Akureyri, picture from google image search
My best friend Helga Dís and I decided a while ago that this summer we would go on a camping trip together to see Ásbyrgi, Mývatn and Dimmuborgir. Finally we settled on the weekend 2nd-5th of July. I had to go through quite a bit of trouble to free up this weekend at work, but eventually I managed to get Saturday, Sunday and Monday off, but I had to work on Friday morning so we didn’t leave until late.
The trip didn’t start off very well, we had to stop by at a gas station and have the front lights replaced. It was all good until the man who did it for us started having trouble getting the second bulb in. It ended up taking half an hour! Finally we could head out but then just before we reached the Hvalfjarðargöng tunnel we had a flat tire!! So I had to get out and change the tire with the heavy traffic whipping past me. I had just put the spare tire on and was about to put the bolts on when a police officer on a motorcycle arrived and helped me finish.
Finally we could get started. We stopped for a bit in Borgarnes. We tried to find a place to have the tire fixed, but there was nothing open so we simply headed on and drove to Akureyri. We arrived close to midnight and a friend of Helga’s parents let us sleep at his place for the night. It was wet and rainy, we knew it would be although we’d hoped it would clear up.
The next day we spent hours in Akureyri while a friend of Helga’s, Hemmi, gave her a haircut. I also had the tire fixed so we didn’t have to risk driving out into the middle of nowhere with no spare tire. We didn’t leave Akureyri until 2pm or so, but we drove straight out to Mývatn where we took a look at Dimmuborgir. On the way we also stopped and admired Goðafoss.
Goðafoss
I had been told that Dimmuborgir is gorgeous, other people had told me it was kind of disappointing. I usually like to make my own opinions on things however, so I arrived with an open mind. I love Dimmuborgir. It’s absolutely beautiful, I want to build a small house in the middle of it and live there forever! The place is well looked after and there are long hiking trails throughout the area. Helga and I took an hour long trail and I took a lot of pictures.
Dimmuborgir
The area around Mývatn is also beautiful, very green and vibrant and covered in small grassy craters. I will definitely go back there some day and spend some more time just looking around and enjoying the scenery.
Close to Mývatn there is a volcano called Krafla. There is a magma chamber under it which heats up the ground water and there is a big geothermal power station there. We drove up to the power station and took a look at a lake that formed in the Krafla crater, it’s called Víti which means hell. We also took a long hike around to see a geothermal lake and a lot of lava. It’s a beautiful place, even though there’s very little vegetation.
Víti
We returned to Akureyri after that and put up our tent. It was still raining, but luckily it was mostly a drizzle. That evening we went out with Hemmi and got drunk. We didn’t go to sleep until 4 in the morning. Akureyri is built on a mountainside and there is a long, very steep hill called Gilið (e. the canyon). It’s hell to walk up there when sober, but the only time we had to walk it we were drunk and then it was easy! Score!
Lava around Krafla
Today I have been to work, I went sea swimming and then cleaned my mom’s car so I’m exhausted. I will write about the Sunday and Monday part of the trip tomorrow.
Click here for the whole set of pictures from the trip over at Flickr.
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