Tinbergs on Tour: August 14, 2024 – Akureyri, Iceland – Partly Cloudy

A beautiful day – Iceland standards – in Akureyri. The sky, the fjord, and the landscape all seem to blend together in a gun-metal gray hue.

Had a chance to get a non-rushed breakfast and had plenty of time to get ready for our tour today. Spent a lot of Kroner to get on “Destination Highlights: The Jewel of the North”. There's a good chance we have seen some of these places on the tour but they'll all be new this time out. The last time we were in Akureyri the wind was fierce and the air temperature was frigid.

Akureyri is located at the end of the end of one of the largest fjords in Iceland, Eyjafjordur.

The town itself, the largest outside of the Capitol Region, has a population of just under 20,000 people.

There is an airfield (not quite an airport) behind our ship and I was able to catch a plane coming in for a landing.

Eclipse is not the only ship here today - the AIDA Luna is docked here as well.

We met in the Theater around 11:30 AM and in just a short time, our Group (#14) was called. We walked a short distance from the Cruise Terminal to our bus. The bus looked brand new and although the legroom could have been better, the bus was comfortable. We buckled up (Icelandic Law) and we were off.

The bus spent just a little time in the town - there isn't that much of it - and we headed into the countryside. The driver, whose name, I can neither remember nor pronounce, pointed out that Iceland has two kinds of rivers. The “glacial rivers” are a different color than the standard rivers – I think they are clearer.

I thought it would be fun to track our tour on Google Maps.

This was our first stop. As you can see, there is a huge lake in the image.

That was Lake Myvatn, a shallow lake located in an active volcanic area and near the Krafla Volcano.

The lake was formed 2300 years ago by a lava eruption. The entire area has a volcanic landscape consisting of lava fields and “pseudocraters” (photo below). These craters are not formed by lava but by trapped water that becomes so hot that it blows apart forming these shallow depressions. I never felt that they looked like craters but that’s what they are called. I got several shots of the craters including one with Ellen.

A lot of the passengers went across the street to get something to eat or drink but Ellen and I went for a little walk around the pseudocraters.

The name of the lake comes from the Icelandic “my” (midge) and “vatn” (lake). Literally, the "lake of midges" and we can attest to the fact that there were midges everywhere, flying into our hair and eyes and onto your clothes. They were very annoying and actually returned to Akureyri on the outside and sometimes inside of the bus’s windows. Ironically, during my lecture on Iceland I make a point about the lack of bugs in Iceland and here we are wading through a sea of flies. I should mention that we did not see any other bugs anywhere on the remainder of the tour.

We also got a good look at Hverfjall, a tephra cone volcano or a volcano formed from rocks, ash, and other materials ejected when a volcano erupts. Disappointed that I couldn't get a decent picture from the bus window.

At the Dimmuborgir Lava Fields, our next stop,

we were given an option of a guided walk through the fields or checking out the gift shop/restaurant and/or using the facilities. There are lava fields everywhere but washrooms, not really. The choice was clear.

At the back of the building I was able to get a good look and picture of a lava field including lava pillars.

The washrooms were controlled by gates that were opened by scanning a card we got on the bus. No QR code no potty.

Our next stop was the Namaskard Geothermal field.

We’ve been here before but it is such an interesting place, it deserved another look and lots of pictures. It consists of a huge field teeming with bubbling pools, steam and hydrogen sulfide vents, and different colors of soil depending on how hot it is underneath the surface. We were told not to step on any soil that was really light colored (soft, hot, and dangerous). The guide told us that the hydrogen sulfide fumes were not that dangerous and a little bit of it was actually healthy. I’m going to disagree with that. I was always careful around hydrogen sulfide. BTW, the blue color is caused by sunlight reflecting off the silica rich waters of the thermal pools.

Here are cool pictures of this volcanic landscape.

We had taken along some food and that turned out to be a good idea (Ellen's) since we did not stop for an official snack until 4 PM. Our venue was the Foss Hotel a pretty nice hotel out in the middle of nowhere but graced with a nice view of Lake Myvatn.

The snack consisted of a sandwich with some meat and cheese, a teeny brownie, and self serve coffee.

Our veggie version was the same without the meat. The coffee was really good and I had two cups and even got a go cup for the ride home. A waitperson even took our picture and got the lake in the picture as well.

Our final stop was Godafoss, a dramatic waterfall – “The waterfall of the Gods”. According to Icelandic lore, when Iceland decided to accept Christianity, all of the pagan artifacts were tossed into these falls to mark the end of the pagan era.

We’ve also been here before and the last time we got really close to the falls. This time, we got about half way there but still a good spot for pictures. It was a fair trek to the busses from there including some hills.