Iceland Part 2.
Its incredible how fast time is running by these days. We are in the middle of October, University has already started and the days get shorter and shorter. Hello autumn. And because dreaming is one of the best things when it comes to cold and dark autumn- days, here is material for you sunday-daydream.
After Grundarfjördur the next stop on our journey led us to Akureyri, one of the largest towns in Iceland. Akureyri is in the north of the island and has a nice harbour. I think this town has also the most crazy church I have seen so far.
The Botanical Garden is also worth a visit. You would never think flowers like that could grow here. But they do. Never underestimate nature. 😉
Of course there is a lot more to say about Akureyri but this post would simply get way to long if I would tell you everything we saw and did. And lets be honest, pictures are way more awesome, aren’t they?
So lets drive a little more to the east of Iceland. Next stop: Lake Myvatn. Ah wait. On our way to Lake Myvatn there are the Godafoss waterfalls. So worth a visit!
Stunning, isn’t it?
So now, lets drive to Lake Myvatn! And wow… what a place. There is so much to see here.
For example there is this incredible blue lagoon and its smaller brother. The water is iceblue and even when you stand right in front of it you just can’t believe your eyes. I mean, hell yeah, what a color!!
Then there are the mud pods. You can smell them, before you see them. Its hard to keep your breakfast down when your nose gets hit by the steam of the sizzling mud-puddles. But beside the beautiful odor the landscape is simply stunning!
Or there is this huge lava field with the huge black rocks in all different shapes. One is called „The church“. It looks a little like a roof.. or something like that 😀
Seeing all those rocks made me remember the words of my dad in the airplane. All those active vulcanos right around me. Just one huuuuge vulcanocough and au revoir beautiful Lake Myvatn. Lucky us, nature decided that day not to cough.
Isnt it strange. We humans behave like we rule the world. We destroy every day and leave incredible huge footprints. And then there is nature. Did you ever surf? Did you ever feel the strength of a wave, crashing right in front of you and swirling you all around. The moment all the water hits you, you are not able to move. You are not able to swim. Nature kicks you in the ass. Every time again. Isnt it strange how respectless we behave. How respectless we treat our earth. I hope one day we learn again to keep our planet clean and safe. Its our home, the home of our kids and their kids!
Far in the north of Lake Myvatn there is another smaller town, Husavik. Husavik has the most beautiful harbor I saw all over Iceland. It is surrounded by high mountains.
After dinner we went to bed early. This day was so full of impressions, I felt a little like there was no more place in my brain. I snuggled in my sheets and sleep overwhelmed me before I was even possible to say „Good Night“. After what felt like minutes the telefone in our hotel room rang. „We have the northern lights.“ A women said.
In seconds I was awake, running in my pyjamas down the stairs and out of the hotel.
The first seconds the freezing night air took my breath away. I was full of adrenalin.
Northern lights!!!
Next to me there were a lot more hotel guests starring in the night sky.
Maybe I just expected way to much. But I didn’t saw ANYTHING! There were just a few stars and some lonely airplane.
How disappointed I was.
And then something changed. Something began to flicker. And there it was: a strange green wavy light up in the sky above us.
Good Night 🙂
2 Kommentare
Andy Schürr
Well … as a fellow traveler of Hannah I do remember a slightly different version of the „Northern Light Story“. Hannah was really looking forward to see these Northern Lights and spending day and night (long roadtrips) talking about the prospective to see or not this phenomenon. Poor daddy, therefore, was forced to spend the first half of the night in Akurery driving up and up a pass (street) into the mountains until we came to the outlook of a ski resort. When were there, the sky was kind of cloudy and we couldn’t see any lights – except of the street lights of Akurery in the distance :-(.
The night afterwards in Myvatn then was another story. Poor daddy just shut his eyes when the telefone was ringing and room service was telling us „Northern lights outside“. Well, we went outside as fast as we could together with many other tourists and saw many stars and maybe a very, very, … faint greenish stripe of Northern lights which vanished more or less immediately. Nevertheless, Hannah was determined to wait and see and walk around – and indeed, after some minutes we saw a spot on the horizon starting to „glow“ in orange. You can imagine the enthusiasm of Hannah – until it turned out that this light was created by the just rising moon ;-).
bellasavannah
Well let’s say the part about Akureyri is true 😀 But the dark ski resort was still a beautiful place to see. And how stunning was the city with all its lights! I think it was worth a try.
And come on. The rising moon was awesome, too. Perhaps a little more visible than the northern lights we saw at the beginning. But we saw them!
Oh and to finish that comment: „Poor daddy“ shooed Hannah up and down all possible mountains and walking tracks and lava fields for ten days.Maybe thats the reason why you were a little tired every evening 😀