It’s 2 months since coming back from Iceland and I’m still in total awe of the luck I had with my travel. It was such a special time as I was able to experience „real“ solitude – you suddenly feel small and grateful when you realize „I’m alone, I’m really alone and do have this beautiful place all by myself“.
There have been many moments already that I am looking back and think „It was so nice, I’m in love with Iceland and I must go back“.
So, at my extra day with time for excursions I had an amazing day of sunshine and blue sky and complete solitude while visiting Kvernufoss, Skógafoss and Sólheimajökull.
Kvernufoss is the less visited neighbour waterfall of Skógafoss in South-Iceland. It’s a beautiful 30-meters high waterfall that is half-hidden away in a gorge. In that gorge, you will find the largest concert hall of the Elves in Iceland.
About Skógafoss I already wrote in an earlier post, but this time I had a magical time there as I was all by myself and there was a complete rainbow visible next to the waterfall this time.
As glaciers and its lagoons really took my interest while being in the south I stopped by another one, the Sólheimajökull. It is an outlet glacier of the mighty icecap of Mýrdalsjökull and easily accessible and about 8 km long and 2 km wide. Sadly, like all the glaciers in Iceland, Sólheimajökull is shrinking rapidly. A glacier lagoon at its base reveals how quickly it is receding: the length of an Olympic swimming pool every year.
The original plan was leaving Iceland on the 7th October via the ferry to Danmark, but there was no way me getting back on that shaky vehicle for 3 days!!! So I decided to put my car on a freight ship and myself on a plane back home. Hence, I had 4 more days to spend in Iceland.
First of all, a long way of driving from the north-east to the south-west, nearly half of the ring road. I left in rain, mist and no sight but once I reached the south coast I had better weather and did two short breaks at the Jökullsárlón and Fjallsárlón.
And due to a freezing evening and night with nearly no clouds, I saw some more Northern lights – very faint ones but hey, it’s all about ISO and exposure. 🙂
On one day (once the cloud was finally and more or less gone), I took a walk around and saw Lindarbakki and the Álfaborg.
Lindarbakki is a small and beautiful turf house from around 1900 when trading started in Borgarfjörður. It’s the last turf house remaining and is nowadays used as a summer house by their owners.
The rock called Álfaborg (or the Palace of the Elves) was a common belief that the rock was the manor of the highest-ranking amongst the elves, such as chieftains and the King and Queen of the elves in East-Iceland. In this area, it is believed to be a myriad of elves. It is also believed that the Queen of the elves of East-Iceland, Borghildur, resides in Álfaborg!
When I woke up in the early morning of the 3rd October at my place at Myvatn, I saw quite some snow (at least 5 cm) on my car and the road. As it was my day of changing places I was carefully checking all information about road conditions.
So I had my first snow drive on that day but it only lasted around Myvatn lake, once I was on the ring road there hasn’t been any signs of snow.
Borgarfjörður Eystri lies very remote in the far north-east of Iceland and you have to manage quite some mountain serpentines to get there, and on my day of arrival it was very, very misty and I had my challenge of „driving“ with no sight at all. Luckily there hasn’t been any traffic, hence no one did care about my 10 km/h… 😉
The whole 4 days at Borgarfjörður I had the feeling that I constantly was in a cloud (or at least it was following me).
So, on the 2nd day I finally took the car and tried to „see“ something from the surroundings, e.g. a snack machine in the middle of nowhere and the artist’s Jóhannes Sveinsson Kjaraval house at Hvammur.
Stóragjá is a little-known rift located in an old lava field near the village of Reykjahlíð. Inside the rift is a cave with geothermal water. One can descent down into the rift and walk between walls of lava until you come to the entrance of the cave into the geothermal pool. Rope and ladder has been fitted to make it easier to descent into the pool and the pool itself could easily fit a few people. I saw a blue rope when I was inside the rift. But I wasn’t sure where to find the little pool – maybe there was somewhere another rope…?
Finally, a day with sunshine and blue sky – how long have I been waiting for it… So, I was motivated enough for my excursions around Myvatn.
First stop was at Víti, one of the two well-known craters of Krafla, a volcanic caldera of about 10 km in diameter and with a 90 km long fissure zone. The Icelandic word „víti“ means „hell“. In former times, people often believed hell to be under volcanoes. Víti has a green lake inside of it. (pictures 1-4)
Next off to Hverfjall, a tephra cone or tuff ring volcano close to lake Myvatn. It erupted in 2500 BP in the southern part of the Krafla fissure swarm. The crater is approximately 1 km in diameter. I was climbing on top of it and had my picnic there. The view was amazing and it felt like being on the moon. (pictures 5-11)
Höfði and Kálfarströnd are two peninsulas within the lake Myvatn, very green places with lots of bird life. At Höfði I was amazed by the birch „alley“, I think it’s for the first time that I saw something like this in Iceland. (pictures 12-16)
And last but not least – Goðafoss. Unfortunately, „too much“ sunlight at the time I’ve been there, so the pictures are a bit off. The water of the river Skjálfandafljót falls from a height of 12 m over a width of 30 m. The origin of the waterfall’s name is not completely clear. In modern Icelandic, the name can be read either as „waterfall of the goð (pagan idols)“ or „waterfall of the goði (chieftain)“. (pictures 17-18)
While driving from Skagaströnd to Myvatn I passed by a little turf farm – Glaumbær.
A farmhouse is said to have stood on the hill at Glaumbær since the Age of the Settlements (900 AD). The present buildings vary in age; the most recent addition have been built in 1876-79, while the oldest – the kitchen, „long pantry,“ and middle baðstofa – are believed to have been preserved much as they were in the mid-18th century.
Skagaströnd is a town and harbor in north-west Iceland with an important fishing industry.
As there was not a promising weather forecast that day, I decided to go for another „photo walk“ before lunch – and I was lucky to catch the only hour with no rain and a bit of light during the whole day. I was walking around the harbor area and was looking, again, for colorful objects.
I’ve heard and seen some pictures about a rock called „The drinking dragon“, so I had a destination for my next excursion.
Hvítserkur is a 15 m high basalt stack along the eastern shore of the Vatnsnes peninsula in the North-west region of Iceland. The rock has two holes at the base, which give it the appearance of a dragon who is drinking. The base of the stack has been reinforced with concrete to protect its foundations from the sea. Several species of birds live on Hvítserkur, such as gulls and fulmars, and its Icelandic name „White shirt“ comes from the color of guano deposited on its rocks.
While walking along the cliff I also saw some bathing seals in the far distance (the black dots on picture 4).
The way to Hvítserkur was a 30 km passage on quite a gravel road, so on the way back I decided to take a short cut along another gravel road (quite an adventurous one with great views) which led to Borgarvirki.
Borgarvirki lies at 177 m above sea level it dominates the surrounding region. Made out of basalt strata, it has been used as a fortress. Borgarvirki is a natural phenomenon, altered by humans in earlier centuries. In 1949, Borgarvirki was renovated by workers who installed a granite lintel at the main entrance. Borgarvirki is a volcanic plug and the Icelandic sagas mention that in earlier centuries it was used for military purposes.
