Friday,
June 6, 2014
This morning when we went for breakfast, they found Frankie's gluten-free bread right away, AND they had baked fresh gluten-free banana bread for her! Yummy!
After breakfast we tried going to Dimmuborgir again, since the construction vehicles had impeded us yesterday. So glad we did! Dimmuborgir is a 2000 year old forest of black lava rock pillars, some as tall as 65 feet. It is the only place on earth where formations like this exist. It was created when steam bubbles popped out of a giant lava lake. The steam bubbles formed cooling vents which hardened into these pillars.
We had intended a quick look, maybe the 20 minute walk, but when we got there we liked it so much that we went on the one hour hike. The paths were very nice and very well laid out.
The name Dimmuborgir means “dark castles”. It got this name because humans could live in the large hollow structures. In fact, they claim there are "Yule Lads" living here, kind of like dwarfs. But the Yule Lads are resting right now. Your best bet for seeing them is in December when they are getting ready for Christmas. They did have props in some of the caves, though (like a pair of skis!).
Dimmuborgir has several unusual lava formations and caves. The most well-known is called Kirkjan (“the church”) because it has an entrance that is vaulted like a cathedral. The area is under threat from blowing wind, and some parts have been completely submerged in the past.
This morning when we went for breakfast, they found Frankie's gluten-free bread right away, AND they had baked fresh gluten-free banana bread for her! Yummy!
After breakfast we tried going to Dimmuborgir again, since the construction vehicles had impeded us yesterday. So glad we did! Dimmuborgir is a 2000 year old forest of black lava rock pillars, some as tall as 65 feet. It is the only place on earth where formations like this exist. It was created when steam bubbles popped out of a giant lava lake. The steam bubbles formed cooling vents which hardened into these pillars.
We had intended a quick look, maybe the 20 minute walk, but when we got there we liked it so much that we went on the one hour hike. The paths were very nice and very well laid out.
The name Dimmuborgir means “dark castles”. It got this name because humans could live in the large hollow structures. In fact, they claim there are "Yule Lads" living here, kind of like dwarfs. But the Yule Lads are resting right now. Your best bet for seeing them is in December when they are getting ready for Christmas. They did have props in some of the caves, though (like a pair of skis!).
Dimmuborgir has several unusual lava formations and caves. The most well-known is called Kirkjan (“the church”) because it has an entrance that is vaulted like a cathedral. The area is under threat from blowing wind, and some parts have been completely submerged in the past.
We
left our guesthouse and stopped at Goðafoss
Waterfall. It is called “Waterfalls of the Gods” because there
was a pagan chieftain who threw all his wooden statues of Norse gods
into the waterfall after he embraced Christianity around 1000 AD. The
waterfall is quite spectacular, with the
water of the Skjálfandafljót River falling from a height of 12
meters over a width of 30 meters. It was one of our favourite waterfalls, and we've seen a few.
We noticed on our drive that the GPS said we were going 97 kph, but the car said 100 kph. Anton said that the 100 referred to his driving skills, ha ha.
We noticed on our drive that the GPS said we were going 97 kph, but the car said 100 kph. Anton said that the 100 referred to his driving skills, ha ha.
We arrived at Akureyri a bit early. The
city of Akureyri is known as the “Capital of North Iceland”. It
is the largest city after Reykjavik (population 17,000). The
town was settled in the 800's and became an important fishing and
trading centre. The city has a
relatively warm climate due to geographical factors, and an ice-free
harbour. In the 1870s Akureyri only had 5 trees, but an intense tree
planting campaign has led to a tree haven for Icelanders, even though
it seems like a normal woods for us.
Crime
is low, and Akureyri has a total of five police officers. They
make up for that with their Parking Patrol. For parking in Akureyri
, they have something called the parking clock. There is lots of
parking in Akureyri, with no parking
meters in sight. If we hadn't been warned ahead of time, we might
have thought the parking was free. Well, technically it is free,
just not unlimited. You have to get a little sticky clock that goes on the windshield. These are given out by gas stations, banks, and
businesses. When you park, you set the clock hand to the current
time, and you are fine as long as you don't go over the limit for
your particular spot. It's confusing because spots can either be
good for 15, 30, 60, or 120 minutes. The moment you go over your time,
you get a ticket for a flat $100. You can, however, just run outside
to your car and change your clock.
We thought we would check out the Akureyrarkirkja, a Lutheran church which sits on a hill in the
middle of the city. It was completed in 1940. One of the stained glass windows comes from Coventry
Cathedral in England. When they felt that they might be targeted by
German aid raids, Coventry Cathedral removed their stained glass
windows and placed them in farms in the countryside. Somehow one of those windows ended up here in Iceland.
However, the church was closed for a funeral. This has happened to us 3 times. Are we bad luck? So instead we found the Botanic Garden on a hill overlooking the city. We found a peaceful bench and ate our bag lunch (still food from our grocery stop at the beginning of the trip, plus all the chocolate we have picked up along the way ha ha).
