Natural Wonders of Iceland

That's what the Icelandic reckoned! On my trip to Iceland in summer 2007, I visited Godafoss (which translates to "god falls"), it's neither as conveniently located as Gulfoss or as in the middle of nowhere as Dettifoss. It's actually located a few metres off Route 1 (Iceland Ring) 60km east of Akureyri or 120km west of Myvatn.

I was well aware of its existance before we accidentally hitchhiked a car there, although I hadn't bothered with a guide book, I did have a quick scour on the net of interesting things to see and picked up a little brochure on the boat over. Godafoss is the definition of a picture-postcard sight, so it's of little wonder that the extravagant falls were splashed across its pages.

We could see the falls from a distance and were extremely excited to get closer to it, you'd think that having seen Europe's most powerful waterfall earlier in the day, we wouldn't be that bothered but instead we'd caught waterfallitis - my invented name for an obsession with wanting to see more and more of these spectacular natural wonders.

The river Skjalfandafljot covers 175km before running into this waterfall which is only 12 metres high but exudes a grand stature by its width and proportional qualities (there is a large fall to the left, a small one through a rock in the middle and another large fall to the right), the river after it doesn't flow that quickly and is slightly tempting for a little swim! Our photos of this gem were made all the better by about 40 Icelandic horses walking around the edge of the river while we were there.

It is said that in the year 1000 when christianity was accepted, the chieftain Thorgeir threw wooden images of the previous norse gods into the water and this is where it got its name. There is a cafe, camp site and guesthouse called Fossholl nearby, this is the start of the mighty Sprengisandur road - the longest overland route in Iceland which takes in some very rugged scenery.

Gulfoss, translating to "Gold Falls" is a watefall in South Western Iceland, located relatively close to Reykjavik, it is a regular haunt for tourists due to its convenient location and the fact that it is within a short distance of two further sights - Geysir and Pingvellir National Park.

It was the 3rd major waterfalls that I saw in Iceland and it didn't have the sheer power of Dettifoss nor the spectacular romance of Godafoss. I think that what let it down was the amount of tourists hanging around - due to its accesibility there are loads of coaches and therefore you are not left alone with it like the other two great natural wonders. It's still a fairly big waterfall and you will find it impressive, particularly if you come from a place lacking in waterfalls.

Another thing that lets it down is the distance in which you must stand away from the waterfall, this seems a little further than the other two. On the other hand, due to its popularity it has facilities which the other ones don't offer, there's an information centre and shop where you can buy some supplies (which we certainly did having endured the long bumpy ride over the Kjolur from Akureyri - not the normal way to get there!)

Whilst there are books for sale, there's also some handy information leaflets for free - detailing the history of the waterfall and telling the interesting story of Sigrídur Tomasdottir trying to protect the waterfall (it was on her family's land before finally being gifted to the Icelandic government) from being used to generate electricity and being preserve in its natural form.The road from Reykjavik is about as pleasant as you will get in Iceland and this along with visits to Geysir and Pingvellir are still very much worth it.

Although I was disappointed with Gulfoss, Geysir or its neighbour Strokkur, I should say - almost completely made up for it. I have to admit, I probably had got my hopes up far too much when it came to Geysir. I'd read about it for years and finally I was there, having spent the day travelling on a bus with steamed up windows over the overland route the Kjolur, there was little to do other than to be impatient about what awaited when we reached "The Golden Circle"

Geysir is derived from the word "gjosa" - to gush and if you don't know what it is - it is a phenomenon caused in volcanic areas by water working its way down the earth's surface until it comes into contact with hot magna and erupts. Geysir is the largest geyser, formerly extinct it started erupting again in 2002. For some reason, I expected it to do it whilst I was there and was a little disappointed to find out that it only happens every 8-10 hours and wasn't going to do it whilst we were there (we were on a regular bus service which only stopped there for a while.) At 63m, it is surely a mammoth event and I do regret that we didn't get to see it - I would plan your journey around the erupting time.

Fortunately it is not the only geyser in the area and next to it is "Stokkur", easy to find due to the mass of tourists circling around it. This is one that you can rely on, erupting every 8-10 minutes with a varying height, we saw it do its thing properly twice with a couple of mini attempts either side of them.

Even at 15 metres (though it can reach 20m), this is an impressive feat and had me and all the other viewers in awe. I'd never seen one before, not even the tiny ones on Fuerteventura, so it was a novelty and felt like a bit of achievment to have seen it during my life! There's a notable friendly atmosphere in the circle as well, it's like witnessing this phenomenon creates a strange bond between the viewers like at a football match (not rival fans obviously!)

Another spectacular reaction of this bubbling steam and water explosion is the rainbows that can be seen around it. It's so large that videoing and photographing it is quite difficult and it could take a few attempts to get it right, it's well worth it though.

