Day four was the longest day of our trip. We had left Hofn early in the morning and headed north along the Ring Road (route 1), winding seemingly endlessly along the eastern fjords.
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A brief stop was made at Stodvarfjorour to visit Steinasafn Petru, a home/museum with an amazing collection of precious and semi-precious rocks and stones. If you decide to drop by, remember to enjoy a pot of coffee as you sit down in Jona's charming greenhouse, surrounding yourself with a myriad of colourful flowers, dwarves, candles and collectible keychains. It is here that you can purchase a candle-holder carved out of volcanic rock. It appeared expensive to me (but so was everything else in Iceland - you will learn this very quickly) so I persuaded myself to find a cheaper alternative at Myvatn or Krafla, or even at Reykjavik, but I never found another one anywhere else. So if you really like it, grab it at Steinasafn Petru.
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Myvatn and its fiery solfataras
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Driving further north, one gets to Egilsstadir from which driving west would take one directly to the Myvatn-Krafla geothermal region. At the high moutain passes along the war, we met with very active weather and the temperature dropped dramatically below freezing. There was even a brief snowstorm, a huge change from the warmer temperature (12 degrees celcius) in the morning at Hofn. At Myvatn, despite the freezing temperature, I swam in the blue lagoon, similar to the one at Reykjanes, just smaller and without the washing facilities. It is also free, which is why it is also known as the poor man's blue lagoon. From here, drive further down the road and you will arrive at Bjarnarflag which is an active geothermal area. Apparently, farmers tried growing potatoes here but the potatoes emerged from the ground already boiled. Today, there are numerous underground bread ovens here. You will see many glass doors that open into the ground - if you are bold enough to open some of them, you will see what the oven actually looks like inside. I won't tell you if any one of us opened the glass door or not...
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Poor man's Blue Lagoon at Myvatn
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After Myvatn, the weather really turned for the worse as the snow storm intensified. By the time we arrived at Krafla, there was intermittent hail and very strong winds. We snapped a few quick pictures of the deep volcanic crater and quickly headed north towards Husavik. Personally, Husavik was my favourite town in Iceland. It was truly quaint and was indeed the most Icelandic town of all. Its colourful houses and port filled with ships of every kind added to its charm. Here, I also had my first taste of smoked puffin served with a blueberry sauce. Husavik is also fast becoming the number one whale-watching site in Europe. On my cruise, we sighted a pregnant blue whale as well as numerous dolphins which playfully swam around and under our boat. On the way back, they also served us cinnamon rolls and hot chocolate, which was a very sweet touch.
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Krafla crater and snow storm
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Myvatn
Krafla Volcanic Crater
Husavik
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| Other recommendations: |
Eastern Iceland
North Wastern Iceland
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Published on Thursday July 15th, 2004
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| Jordan |
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6 votes
