8/25/2023

 

 

Akureyri (Auk’-oo-ray-ree)

 

What a day!  As I was researching all the possibilities of Iceland this area stood out as the one with high expectations.  There is so much around Lake Myvatn that is beyond anything else in the world.  We booked the 7-hour tour that took us from Akureyri to the area around Lake Myvatn and it did not disappoint.  To start off with – the weather was clear and sunny – in the high 60’s in the interior.  Then add volcanoes, lava fields (that made it into the UNESCO register), Sulphur hot pots, geothermal power plants, unique cones that were made from “burping”, and a glacial waterfall with a story.

 

We took the bus for about an hour across the pass to the interior.  We first stopped at the southern shore of Lake Myvatn (translated as Lake of the Midges).  Here we donned mosquito nets over our head to protect us from the pesky midges.

                                                        

Lake Myvatn (note the mini-cones)    

 

 

                        Paul and Shirley protected

 

About 2500 years ago, the area was very active with volcanoes.  Some magma entered the lake and resulted in a “burp” or gaseous explosion that formed these cones around the lake.  It is very shallow and there are many birds that get very healthy eating the pesky midges.  They sold nets at the gift shop and Bob and Anna bought a couple.  Paul and Shirley had brought netted hats because of the warning stories about Greenland.  Cliff and Sarah had some they loaned us.  

 

As we left for lunch, our tour guide told us about how lava rocks made the ideal smoke house.  And the folks around the lake (apparently rife with Arctic Char) smoke the fish in these houses.  We saw one, although it was not made out of lava rocks.

 

 

It was near a church and was smoking, so I feel certain the product was righteous .  Our lunch consisted of tomato soup, bread, baked Arctic Char, taters and slaw.  It was quite good and our group sat together with a couple from North Carolina (the husband worked for Duke Power, so Paul and he had a nice chat about how the Midwest was hurting lately for power).

 

Our next stop was a UNESCO site, the Dimmunorgir lava fields.  I need the pictures because words fail.

 

 

                                                In the lava filed

                                           

                                 coming from a lava tube 

 

This whole area is where the two tectonic plates are drifting apart at the rate of 2 cm a year – that ¾ of an inch.  Here’s the thing – it doesn’t happen linearly; it happens in spurts.  The last spurt was in 1976 where the earth quaked and the fissure jumped a meter in places.  It is amazing to see it in evidence:

 

 

     Bob and Ann straddling Europe and North America - (the fissure is the dark bit to the left of Bob's leg)

 

The fissure extending North

Our third stop took us by the Geothermal power plant – small buildings with steam coming out of the chimneys and lots of interconnecting pipes.  I did not see any turbine buildings, so assume they pipe the steam elsewhere.  The guide did not know (she taught grammar).  Paul took a video that doesn’t fit into the blog.  Best use Wikipedia if you are curious.

 

We went over the hill to an area of boiling, steaming Sulphur pots.  The area was quite stark (and very smelly).  We did not spend much time there.  Everywhere you could see little whisps of smoke coming from the ground – even up the mountain.  Nothing grew here.

 

                        

See the smoke in the mountain

A Sulphur pile

 

Our final stop was the famous Godafoss (the Icelandic term for waterfall is ‘foss’ – so this is the waterfall of the gods).  It was so named because when Iceland was Christianized, the powers that be tossed the images of the old gods (Odin, Thor, Freya, and company) into the water and the result was this cascade:

 

                                            

 

After walking 4.2 miles (according the Shirley's watch) we boarded the bus back to the ship and arrived exactly 7 hours after we left.  An amazing 7 hours.

 

As we left Akureyri we had a ceremony to commemorate the crossing of the Arctic Circle.  This, of course, is a big deal (YouTube the Blue Nose ceremony).  But rather than subject 800 passengers of varying degrees of health to an ice bath, the Cruise Director opted to pass out flutes of grapefruit juice and Aquavit, recite a poem about crossing the Arctic Circle, then have everyone face forward and jump (symbolizing the crossing) and draining the contents of the flute.  Everyone on board got a certificate delivered to their stateroom signed by the Captain attesting to the fact we have indeed entered into the Arctic.

 

                                                

 

So, we have that going for us 

 

After that there was but one thing to do – say g’night ….