Hveravellir is located in the middle of nowhere between Iceland's two biggest cities Akureyri and Reykjavik, it can be found on the Kjolur overland route - a road with very little traffic over rough terrain.

Hveravellir is a warm spring oasis, a pleasant bit of heat in the chilly, blusttery Iceland interior. I'm not sure if the weather was particularly bad for the summer when we visited - below 0, raining and windy but it didn't seem so. Hveravellir was once the famous hideout of Icelandic criminal Fjallur-Eyvinder who escaped to the interior in the 1800's and lived there for 20 years, he spent about 2 years here with his wife. A lot of the names of the springs revolve around his visit.

Living out here for 20 years, I can't imagine what a tough character this guy was - this was the warm part and even I found that nipping from the hut to the warm springs in the freezing (it is a few hundred metres) to be quite a test of character and I certainly don't consider myself sissy! The springs are warm and there is a mud bath but nothing in particular stands about them other than their barren location and that the admission is considerably cheaper than any of the nature baths (about 400kr as I recall)

There are two huts which have basic beds and work as hostels and there is a campground (god forbid!), the first being far from comfortable but warm, cheap and standard hiking fare, the latter endurance test in the wind is a definite no no for anyone other than someone planning an Arctic adventure.

The staff were warm and welcoming and the tea and cake was a nice touch. There are also several hiking routes from which this is a base - the shortest is 4 hours and the longest is 3 days, that is of course if you don't just start it and come back after an hour! This place is wild and untouched but there's not a lot going on and the weather makes it hard to relax unless you are a polar bear.

I've mentioned briefly the magnificence of Dettifoss in a few reviews about Iceland and that's because I found Dettifoss to be the most impressive sight of all. The name translates to "Death Falls" and is very appropriate!

We left from Myvatn in the morning with a Czech couple who had offered to give us a ride there, the first 15 or so km are on rthe Iceland ring and then a sign-post appears and the track becomes off-road, there are two roads in fact, one which is better surfaced but from where the view is poorer. We opted for the bumpier ride!

What's so impressive about Dettifoss is the sheer volume of water that passes through it, the sound and spit are uncomparable to anything in Europe and it really looks very threatening but at the same time admirable - in that you know it could take your life away in seconds if you caught up in it and are relieved to marvel from the sides! When the sun comes up, rainbows appear around the spit which is also a very nice visual effect. The roar of this waterfall will etch your memory forever!

Dettifoss is located in the Jokulsargljufur National Park and the water runs from the Vatnajokull Glacier, collecting water along it's way, a hiking path runs along the side of the river. The waterfall is 44m long and 100 metres wide and deposits 200 m3 of water per second. When you're soaked through from having photos taken nearby and marvelling at it. a short walk south will lead you to Sellfoss, whilst much shorter at 10 metres long and nowhere near as forceful, this is a long piece of rock with several streams of waterfall coming down it and is very pleasant on the eyes.

We tried to continue up the road to Husavik but had to turn around because puddles were too large on the road, it's possible to get up to Dettifoss in a hired car - even if it's against the policies. I would recommend taking off the hub caps though just so as you don't lose them and have to pay for them. I also wouldn't plough on past it with anything other than a 4WD with high ground clearance though.

During our trip to Iceland in the summer of 2007, Myvatn was our first place of stay - 300km along the Iceland ring, going anti-clockwise from the ferry terminal. I've reviewed Lake Myvatn seperately, so if you want to check it out - feel free.

I was initially planning to visit the thermal baths Blue Lagoon right at the end of this trip during a few days in the capital. The weather was pretty moody in Myvatn, so when a Danish girl staying at the same campsite at us mentioned to us that she was going up there and had done so the day before and thought it was considerably better than Blue Lagoon which she had also been to, we decided to give it a go.

The main reasons for the preference of this thermal bath is - less tourists and people generally, cheaper and the amazing location. A small but chilly walk up the hill from Myvatn, leads you to the baths, pay your fee, change your clothes and then take a peek outside for what you are in for.

Perched almost at the top of a hill, through the steam a dramatic view of Lake Myvatn with the vocalnic islets in the middle is seen at the edge of the nature bath and from the other side you can see the deserty star wars coloured hills in the background with smoke spiralling into the sky. It's quite magnificent. At around 0 outside when we were there, it's naturally fresh.. which makes getting into the hot water or the hot tubs all the more comforting.

There's also a sauna. Best of all - cold beer can be bought for 400kr which isn't cheap but was probably the cheapest beer we had out in Iceland in all of our trip. There's no time limit and you can basically spend all day frolicing around in the silky soft water! It wasn't particularly busy and you could always have a great deal of space to yourself, in fact there were only a handful of people there when we visited and the sauna seemed more popular.

