Last Few Days and a Little Advice

I learned a somewhat obvious life lesson on the road from Myvatn to Akureyri and I thought I should share. If you see an amazing waterfall just across a bridge and a rest stop before the bridge, stop and use the bathroom before heading to the waterfall. You will enjoy it far more. I recommend this even if you don't think you need to go because as soon as you step out of the car to the roar of the falls, you'll regret it.

The waterfall that taught me this lesson was the last of the well known falls I would see on my tour of the island. It's named Godafoss (waterfall of the gods), named because some tribal leader dumped all his pagan idols into it when he converted to Christianity.

After a short while longer, I arrived in Akureyri, the second largest city in Iceland with a whopping population of 17,000. Compared to every town I've stayed in outside Reykjavik, it was huge. I was thrilled to have more than two dining choices.

The following day I had a long drive back to Reykjavik, nearly 400 kilometers in a single day. The drive, while long, was just as scenic as every other drive in the country. After several hours and a few stops, I finally made it back to the capital.

My last day in Reykjavik was spent touring around, including a free walking tour, which I highly recommend, and some window shopping. I considered bring some souvenirs and gifts, but after nearly two weeks drinking $5 coffees and eating $30 hamburgers, I couldn't bring myself to buy a $40 t-shirt or $70 mud mask.

My recommendation... go to Iceland but budget to spend a lot of money on food and lodging. Fortunately, nature I'd free. And don't worry about GPS :)

Frozen Fosses

From Borgarfjord, it was time to start heading west. I took the scenic route to Lake Myvatn, stopping first at Dettifoss. Dettifoss, is not the biggest or tallest waterfall in Iceland but apparently it is the largest in terms of the volume of water posing over it per year. Just beyond Dettifoss, is Selfoss. If Dettifoss was a large fist, Selfoss, were its delicate, unclenched fingers. The only real disappointment was the non stop rain that prevented any rainbows from peaking out from the mist.

From Dettifoss, I continued north along a bumpy, gravel road to the coast. The drive along the coast was beautiful, one cliff after another drawing down to the sea. I stopped for a while in Husavik, the whale watching capitol of Iceland. I briefly contemplated jumping on one of the whale tours, but the thought of being out at sea in a small boat in the rain just didn't seem worth it.

The following morning I had booked a tour to the Lofthellir cave. When I woke and saw the rain was really coming down, I was happy that the cave would protect me from the rain. Unfortunately, I did not anticipate a fifteen minute walk over lava fields to get there. Once we arrived, we switched it off our shores into the rubber boots (equipped with metal studs to cling to the ice) they provide and headed into the cave. During the tour, we climbed icy slopes, slid down ice slides on our butts, repelled/slid on our sides, etc., to make our way from chamber to chamber of the cave. And we were rewarded for this hard work by amazing ice sculptures. By the time we saw one sculpture, named the Frozen Foss, I realized that there were in fact two frozen Fosses. My thin gloves were soaked from clinging to the ice and I was desperately wishing I had worn another layer. Fortunately our time in the cave was coming to an end before I lost any fingers out toes.

I took a short break after the tour to warn up (and add a layer) before heading out again to Dimmuborgir. This is another lava field, but unlike most, relatively flat fields, in this one the lava shot straight up in spots and froze. Walking through the park, it felt like the walls were really angry trolls starting down at me. Maybe they only looked angry because of the terrible weather, but it was a bit disconcerting.

My next stop was to the Myvatn Nature Baths. This is often called the Blue Lagoon of the North. In my opinion, it was a perfect way to return one frozen Foss back to a nice warm Foss after time spent in the cave and Dimmuborgir.

For dinner, I went to the Volcano Cowshed. I sat looking out the window at an actual cowshed. In fact, if you go at the right time, you can even watch them being milked and taste their fresh offerings. I did not go at the right time. But I did feel a little guilty eating a hamburger (it was quite good) while looking out at the cows. It felt a little like I was at `The Restaurant at the End of the Universe'.

