Akureyri, Iceland

Wonders of Lake Mývatn excursion.

We are back in Iceland again, having sailed down Iceland's longest fijord, Eyjafjordur, to Akureyri.

The Volendam is in Port today. It was good to see her again.

We did a tour, so it was good to get off the ship and explore.

We left town and crossed the Fjord via a bridge and followed the Fjord road for a while. We went up the Vikurskard Pass and could see Fnjoskadalur Valley, where geological remains of glacial and post-glacial times be seen.

From there, we headed to the Godafoss Waterfalls, which were quite pretty. The Skjalfandafljot River falls from a height of 36 feet over a breadth of 100 feet. The waterfalls were in a slight horseshoe formation.

From there, we visited Lake Mývatn with its small pseudo-craters, the Skutustadir Craters. The area is full of flies, so we wore headnets during our walk. The lake is quite shallow and, therefore, warms up very easily, and there is a lot of algae growth on the lake bottom. There are many duck species and swans that feed on the algae, fly larvae, and the flies themselves.

We had a lovely but simple fish lunch at the nearby Lake Mývatn Hotel.

After lunch, we headed to Dimmeuborgir lava labyrinth, where we walked on paved paths around some volcanoe lava formations.

As the tour drew to a close, we did one last stop in the Jardbodin or Mývatn Nature Baths, which are filled withgeothermal water. After a thorough wash with soap, we could enter the milky blue warm sulphur-smelling water. There was lava gravel underfoot. The baths were about 1m deep only - quite shallow. One area was warmer than the other, and there was a pool bar that one could purchase drinks from.

Why shower before entering the baths? They are natural and not chlorinated. The water comes from a hot spring, which feeds the baths and seeps away.

It was sad to see quite a few, mainly female visitors (not from our ship) clutching their mobile phones, holding them above the water. Why, oh, why can't they leave their mobile phones in their lockers. They were glued to them! I know some places ban the use of phones in spas and baths.

After nearly 2 hours, we headed back to Akureyri but first went around the rest of Lake Mývatn. Instead of going back over the pass, we went through a 7km tunnel through the mountains back to Akureyri.Read more