Today
we were booked on our own little excursion at 1:15. For 250 euros,
we took a 30 minute flight from the airport in Akureyri
to the little northern island of Grimsey. The airport was pretty small and informal. When we walked up to check in, we said we were there for a flight to Grimsey and the guy said, "Are you Anton and Frances?" He handed us boarding passes printed on cash register receipts. Don't worry about where you parked your car, and bringing your own water is just fine. The plane was a twin engine Fokker, which sat 20 people, but there were only 8 passengers.
Grimsey is 40 km off the
mainland, and still belongs to Iceland. There is no night there at
all in the summer. It is about 5 square km. They have a school,
swimming pool, and a shop. Sixty-five people live there in winter and 102 in summer. And one million seabirds. Often when the planes need to land in Grimsey, they need
to do a dive bomb pass first to clear the birds off the runway. The
birds are so bad in the summer that people wear thick hats and carry
sticks for self-defense.
Our
purpose for visiting Grimsey was because the Arctic Circle runs
through it. We were able to walk around the island for a few hours. We started by walking towards town and got literally swarmed (and dive-bombed!) by protective arctic terns. We chatted with the nice lady from the guesthouse who gave us sticks to carry against the birds. We walked along the coast, then took our touristy picture under the Arctic Circle signpost. Conveniently, this signpost is located
right next to the baggage claim at the airport, ha ha. There is a
legend that the Arctic Circle passed straight through the bedroom of
a pastor and his wife, dividing their bed.
The funny thing is that due to gradual changes in the tilt of the earth's axis, technically the Arctic Circle on Grimsey moves by about 15 meters per year, and no one knows exactly where it is. That means that even if we were directly on the Arctic Circle, we would just touch it and the line would be moving. Not to worry, since because the earth wobbles, the Arctic Circle corrects itself every 18.6 years. A sure way to find the Arctic Circle is to arrive on June 21 and walk backwards until any portion of the sun disappears from your sight. Oh well, we came home proud of our “Arctic Circle” certificates anyways!
The funny thing is that due to gradual changes in the tilt of the earth's axis, technically the Arctic Circle on Grimsey moves by about 15 meters per year, and no one knows exactly where it is. That means that even if we were directly on the Arctic Circle, we would just touch it and the line would be moving. Not to worry, since because the earth wobbles, the Arctic Circle corrects itself every 18.6 years. A sure way to find the Arctic Circle is to arrive on June 21 and walk backwards until any portion of the sun disappears from your sight. Oh well, we came home proud of our “Arctic Circle” certificates anyways!
We
returned to the mainland at 4:30. There were 12 people on the flight back, it seems that more people want to leave Grimsey than go there ha ha. We wanted to go back to check out the church now that the funeral was over, but alas, it was closed for the day. So we walked in the Akureyri Public Park and Botanic Garden for an hour and quite enjoyed it. The garden was established in 1912 and is the world's northernmost botanical garden. Interestingly, about 430 species are native, while 6600 species are not native. We noticed plants in bloom at the same time here that would bloom in different seasons back home, such as daffodils, lupins, and daisies.
It was only an hour's drive to our next stop. Along the way, we had to drive through 3 long tunnels. The first was one was a little exciting because it had one lane only! There were regular spots to pull over when you met an oncoming car. The pullover spots were only for cars going in our direction.
We found the Herring Guesthouse in Siglufjörður. Siglufjörður is a small fishing town with a population of 1000, which has declined significantly with the loss of herring in the area. This area was once a world leader in the export of herring until the collapse of the herring stock in 1969. Before this, herring accounted for up to half of Iceland's export income.
When we arrived at our guesthouse, there was no one there! A sign told us a number to call, which we did, and the guy was there in 2 minutes flat. We have the entire downstairs to ourselves, which has 2 bedrooms, a kitchen, bath, and sitting area. Nice! The two couples upstairs are from Halifax.
We went into town for a fancy meal at Hannes Boy Restaurant. When Anton asked who Hannes Boy was, the answer was, "An alcoholic."
After supper we walked around the harbour, it really didn't take long, then we walked through the cemetery a bit. The headstones that were dated 1800's all looked new.
It was only an hour's drive to our next stop. Along the way, we had to drive through 3 long tunnels. The first was one was a little exciting because it had one lane only! There were regular spots to pull over when you met an oncoming car. The pullover spots were only for cars going in our direction.
We found the Herring Guesthouse in Siglufjörður. Siglufjörður is a small fishing town with a population of 1000, which has declined significantly with the loss of herring in the area. This area was once a world leader in the export of herring until the collapse of the herring stock in 1969. Before this, herring accounted for up to half of Iceland's export income.
When we arrived at our guesthouse, there was no one there! A sign told us a number to call, which we did, and the guy was there in 2 minutes flat. We have the entire downstairs to ourselves, which has 2 bedrooms, a kitchen, bath, and sitting area. Nice! The two couples upstairs are from Halifax.
We went into town for a fancy meal at Hannes Boy Restaurant. When Anton asked who Hannes Boy was, the answer was, "An alcoholic."
After supper we walked around the harbour, it really didn't take long, then we walked through the cemetery a bit. The headstones that were dated 1800's all looked new.
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