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| Skutustadahreppur COA |
A few miles away, we found another small village, which, as always, is packed with unique landscapes and natural formations, including the lake with the most migrating birds in the world.
We arrive in Reykjahlid, a village with approximately 300 inhabitants in the shores of lake Myvatin. The whole area itself is often called Myvatin.
Interesting Fact:
- The name of the lake comes from Icelandic "my" (midge) and "vatn" (lake), thus "lake of the midges", due to the huge number of midges to be found there in the summer.
- The volcano dynamics present in Lake Myvatin is often used as an example in textbooks.
Lake Myvatn is the third largest in Iceland, with 37km²(14.28 sq mi). The presence of ducks in the lake can be explained by the abundance of aquatic insects and cladocera (small crustaceans commonly called 'water fleas') which are an attractive food supply for ducks.
The following race events are held in Lake Myvatn: Marathon, Half-Marathon, 10 Km and 3 Km.
The village is surrounded by volcanoes, craters, springs, mud pools and lava fields, including: Krafla volcano, last erupted in 1984 (and is currently being used for energy generation), Viti crater, with a blue lake at it's bottom, last erupted in 1976, the Hverfjal volcano and the pseudo-craters Skutusstadir and Dimmuborgir. The area is said to be a pocket Iceland, with almost all it's diversity in a vey small area.
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| Hverir |
On the road the Myvatn we saw the first signs of it's high volcanic activity, anywhere you looked there was steam coming out of the earth.
Hverir is a geothermal area full of colorful sulphurous mud springs, steam vents, cracked mud and fumaroles. It will lead to Lake Myvatin.
We will be visiting a few sites in Myvatn, bare in mind that it is a very small percentage of what the place has to offer. Most of them are near the lake, but we will see one last place on the way to our
next destination.
Our first stop was Lake Myvatin and the surrounding landscapes and caves.
This region is packed with volcanoes, geothermal sites and craters, and we learned that it has been used as filming location in many productions, most notably in the HBO series Game of Thrones, with scenes in Detifoss(Godafoss), Grjótagjá cave, Hverarond and Dimmuborgir. Being such fans of the show and lucky to be here, we'll use this chance and try to retrace their steps and recreate the scenes from the series! (although it will be harder than it seems, the places never are exactly as we see on screen).
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| Myvatin Marathon |
On our way we passed by Skútustaðir, on the southern shore of the lake. It is smaller than Reykjahlíð but offers most basic services for visitors; a restaurant and a supermarket, for instance.
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| Viti crater seem from Google Maps |
Viti (Meaning 'Hell in Icelandic), is one of two Viti craters in Iceland. It was formed in 1724 by a massive eruption in the Krafla volcano (close by) that lasted for five years. The diameter of the crater is around 300 meters and it has an aqua blue lake inside it. We were surprised to see steam also coming from the crater itself, very unexpected. Also, there is a smaller lake beside Viti, and all you can see from civilization is a single small road, surrounded by cracked soil, hissing steam vents and boiling hot ground and mud spots.
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| Grjótagjá Cave |
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| Ground above the cave |
The next stop of our Game of Thrones tour in Myvatin was a little more difficult to find. There were many crevices on the floor, leading to questionable caves and such, but after a little walking around we came by IT, Grjótagjá cave. The blue burning hot thermal spring inside it gave it away instantly.
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| John Snow and Ygritte |
It was here where John Snow broke his oath to the Watch by making love to the red-haired wildling Ygritte.
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| Hverfjall seen from Google Maps |
From the cave we went straight to Hverfjall, a giant crater we saw on the horizon.
Turns out it is in fact a volcano which created a ring with the eruption material, called a "tuff ring". The last eruption occurred in 2500 BP and the crater is 1 km/0.62 mi in diameter.
Still in Myvatin, we went to a unique spot, replete of lava formations, Dimmuborgir (Dark castles), another filming location for Game of Thrones.
Dimmuborgir is the only of it's kind, the only similar structure on earth known to man is beneath the ocean, off the coast of mexico. It is theorized that it originated as remains of a lava reservoir which formed above a lake. As it began to cool, the reservoir was released, leaving only the bizarrely shaped remnants we see here today.
- Dimmuborgir was recently used for scenes in HBO’s Game of Thrones, as a location beyond the wall in season 3. It is also the name of a black metal band from Norway.
- Next to the structure is Dimmuborgir café, which cooks food in nearby geothermal vents.
After getting some sleep, we went for a morning hike, our last in Myvatin, to explore a place we left behind in our trip. Dettifoss, (or as some call it "Godafoss") a giant waterfall in Vatnajokull National Park (inside Reykjalid).
It is the largest waterfall in Iceland and is reputed to be the most powerful waterfall in Europe.The water comes from the nearby Vatnajökull glacier, and drops for more than 44 meters/144 ft, causing a massive crashing spray.
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