This day we had a bit of driving to do, but boy did we have some amazing scenery on our way!
When we left our Airbnb that morning it was pretty foggy. We were driving along the coast, but we couldn't see that far out to sea and sometimes we would catch glimpses of snow capped mountains not too far ahead, but the view didn't last long. We were just surrounded by fog.
Then we came to a crossroads, either go straight or go left (either way would get us to our destination). We chose to go left and I think that was the right decision. :)
The road to the left took us up and up on a gravel road until we came above the fog. This was the view behind us as we came out of the fog! The bright blue sky, snow capped mountains, and fog below. It was seriously so beautiful!
I'm so glad we took that left turn. :)
Isn't it beautiful?! I really couldn't get enough of that view. We were driving near those mountains but we couldn't see them from below.
As we drove along this gravel road high up in the mountains, I seriously felt like we were on another planet. It was so cool and I think I kept on turning to Diana and asking are we still on earth? :)
The pictures don't really do it justice.
If you look closely you can see reindeer in this picture.
Our first official stop of the day was Dettifoss! With 500 cubic meters of water per second rushing over the falls, Dettifoss is claimed to be the most powerful waterfall in Europe.
This was the trail to Dettifoss. This was also another otherworldly experience for me. We were standing in this field of rocks surrounded by short rock walls and we couldn't see or hear any cars or any sort of motorized devices. I can't really describe it, but the scenery was just so different than anything I've ever seen!
We passed Selfoss (in the distance) on the way to Dettifoss. First Dettifoss and then Selfoss.
And we made it to Dettifoss!
Look at that waterfall! It created its own rain shower. No, really it did. As we got closer it started raining (and I thought it really was raining because it was cloudy), but as soon as we were far enough away again (once we were done here), no more rain.
I was glad I had my rain jacket on.
After Dettifoss, we walked on over to Selfoss. It was probably a 10 minute walk or so.
Selfoss was really cool!
You could walk right up to the falls and look over. It was pretty cool!
Looking the other direction from Selfoss.
Still Selfoss but now off to our next stop!
After Dettifoss and Selfoss we made our way to Lake Mývatn, but before we got there we stopped at Hverir Geothermal Area. It was interesting to walk through and see boiling mud pots, smoking stacks, clear boiling water etc.
The look on my face is itsmellslikerotteneggs look. ;)
The steam coming out of the stack made it muddy in front it.
This face is whoathatssocool face. :)
Goodbye Hverir Geothermal Area, it was nice seeing you!
Hello Lake Mývatn! Just over the mountain from Hverir was the lovely Lake Mývatn!
So pretty! Apparently Lake Mývatn area is a bird lover's paradise. We didn't specifically go there for bird watching but we sure did see a lot of birds while we were there. :)
Before we left for Iceland, Diana booked a bike tour at Lake Mývatn. I must admit I was a little nervous about it because I hadn't ridden a bike in years, I am out of shape and I was worried about how hilly it would be.
It was hard but overall I really enjoyed the bike tour!
Since Diana and I were the only two people on the tour (for which I am grateful), our guide, Elizabeth, shortened the bike ride a little bit. We still got to see all of the places we would have seen on the longer ride, but we just didn't have as many hills to bike up and we got more time at the spa.
Our first stop on our bike tour was Grjótagjá. It's a small lava cave with a natural thermal pool inside. (You can see the people in the picture in the left center of this photo who are standing near the entrance to the pool.) Apparently the thermal pool was once a popular bathing place, but some volcano activity back in the 1970s heated it up too much to be comfortable. It's cooled down enough since then that people are bathing in it again.
This photo is the cool fissure above the pool. If I'm remembering correctly, this fissure is part of a fault line.
I actually did not bring my camera or phone with me on this bike ride, so the rest of the pictures in this post are from Diana. Thanks Diana!
Another stop on our tour was a place where they cook geysir bread. Geysir bread is a sweet black bread cooked in an underground oven heated by geothermal steam.
The bread cooks for 24 hours and is baked in a milk carton. It was super fascinating learning more about how they cook the bread.
I had it twice while I was there. Once I had some for breakfast with some delicious Icelandic butter on it and that was really good! The second time I'll talk about later in this post.
Another stop on our bike tour was somewhere off the beaten path. I think Elizabeth said the locals call it smoky hill and basically it was a geothermal area where you can see the steam coming out of the ground, but not because of mudpots or hot springs that we could see, but just coming out of the ground. It was really cool to walk on it and to be in an area that not many tourists get to see upclose.
The above picture and the next four pictures are from that area.
I believe the cave on the left in this picture is the cave we're standing in in the picture above. :)
Ok, now back to Geysir bread. Elizabeth mentioned that a popular Icelandic way to eat the geysir bread is with smoked trout (or some sort of fish on top). So when we got to the spa after our biking part of the tour was done, Elizabeth had had someone prepare some geysir bread with butter and smoked trout on it for us.
I was a little nervous about eating it, but I did. The smoky flavor was really strong and I wasn't a big fan of that flavor, but it wasn't too bad. I'm glad I ate it for the experience. :)
After we ate our geysir bread, it was time for us to get into the baths. (Still part of our bike tour).
The Myvatn Nature Baths are natural geothermal hot springs contained in man made structures so that we can enjoy them. :)
It was a lovely experience! They had different pools with varying temperatures. I mainly stayed in the larger but warmer pool. (It was pretty cold outside when you're only in a swimsuit so the warmer one felt good). I did go into the cooler pool (I mean it was still warm, just not as warm) to see the awesome view of the surrounding area. I didn't stay too long in there though.
Elizabeth stayed with us throughout this time in the baths too and it was fascinating being able to talk to a native and learn about life in Iceland.
We stayed until closing and this was just as we were leaving. It was a lovely end to an awesome day!
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