I'd say that along with nearby Detifoss (Europe's largest waterfall), this was definitely the best part of our Iceland experience.

Fees

Adult single ticket kr. 2.000.-
Teenagers, 12-15 years kr. 1.000.-
Handicapped, Spoex Members (Icelandic Association for Patients of Psoriasis and other Skin Diseases), Senior citizens (67 years and older) kr. 1.600.

The annual tickets are a great deal at:

10 entries ticket kr. 18.000,-
3 months ticket kr. 20.000.-
Annual ticket kr. 25.000.-
Annual ticket for couples kr. 30.000.-
Annual ticket for families kr. 40.000.

With the great exchange rates at the moment, 300 kr is £1, so you really can't miss out!

On a trip to Iceland last summer, we arrived at the self-proclaimed cosmopolitan and unpronouncable port town of Seydhisfjordhur which main attraction is bombed out German WW2 boats from the boat that was arriving from the Faroe Islands. A rough crossing had worn out a lot of people and the vomity smell of the corridors followed by vomit filled lifts killed the rest of. I'd made good use of the duty free shop, to get quite drunk the night before, it worked for pirate's and living it large on the deck certainly didn't leave me feeling as worse for wear as those who huddled in their rooms clenching paper bags. Well aware there is no public transport system on the island, we'd planned our route much around the circular no.1 road and had planned to go the northern way round it. Foot passengers were allowed off first, so providing we didn't get stopped at customs for smuggling in dirty socks or dairy products as had been the case leaving the Shetland Islands (not socks!), we had a whole ferry full of cars to hitch and surely some of them had to be heading the 180km to Lake Myvatn.

Get off the ferry and it's raining a hell of a lot, a campervan soon stops, an elderly German couple.. better not mention the bombed out boats! My fiance (then girlfriend) seems to think they also stopped for us in the Faroe Islands, unfortunately they're heading south on the ring road, so they took us about 25km to the ring road where we bought some food and changed money. A great first insight to the country as the road heads up hill passing various waterfalls along a pot holed road. Sure enough, the first car on the ring road stopped - a Faroese chap going the whole 600 or 700km to Reykjavik. He'll take us to Myvatn, super! The scenery was amazing on the way and we took quite a few photos whilst endulging in a bit of Faroese rock n roll on his CD player in the car. We had met various people in Torshavn, Faroe Islands.. who were also going the northern route, even though most head south but when we pulled up at the campsite, we were the first ones there.. hurrah!

Now a bit about Myvatn, it's a very small village with one supermarket, one pub/restaurant/hotel, a few other houses, a campsite and a horse riding centre. It's the only shop around for miles and people pull up in their super large 4wd's there like a shop in the middle of nowhere getting a visit from ZZ Top in their monster trucks. All staff in the campsite and pub were foreign (either Swedish or Australian that year). It is situated on a nice large lake with some islands in the middle and flat shores, the lake was created by volcanic activity and the campsite itself goes right up to the shores. I recommend putting your tent back a bit though because the lake is teeming with birdlife and some of the ducks get pretty noisy, Donald was a good example after all.

Behind Myvatn, going in the direction that we arrived from there is a winding hill with a viewing point on the top, here you get the best view of the lake. Nearby there are plenty of hot springs, pretty good fun initially but the smell of sulphur soon becomes wearing, I can't say my girlfriend was at all endeared to them. Myvatn is a nice relaxing place to stay and it was also probably the best campsite we had to stay but it does feel a bit isolated, particularly if you've just arrived. 2-3 days is probably as long as you want to spend here. Make sure you use the Myvatn Spa, it is one of if not the best in the country. We had a fabulous time there and it's much cheaper than the likes of Blue Lagoon which when compared is overcrowded and a much less enjoyable view. I will be reviewing both the campsite and nature baths, separately. Myvatn is an excellent hub for making some smaller trips, highly recommended are the following:

Detifoss - Europe's largest waterfall, incredibly powerful and undoubtedly one of the best sights in Europe, also because it's not exactly the most accessible place on earth, you are likely to more or less have it to yourself! If you have no transport, better make friends at the campsite and ask around! They also organize tours though.

Husavik - Europe's Whale Watching capital, the whales are known to play alongside the boats and most people get some spectacular whale watching here. Tricky to get a ride to if you are hitchhiking but not impossible.

Godafoss - On the road to Akureyri, you have Godafoss, much smaller than Detifoss but a very beautiful layout of the falls that give it a picture postcard look that is often used to advertise Iceland!

Hverfall - The aforementioned fumeroles and mud pots, it's only a few km out of Myvatn and you are naturally going to have a nosy on the way to either Detifoss, the port or Krafla volcano.