In Search of Elves

After departing Seydisfjordur, I once again drove up into the snow-capped mountains, only this time I noticed all of the waterfalls that lined the route.  On the way in to the city, they were at my back and I was too mesmerized by the fjord in front of me to take notice.  However, they were staring me in the face on my way out of town.  I found a nice picnic table at the top of the mountain where I thought I could enjoy the skyr (Icelandic version of Greek yogurt) I bought for breakfast.  However, as soon as I opened the door of the car, the wind promptly blew it shut again.  I naively tried again, but quickly discovered that the wind was too strong and too cold for me to escape the warmth of my car.  

I continued driving north to another fjord town, Borgarfjordur Eystri. The town is named after the elves (aka hidden people) that have long made this part of Iceland home.  Before I embarked on my search of elves, I first drove to the harbor to see the famous puffins that have also made this area home.  The puffins are a funny-looking, oranges beaked bird that come to Iceland every April, for a unknown amount of time (both the lonely planet and the plaque at the site of the wharf only indicated the arrival time).  I gave up trying to take a photo of them flying, because, like on top of the mountain, the wind was fierce which caused the birds to flop around in the air in unexpected patterns (it is possible that this is their normal flying pattern).

Once I was too cold to watch the puffins any longer, I headed back in to town for lunch.  There are only two restaurants in town, so I stopped at the one with the most cars.  They are known for their fish stew, and although I'm not much of a fish lover, I desperately wanted something hot to warm me back up, so I went for it.  I was happy to discover that the fish flavor was hardly noticeable and it really did hit the spot.  Once I was sufficiently warm, I went back out into the cold wind, this time in search of elves.  There is a spot, not far from the restaurant, called Alfaborg, which translates to Elf Rock.  It is said that the elves don't mind people lurking around, and it is supposed to bring good luck to circle the rock.  I searched and searched, but unfortunately the elves remained hidden.  Perhaps they only come out at dark, which is unfortunate, since it will not be dark for at least a month.

I enjoyed dinner with a group of tourist that have just completed four day hike forms on Seydisfjordur to Borgarfjordur. Just as we were finishing up, a number of locals appeared.  Apparently, this weekend the town is celebrating Christmas in July and all came to the restaurant to prepare for the event by cutting designs into Icelandic bread and by making gingerbread cookies. And you can't celebrate Christmas without Christmas carols, so the music changed as well.  Maybe this is the townspeoples effort to bring the elves out during the light-filled summer months. 

Waterproof Shoes

I left the south of Iceland behind and made my way to the eastern fjords. I don't typically enjoy driving but in Iceland the views are so breathtaking that I haven't minded too much. As I headed north, along the east coast of Iceland I found myself gazing at waterfall marked cliffs on the left, snow-capped mountains in the distance and the ocean or fjords on my right. I spent most of the day driving with occasional photo stops along the way. Eventually I had to drive inland before heading back to the coast over a sore covered pass to the town of Seydisfjordur.

After an evening spent watching the Germany vs Algeria world cup match with a German couple (needless to say, they were quite happy with the result). I enjoyed a great night sleep (first one without walking up in the middle of the night confused by the bright day outside). I read about a nice day home in the Lonely Planet and decided to check it out.

First, I swung by the information center to confirm the route, then by the grocery store for a sandwich, then I was on my way. It started off easy enough, following a dirty road along a river. But soon it became a little more difficult to navigate. every so often, the path was marked with yellow posts, so whenever i was unsure i looked around for the next one.  What i didn't realize, was that these posts were leading right into the middle of a very wet and muddy marshland.  It only took one wrong step before my foot sunk into the water and first one, then both shoes. It was at this point I really regretted not buying waterproof hiking shoes.  I considered turning around at this point, but didn't think it could get worse. I continued following the marked path through more mud, crossing small streams further up the trail. 

All of this was supposed to take me to a frozen lake where I planned to sit and eat lunch.  Instead, I must have taken a wrong turn and found myself heading in the direction that I came from. After searching for another yellow post marking the trail, i gave and decided that this was fate and so I headed back to a small footbridge that crossed the river devising that this world be a good place for lunch and to attempt to dry of my socks and shoes a bit. While sitting and eating, two other hikers passed me going in a different direction altogether. I considered following them to see if they found their way to the frozen lake, but once I put my wet shoes and socks back on, I decided that this was a bad idea. My feet were frozen and the wind was picking up, so I headed back to town to dry off and clean up.