Driving around Iceland: Day 11

(This is a day with a big amount of photos, especially in orange tones and less amount of words :)

So we woke up and understand that midges still fly in huge amounts everywhere. People were wearing mosquito nets on their head… First we drove to the Namafjall geothermal area, but there were too much midges there, that it was impossible to walk around.

As for me, Namafjall is one of the most impressive sightseeing in Iceland. I was amazed by the bright orange colors, strange smell, boiling mud and steam escaped from the earth with relentless energy.

So we decided to buy mosquito nets. We sat down in our car, sighed with relief (as there were no midges who fill your nose and eyes and ears), and drove somewhere to find a nets. We found them in the souvenir shop not far from Namafjall. Now we were ready to explore Namafjall! We wear nets and they really help, it was even better than I expected.

There is no flora and fauna around Namafjall and the ground is of very unusual color here so you feel like you have a walk on the other planet.

The area of Namafjall is rather big, we spent hour and a half there.

Me in the mosquito net

Then we drove to Myvatn nature baths to take a look. That is how they look like. We didn’t visit them due to a big price (25 euro per adult), so we moved further.

Our next destination was Krafla. We saw Krafla power station on our way.

​Krafla is a caldera of about 10km in diameter. One of the most popular attraction in Krafla is crater Viki with green water inside of it. We went around the crater and then continued to stroll around the Krafla area that is very similar to what we have seen in Namafjall.

We found sulphur deposits

There is so much uniqueness in such landscape that even if it looks like similar, you will find something very interesting anyway, something you’ve never seen before.

Big hole made of snow

Just in few kilometers west of Krafla there is one more fascinating and exciting place and its name is Leirhnjukur. Eruptions that occurred here between 1977 and 1984 made fissures to steam with renew energy. 40 years passed from the last volcanic activity here, but the ground is still too hot to be touched.

So we parked our car and begin our journey to one more unforgettable place

There are two hiking trails in Leirhnjukur. Small trail lasts for one hour and big one takes two hours and 5 kilometers, but if you have time I advise you to have a walk around long trail.

There was still snow on the beginning of the trail.

Black lava field that are still breathing in Leirhnjukur

There are no paths there but it is very interesting to wonder around black stones of vivid forms.

Our next destination was Dimmuborgir – park with unusually shaped lava stones.

There are several walking paths around the park, we choose one of the small one. We assumed it is enough to understand what it looks like. Dimmuborgir seemed a little bit boring after Krafla and Leirhnjukur.

After Dimmuborgir we continued our full of impressions day with visiting one of the most popular among tourists waterfall – Godafoss. It is said that in 1000 year when Christianity was proclaimed the official religion of Iceland, statues of the Norse gods were thrown to this waterfall, that is why it is called Godafoss. Godafoss is 30 meters wide and only 12 meters high but it is very beautiful anyway (but very overcrowded too).

Today was that day when we booked a room in the Bjarnargerdi Guesthouse near Akureyri. We liked the house a lot, it consists of a big living room, shared kitchen, indoor bath with hot water and small but very cosy room. Price was 65 euro for room.

After we checked in we decided to drove to Akureyri. Akureyri is small nice town with colorful houses and port (as usual in Iceland towns).

We spent relaxing evening in the living room and in a hot bath.