Krafla - A slightly active volcanic region about 15km away from Myvatn, full of fissure vents, moon like landscape, boiling mudpools and a general hell bound feeling of isolation, walking around here is I imagine what it's like to fry your brains in a plug socket!

Viti - Viti is right next to Krafla and after walking around the scorched world, you may be tempted to give it a miss but I highly recommend popping along, it's the inside of a volcano with a green lake inside and is pretty interesting. It's not everyday you can find these down the market!

Apart from the relaxing lake with the cool campsite, there's also some volcanic activity in Myvatn, I actually only checked it out because it was called Dimmuborgir, the name of a Norwegian black metal band.. well I just had to have some photos there. It's actually pretty cool, there's an enormous crack across the earth that looks like an earthquake and I wouldn't recommend jumping it because there is boiling water below but what you can do is crawl in underneath through cave like entrances and then stand in slight darkness underneath the cracked molten whilst warming yourself next to the water, also take lots of photo in the dark and then remark that they're not coming out right because your flash lights up stuff you can't see! I was disappointed to find it just means "dark cities" in Old Norse and the said heavy metal stars had probably never been there!


So there you go, that's the low down of one of the nicest places in Iceland! As I said at the beginning, transport options are limited - there's a ridiculously expensive tourist bus that runs through there a few times in July but apart from that no public transport, so take your own vehicle, rent one or hitch (people know the transport options are limited and are very willing to stop)

Incidentally Lake Myvatn translates to "the lake of Midges" but I wasn't particularly bitten!

There is already another review of Akureyri but I find it completely innacurate because it's more about the North of Iceland as a whole, in my eyes! This may be misleading to the visitor.

Akureyri is Iceland's 2nd city built on the banks of the River Glera. Akureyri looks impressive as you drive into it at night on the road from Myvatn. Unfortunately it's not particularly interesting in the day, like the majority of Icelandic towns, the design of them is similar to the US houses that seem to blow away like a plastic bag each time a hurricane hits them and not particularly appealing to me. The town centre is no different from a medium sized UK town and is completely dead, everything closes relatively early and there is very little sightseeing options.

History
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An amazing way to start out as a city, Akureyri was first mentioned in 1562 when a woman was sentenced for "sleeping" with a man whilst not in possession of a marriage certificate. Akureyri wasn't infact a proper settlement at this time but just a shop and storehouse of Danish merchants. In the late 18th century, Akureyri finally had it's first house and was recognised as a trading post, it's population an almighty 8 people! The Danish King (Christian VII) who was keen to improve the standards of Icelandic life failed in his mission to settle it as a succesful trading post but the locals instead learnt how to grow various plantations, including potatoes. In more recent history, Akureyri was used by PBY Catalina which protected supply ships from the US going to UK and Murmansk from the German U-boats and in 1944 Iceland became a sovereign state. Lots of country folk moved to the city where a roaring fishing trade and various other commerce has grown, so much so that they have needed to employ workers from abroad! The current population stands at 17,000.

Transport
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Akureyri has flights from all over Europe and is on the A1 Ring Road, as there are no trains in Iceland and no public bus service, you are best off renting a car. There are tourist buses in the summer, which are incredibly insanely priced. Akureyri - Reykjavik via the Kjolur Route is highly recommended though. Passing through Hveravellir, Gulfoss and Geysir on the way, you see 3 of Iceland's major attractins one route. The road is not tarmacced and has enormous puddles all over it, don't try it with a non 4WD vehicle with high ground clearance!

Sights
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Akureyri is also within easy distance of Husavik (coastal town, the whale watching capital of the world), Myvatn (hot springs and all sorts of crazy volcanic actvity), Grimsey (an island full of pufffins in the Arctic Circle) and the aforementioned places. The Catholic Church and The Botanical Gardens are two things definitely worth visiting but apart from that I'd just use it as a stop gap to stock up on food/alcohol which aren't so readily available in other parts, Iceland is rather big and there are far more interesting things to see than Akureyri.

Camp Site
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Dull with no atmosphere, the only thing that was half entertaining about the place was that someone had written an amusing ditty on the back of the door of the cubicle toilet. Everyone, I met during the trip - agreed it was undoubtedly the worst campsite in Iceland and many people had tried to leave in the morning without paying due to their dissatisfaction (which was very possible!). It seems that who ever is running the place has lost interest in it.

Shopping
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Did notice some superb woolen goods in Akureyri, there is a shop on the main street and it has a far better selection than anywhere that we could find in Reykjavik. If you see something you like, I recommend snapping it up, it's unlikely you'll find it cheaper or better or in the worst case ever again anywhere in Iceland.