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Day 5 & 6
DAY 5
After a healthy breakfast of watermelon, apples, cucumbers, milk, yogurt, cereal, juice and coffee :) I was back on the road by 9:00AM on my way to “Godafoss” waterfalls with a few stops along the way. The weather had completely cleared up and was bright making the water shine and the grass glow from the dew. The 280 mile drive to the city of Akureyri was mostly on tar road with small stretches of dirt and some narrow hill climbs, but smooth in most part. The landscape slowly shifts from volcanic rocks to grass. Still no trees or even bushes. You drive through a lot of valleys with rivers forking in and out. Once you hit highway 1 the scenery changes again. The grass is a lot lighter and brighter with yellow wildflowers. You hit a bit of traffic and it suddenly finally feels like you have entered civilization again.
I stopped at Akureyri to grab some food. It’s the second largest city in Iceland, perfectly placed in an outlet looking out into the Arctic Ocean, lined with ice capped peaks. A very picturesque location. There were couple of cruise ships docked at the port. Once I crossed over to the other side of the inlet it was a pretty easy drive to “Godafoss” waterfall.
Godafoss waterfall means waterfall of the Gods. It looks very similar to the Niagara Falls, but a smaller version of it and yet awesome. The standout feature is one smaller waterfall surrounded by 2 larger waterfalls. There were a lot of people here and plenty of tourist buses. So obviously a popular destination and why would it not be.
After spending a few minutes there I stopped over at the gift shop right across the road from the waterfall for a refresher. It was time to head to my final stop of the day, the “Vestmannsvatn Guesthouse”. I expected it to be right of the road, but it was in a secluded location a few miles of the main road which actually turned out to be perfect. The guesthouse was located right in between a lake and a hill. Nice relaxing views for a good soak in the hot tub. Once our host told us that they served fish (trout) caught from the lake in front and all the ingredients (vegetables and herbs) were grown in the garden behind I just had to try it. Completely organic and local. Even the milk came from the goats from up the road.
DAY 6
Today was supposed to be a short driving day since I had factored in spending more time at certain locations. But I still got out by 8:30AM after getting some yogurt and coffee for breakfast. I had plenty of bars to fill me up on the drive. The next 2 days were to see the sights around Lake Myvatn and also take a break from driving and slow things down a bit.
It was a short 30 mile drive to “Höfði”. The standout features here are the lava pillar formations and wait for it, lots of trees, which are very rare in Iceland. Apparently the trees were actually planted there. After parking by the entrance I started in what I thought would lead me straight to the lava pillars. The path was actually well maintained with a lot trees and bushes on both sides. It was quite a pretty setting for a stroll. Very easy walk (I wouldn’t call it a hike). I might have missed the right path, so did
not get anywhere close to the pillars. I remembered seeing some from the road, which was just a few meters from the parking lot. There is actually a lookout point there and was quite a popular site for the tourists. Well the first location did not go as planned but I got to see a few of the lava pillars from the road.
“Dimmuborgir” was the next stop on the agenda. It’s basically a massive area of lava formations which were formed by lava tubes from a large eruption. The area is covered by lots of volcanic caves and rock formations. This was another popular tourist spot with plenty of trails. There was one crowded location here near a large arch. It was funny to see how one lady could spend close to 15 minutes taking pictures in different poses. After a while she was getting on the nerve of others who were waiting for their turn and people started photo bombing her, till she finally left looking quite angry :)
Onwards to Mt. Hverfjall, which is a crater that is 1 km in diameter formed 2,500 years ago. It was a steep climb up to the top, but a short one. The walk up basically starts right from the car park. The slopes of the crater are made up of loose gravel, so it’s best to stick to the path. Once at the top there is a path you can take to walk the rim of the crater. Take the time to walk around the crater... its quite stunning to look out into the distance from all sides of the crater.
All of this done and it was only mid-day. I definitely did not plan today’s activities too well. So I decided to try and hit some of next day’s sight as well. “Grjótagjá cave” was a short drive away… yes the one where Ingrid forced John Snow to give up his Blackwatch vow (GoT fans … you guys know what I am talking about). The cave was quite amazing actually, smaller than what I expected but the blue water and the steam added to the atmosphere. It was a crowded location due to the small size of the cave but once you get in
you don’t find too many people there. Like me a lot of the others also decided to just sit down and relax for a bit. The water was too hot to dip your legs, so just sat their cross-legged on the rocks.
Decided to try my luck again at “Höfði” so I headed back, but this time I did not take the path I took in the morning, but took the Klasar trail (you can get there by turning off the road at Kalfastrond. It was actually very close to the parking lot and I found this spot purely by chance. It’s probably a 1-2 mile roundtrip hike… but success. I got a very good up and close look at the lava pillars, probably even closer than from the other side. It was quite fascinating to observe the formations and how similar they looked to each other. The colors on those pillars also stood out brilliantly.
That did it for the day. Checked into “Hótel Gígur by Keahotels” by 3PM to take in an early dinner (or you could say late lunch) with an Icelandic (Einstok) Pale Ale. The waitress decided I deserved a free beer after I told her of my trip in Iceland so far. The hotel was located right on the lake and there were plenty of bikes to borrow for a ride around the lake. I decided to take one and go for a ride around the lake for an hour or so. The climate was perfect, bright and cloudy at the same time with the temperatures at 50F. After riding around a portion of the lake I was able to get back to the hotel on time to sit down with a bunch of football crazy tourists to watch the Brazil vs. Belgium World Cup soccer match.
Google Maps Day-5
Google Maps Day-6
Google Photos Days 5 & 6
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