Sep 13 - Akureyri, Lake Myvatn, Namaskard, Godafoss Waterfall
About 11:30 last night, we crossed the Arctic Circle. I slept thru it, but it still counts – I was there! I did wake crazy early, and as we entered the fjord on our way to the city of Akureyri, I’d occasionally pop out to the balcony to take pictures. There was snow on the mountains, and it was quite chilly out, plus it was windy. Thus began my first day in Iceland.
The ship docked and we were cleared about 9, and shortly thereafter, we were boarding our bus – first of 9 doing this particular excursion. We drove about 90 minutes to Lake Myvatn where we saw tons of ducks – apparently they come to Iceland to breed, and any time now, they’ll be returning to Europe. But the main reason we stopped at the lake was to see the pseudo-craters. They look like smallish craters, but they weren’t produced by volcanoes. Instead, it was caused by super-heated steam about 2500 years ago. The views were amazing, but it was windy and COOOOOOOOLD!! Oh, and I managed to fall on my butt going down a flight of steps – I caught my heel, and there was no railing, so I ended up sitting down rather gracelessly. Better than plummeting headlong down the steps, tho!
Next stop was Namaskard, the site of steam vents and hot bubbling pools and the reek of hydrogen sulfide. It was located just on the Eurasian plate side of the mid-Atlantic ridge, and it was geothermal energy in action. The surrounding terrain was fascinatingly bleak. If you take a look at some of the images sent back from Mars by Curiosity, you’d have a good idea of what the area looks like. Not only did we take a gazillion photos, I took a bunch of videos of steam venting out and blurping pools. It was a fascinating place!
Back on the bus for a short ride to Dimmuborgir. Local lore says it’s the site of a gathering of troll who lost track of time and were turned to stone. It’s a massing of some amazing lava formations from a volcanic eruption about 2500 years ago. There are several marked paths you can follow, but we were led on the shortest circuit due to time constraints. I took a gazillion pictures and even they don’t capture the magnitude and sheer wonder of the area! Our guide said many foreign students come to Iceland for the geological studies – I can well believe it. I’ve never studied geology, and I found it all fascinating!
Last planned stop was about an hour away, headed back to the ship. It was the Godafoss Waterfall. Legend has it it’s the site where some tribal leader in the year 1000 flung his pagan icons and such to declare that Iceland would be a Christian nation. Interestingly, his motivation to do this was pretty much commercial, since Europe was largely Christian and they wouldn’t trade with pagan societies. So much for religious conversion… The waterfall wasn’t huge, but it was impressive. And there was a gravel path along the river from the falls to the souvenir store (what a coincidence!!) and we got a bunch of great photos there also. I don’t know a lot about going down rapids in a kayak, but I’m pretty sure this little run of water would be on the extreme end of the spectrum. All we needed was a little sun to make better pictures.
We were running a bit early on our way back to the ship, so we got a quick ride thru the town, and we still arrived at the dock about 30 minutes sooner than scheduled. It was a long day, but very interesting and probably one of the best tours we’ve taken.
If I’m able, I’m hoping to see the Northern Lights tonight. I’s tahred, so I don’t know if I’ll manage it. I will have a chance tomorrow, and possibly when we make the passage from Iceland to Newfoundland, so we shall see if I see!
MWAH!!