We are continuing our way around the Ring road, with a few detours! Our guide book called our next day “Fjords and Fishing Villages” , but they forgot to add…..RAIN !

It was a  very drizzly start and it continues all day! We are sure that the coast and fjords would have been totally different in sunshine!

Our first stop for coffee was at Djupivogur , a small town at the mouth of a fjord.

It’s “off beat” attraction is the “Eggs of Merry Bay”. with 34 granite eggs representing local bird life, sitting along the town harbour.

 

 

We continued in the drizzle , seeing waterfall after waterfall cascading down the mountains.

We climbed over Moorudalsfjallgaroar. To us it resembled a lunar surface and it was blowing an absolute gale! Consequently Rhonda stayed in the car while Greg took photos! Smart girl!

We wondered why they told us at the hire car place to be careful of opening the car doors when it was windy! We know why now!

We were now getting close to our stop for the night at Myvtan Lake and Greg had had enough driving, it was our longest day so far!

One last stop at Namaskaro, a geo thermal area with martian like terrain , steaming vents and bubbling mud pools and “rotten egg” sulphur stench!

 

 

We then arrived at our lovely Laxa Hotel , situated on the top of a hill, overlooking the lake and mountains ,for a 2 night stay.

The view from our room was of the stunning Heroubreio mountain, considered the “Queen of Icelandic Mountains”. We went straight to the bar for Happy Hour, buggar the expense, and was served by a lovely girl from Horsham! Small world!

 

We enjoyed a delicious lamb meal that night at the hotel and the desserts were interesting to say the least! Greg’s sticky date was supposed to represent Heroubreio (now renamed Greg’s mountain!) and the meringue was the cloud over the top! Rhonda’s pannacotta was the crater Krafla!

Our next day was called “Lunar Landscapes of Lake Myvatn”. Our first stop was the crater of Viti, 300 metres in diameter. Viti means “hell” and there was a belief that hell was located under all volcanoes!

We then decided that we should go and have a swim in the thermal pools!

We paid 4300 Krona each for the swim and 700 Krona each for the towel hire! So a total of 10,000 Krona  for a 30 minute float in the sulphur smelling water! If you want to see how crazy we were to pay that amount of money, go to “currency converter to convert to aussie dollars! But hey, when one is in Iceland………

We decided to head up to  Husavik for lunch, a beautiful little fishing village with views of the Kinnarfjoll Mountains across the bay.

This is the “Whale watching ” capital of Iceland and many people were heading out on boats.

 

For us, it was lunch and we decided to try the Arctic Charr. It was delicious , a little similar to salmon but not as strong in taste! YUM!

 

 

 

The church was extremely cute, built in 1907 and said to be the most beautiful wooden church in Iceland.

Our trip up to Husavik found us on some dirt roads but Pete and Greg handled them perfectly , and the scenery was spectacular!

 

The afternoon was spent exploring the Myvatn Lake area.

 

We went to the psuedo craters. formed by gas explosions when boiling lava flowed over the cool wet surface 2300 years ago….so the book said!

 

 

We went to the lava fields of Dimmuborgir, a lava landscape created by the flow of a lava lake over a marshy area 2300 years ago.

The name means “dark cities” and is considered in Icelandic folklore to be an area connecting earth with hell and the location where” Satan landed when he was cast from the heavens!”

 

There were some extraordinary lave formations including “the hole” and the “church”.

 

Hverfjall is an enormous volcanic crater , 463 metres high and 1 kilometre in diameter, formed about 2500 years ago ,and probably the largest of its type in Europe. You can climb it if you wish……but for us it was a definite NO.

 

We had  a great time exploring the area and we are now heading west and will post another blog soon!

Hope the photos are not boring you too much, and these are only a very few that Greg has taken!

Its that time again, even though we cant afford it!

Love Greg and Rhonda.