Now in the mid-northern parts of Iceland.
It is a fantastic location – an AirBNB – Sunnuhlid Apartment – not quite in Akureyri but with a view directly across and up the fjord.
After a quick walk around Seydisfjordur – its not very big ! – we headed back over the mountain and on our way. Just out of town though, on the way up the hill, is a small waterfall – Gufufoss – featured in the film “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” (in fact if you click on this link, the skateboard scene takes you past the waterfall and Walter ends up in front of the Hotel Aldan which runs the AirBNB we stayed at !). A quick stop there and we were on our way.
Gufufoss – Walter’s Waterfall
The valley down to Seydisfjordur
We then had quite a drive through some very empty country. It is described as “moon-like” with a very volcanic appearance. We had rain on and off for most of the way, though the sun did peek out on occasions.
Our next stop was another waterfall – Dettifoss. This is Iceland’s most powerful waterfall. There are actually two waterfalls very close together here – the other called Selfoss and the rapid flow of the river between them creates a strikingly milky appearance to the glacial water flow.
The spray is visible from Dettifoss from quite a distance !
Dettifoss
Sellfoss
More moon-like landscape took us to our next location – Namafjall Geothermal area. It didn’t have any spouting geysirs however was a lot like some of the areas we had seen in the USA at Yellowstone National Park, with hot springs – some water and others thick mud – bubbling to the surface and spreading out around, with the colorful bacteria in the warm environment creating the display. There were also steam pots with the sulphur-smelling steam blowing from mounds in the ground.
The weather started to deteriorate here and we moved further on – our next stop the Dimmuborgir Lava formations. These were created when the area was underwater and magma leaked upward into the water creating spiky stalagmite-like columns when it solidified. We didn’t stay here too long as a swarm of midges took a liking to us ! Not far from here were the Skutustadir Pseudocraters which were formed from giant bubbles of molten lava.
One last stop before we hit Akureyri was Godafoss – another dramatic waterfall – before we hit town for some dinner provisions and our drive back out of town to our apartment. By this stage the rain had really set in and it was unfortunate that with our fantastic location beside the fjord, the view to the mountains beyond was shrouded in mist. Still, we had made the most of the weather and were looking forward to our final leg back across Iceland to our last stop in Keflavik.
Today’s Tour Trivia – Beer was illegal in Iceland until 1989. Prohibition commenced in 1915 covering all alcohol and though some bans on wines were gradually lifted – mainly for trade reasons – prohibition on beer was not formally lifted until 1989. March 1st each year is now “National Beer Day”.