.
The longish drive - about 1 1//2 hours- was very pretty, and I was wishing we could stop at every little lake to see all the birds, at every little town to admire the farms, and at every brook to admire the scenery. But you just can’t stop everywhere….. or you’d never get anywhere….. Still, there is so much to see and it’s very had to capture through the window of a moving vehicle. Our goal was lake Myvatn (which means “lake of midges”- because it has so many of the annoying little flies, particularly this time of the year. While annoying to us, they provide a critical part of the food chain, particularly to the varied birds of this protected area.
We saw many hikers and bird watchers- most with full nets on their faces. Our first stop was at the Myvatn hot water lagoon. Luckily for us, the smell of sulfur seems to keep midges away, and it was wonderfully clear.
We spent about 1 1/2 hours soaking in the warm/hot mineral rich waters. Can you see how relaxed Joe is??
We also went in the steam bath- it was very steamy!
The hot water, obviously comes from one of the many hot springs all over Iceland. In fact, there is so much hot water in this volcanic hot spot that 80% of all heat in Iceland is provided geothermally. They love swimming pools and they swim outdoors all year long, in heated pools that get hot water directly from the ground. An interesting statistic is that Iceland uses more energy per capita than any other country ( 3 times more than the US!)- however, most of this energy is either geothermal or hydropower.
After our relaxing soak, we went to visit the Godafoss (Falls of the Gods), one of the most famous waterfalls in a country that has many of them! (See picture on top of blog) As often for places that are quite touristy, there is a reason for it - these are very beautiful indeed!
After coming back to the ship, and after a quick lunch of the traditional “Icelandic hot dog”. (Really, it is very traditional and people make a big deal about it), I took a quick walk around town: I had to be mindful of the clock, because the “all aboard” time was 3:30pm, leaving port at 4:00pm. I am wondering if they would in fact leave without you…. But I have been told it has happened and did not want to test it.
The little town does not take a long time to get around anyway. It is quite lovely, particularly on a beautiful day, when the outdoor cafes are open.
Not sure how it is in the winter, when there is only 2 hours of sun each day, but our guide- who lives here full time- said that winter was in fact her favorite season because it is so beautiful.
The architecture is very reminiscent of other Nordic countries, particularly Norway, which makes sense given that it was first settled by Norwegians (although that was a long time ago, like 840AD)
It has a cathedral that was built by the same architect as the one in Reykjavik. And, just as in Reykjavik, the shape is reminiscent of the basalt columns formed by lava from volcanoes. He seems to have a one track mind…. What I.M Pei is to Pyramids, he is to basalt columns…. It goes without saying that I went up the 130 stairs….
The town also has a walkway along the fjord’s edge - I did not go very far because I was conscious of the time, but I enjoyed it, particularly all the little Eider ducklings that are all over the shore right now.
Before drinks and dinner, Joe and I went to the “Blue Eye underwater lounge” - which is, as its name indicates, in the hull of the ship- underwater. It has 2 large portholes that look underwater, and is supposed to look like the inside of a whale (with the portholes being the eye).. I plays sounds from the ocean, and has cool videos running. It’s relaxing, weird, a bit new age. In other words, very French.
Right now, we are sailing out of the fjord. It couldn’t be prettier.
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