Part IX - Myvatn, Dimmuborgir, Hverfell, Krafla

The next morning we woke up to a cloudy and bitter cold day. Trust me, it was the coldest we had to endure during the whole trip. I dressed in all my layers and it was barely enough.



We first went to check Husavik. It's a nice small town most known for being the capital of whale watching of the North. We went to check the schedules and discovered there was a trip later that night that we could take.

From Husavik we drove to Lake Myvatn, one of the must visit places in the North of Iceland. I can see the lake must be impressive on a sunny day but that morning it didn't look so appealing (on the other hand, no flies, so that was an advantage). Still, the best parts were Hofdi and the pseudocraters.





Next we headed to the lava formations of Dimmuborgir nearby. We took the red path that circled around and then the yellow one that crossed the site. This last one was marked as difficult, but it was actually the best since it's probably the only one where you get to climb and go through a few of the formations.







After that, it was time to climb up the Hverfell volcano. This one is extinct, and the crater has been damaged along the years with graffiti, but it was still quite a sight. We took the easy path this time and there were nice views from the top.













Time for lunch next, and luckily there's a really nice place in Reykjahlid called Gamli Baerinn (next to the Hotel Reykjahlid). We ordered way too much food, including the traditional (and very filling) meat soup and we got to taste their traditional molasses bread (baked underground and utterly delicious)





For the rest of the afternoon we went to explore the Krafla volcano site. The last volcanic eruption at Krafla took place in 1984, and there are several sites to visit.

First you'll pass the power station on the road, with a viewpoint up the mountain.



Next was the famous Viti crater with its aquamarine colored water.













And at last, we explored the area of Leirhnjúkur, where you can walk around a series of volcanic fissures caused by recent earthquakes. This place is quite impressive, unlike anything else I'd seen before.













More photos at Flickr here