I forgot to mention my other “Game of Thrones” story. When we did our glacier hike our guide told us that the scene where John Snow, recently captured by the beautiful red headed woman in Season 3, walks through an icy snowy crevasse for days on end, was filmed where we did our glacier hike, in one small crevasse – they just kept walking back and forth.
Okay, trip: We were a bit sad to leave Djupivogur as it was so beautiful (and partly sunny). Here is the morning view a short walk from our hotel.
I mean, really! Everywhere we’ve been so far has its own unique beauty. We drove on to Myvatn, our longest drive yet on this Ring Road tour, about four and a half hours. The first bit was lovely, winding our way through one fjord after the next. Then we headed inland and it was easily our most tedious drive so far, which is pretty good – nothing has been tedious yet. We entered a moonscape and lots of rain and low-hanging clouds. Same weather when we got to Lake Myvatn, so after tucking into our very cute accommodations at Vogar Farms, we did what any good Icelandic person would do in the pouring rain: We went to the outdoor community swimming pool. I swam laps while the boys went to the gym and we met in the hot tubs outside. Every town has a pool here, even tiny ones, and they are not chlorine-filled stinkers – they are filled with geothermal water and very little chemicals. Lovely. It was great to get a workout in after a longer drive, and in the hot tubs we spoke to French, American and Icelandic people.
The food where we’re staying is the best we’ve had so far, and the bar was already set pretty high. It’s a family run farm (since the 1800’s) and much of the food comes from their land. We had the lamb shank and it was SO GOOD, I forgot to take a picture – I was too busy eating. And all produce from their garden, and even homemade mozzarella cheese on the salad. I continue to be amazed at how self-sustaining Icelanders are. Oh, and amazing homemade SKYR for dessert. Skyr is like their national yogurt, and it is delicious – unless you don’t understand enough Icelandic and pick up the brand sweetened with sucralose at the supermarket like I did one day, then it’s gross!
Hey speaking of delicious – Icelanders also like licorice, and they like chocolate and licorice combined. I thought it would be weird, but it’s fantastic. Might I recommend this brand:
On our way out we visited the cows, which you can see through a glass wall in the restaurant. This is where they get their milk, and we also watched them being milked at 7:30 this morning. This one cow really liked my son and licked his hand over and over (probably liking the salty taste). Afterward son’s hand smelled like honey. Go figure.
Today the weather was better – by “better” I mean the clouds were higher, so visibility was better and we could actually see where we were. Lake Myvatn is a beautiful area defined by all sorts of volcanic activity. There are old craters and geothermal steam everywhere. The lake itself is lovely and full of bird life. We started up at the Kafla crater area – and as you can see, we wound up in a rain cloud all the way up there, but it didn’t stop us from hiking around two craters, one filled with geothermal water.
Iceland gets 30% of it’s power from geothermal energy, and by Krafla is one of their plants. The mountain in one area was criss-crossed with these pipes and domes. It felt like we were on Mars.
Next we drove to Hverir (all of these places are very close together). This was crazy! My favourite of the day. It’s an area full of fissures and mudpots and fumaroles (I had never heard of that word). It is so other-worldly, like being on the moon, except I don’t think the moon has mudpots.
We hiked up a mountain there, getting away from all the tourists. The mud was “boot sucking.” The landscape kind of lunar. But even there, flowers popped up.
We hiked high up – you can see the parking lot way way below. Then over to another ridge.
Here are the boys, and that thing behind them is actually the SUN!
Next another hike, but this one nice and flat, around the “pseudocraters,” where we saw tons of unique ducks and other bird life. And one last hike in “Dimmuborgir,” where all of these crazy lava formations poke up out of the earth.
After a good pizza lunch, we did what is a must in Myvatn: We visited the Myvatn Nature Baths. Wow. Amazing. Couldn’t take photos in the pool without wrecking the camera, but here is a shot afterward. We just luxuriated for an hour and a half. The silica in the water feels incredible, though it does leave your hair feeling like straw!
Not the greatest picture as it had just started to rain again – the water is a brilliant blue – a magical experience.
Oh, and I forgot to post this amazing photo Son took while we were driving, a few days ago. Icelandic horses, galloping down the road. Magnificent.
I also keep meaning to mention The Sheep. They are everywhere. Grazing and roaming in the most remote, high-up, steep places … and also wandering by the side of the road. We’ve had to slam on the brakes a number of times for a sheep who decides to cross the road, usually followed by a couple of buddies. Also had to brake for a grey goose one day.
It is POURING again right now. We are snug and toasty in our cabin, but oh how I pity the campers we’ve met. Not to mention the few cyclists we’ve passed. Goodnight!
