Wednesday, August 21st, 2024
Today we visited the town of Akureyi, the “Capital of the North”. It was located at the end of a fjord, Eyjafjördur. Its location was 62 miles from the Arctic Circle. Akureyri was the second largest city in Iceland with a population around 19,000. The founder of the city was an Irish Viking, Helgi Magri Eyvindarson in the 9th century.
On the hilltop was the local church, Akureyarkirkja, which had a stained glass window that originated in the Coventry Cathedral in London, England prior to its destruction in WWII.
The traffic lights had heart shaped stop signs instead of solid circles. This was one attempt to boost its citizens’ morale, especially during the dark days of winter.
We traveled again along the Ring road. Our first stop was the northeastern shore of Mývatn Lake which was part of the Diamond Circle in Iceland. Lake Mývatn was created from a massive basaltic eruption about 2,300 years ago. During this eruption the lava flowed and it encountered wetlands and lower-lying areas. The hot lava mixed with water and caused steam explosions that created pseudocraters.
The lava caused an obstruction that dammed up the water which created Lake Mývatn. It’s one of the largest lakes in Iceland.
It was a beautiful area as we walked around the lake even though it was overcast.
We had an early lunch which included one drink of your choice, slaw, cooked potatoes, Arctic shark and tomato soup. The tomato soup was not gluten free so I had a lamb vegetable soup.
The Hverir Geothermal area that was also called Námafjall was otherworldly. We saw colorful mineral deposits that were shades of orange, yellows, reds, and greens. It felt like being on another planet. NASA brought astronauts here to train. It was located on the east side of Lake Mývatn. Fumarole gas contains hydrogen sulfide that caused the smell of rotten eggs. Yes, it did smell!
There were smoking fumaroles. At a depth of over 3,000 feet the temperature was 392˚F, so water that flowed below was quickly heated and came to the surface as steam. These steam vents resulted from the intense geothermal activity beneath the surface where magma heated the groundwater that caused it to rise and escape through fissures in the earth’s crust.
We also saw boiling mud pots that were surrounded by sulphur crystals of different colors. These bubbling mud pots were formed when acidic gasses interact with the surrounding rocks and broke them into thick mud.
Watch the short video below that illustrated the boiling mud pots!
Dimmuborgir when translated means “dark castles”. We spent some time walking through this area. These lava formations were created about 2,300 years ago from a volcanic eruption. We saw lava pillars, caves, rugged crags and towering rocks.
It was a dramatic expanse of lava. Some of these spectacular pillars reached 65 feet in height!
We used our imagination to transform a rock into the face of a troll of something else. Look at the picture below and do you see the profile of a troll?
Do you see the kissing trolls in this picture?
What about a chicken in the picture below?
If you watched Game of Thrones, Dimmuborgir was featured. It was filmed during the winter and was where Mance Rayder held his wildling army.
Some more pictures from our walk through the formations.
The locals believed that Yule Lads lived in Dimmuborgir. In December, you could see these beings around the area. It would be fun to have experienced this.
As we walked it was pointed out to us the crack in the earth due to the two tectonic plates, the North American and the Eurasian.
Nearby was a volcano and it you look closely you could see the hikers on the top.
The last stop was to Godafoss, also part of the Diamond Circle. Its name translated to “waterfall of the gods”. The waterfall cascaded over a horseshoe shape and spanned about 100 feet and plummeted 39 feet. It flowed from the river Skjálfandafljót which orginated in the Icelandic highlands.
The power of the water over the falls was amazing.
The falls and the river was beautiful.
We were back on the ship just before we sailed from Akureyi. We took a couple of pictures as we sailed out of the Eyjafjördur fjord.
Tomorrow we would arrive in Isafjördur, Iceland.
