Hvammstangi, Húnaþing vestra, Iceland - 07/23/17

As we near another highly anticipated stop, in northeast Iceland, we reach Hvammstangi, the most densely populated area in Hunaphing, with about 580 inhabitants.
Hvammstangi is an important service provider for the area, specially education and trading. Tourism, administration and fishing industries (providing mainly shrimp) are important parts of the town's economy. Interestingly, Hvammstangi owns Iceland's largest textile factory, let's see if we can find it here.

Telling the story of the city's businesses and development, which dates back to 1856, Trade Museum Bardusa, in the city center next to the harbor, was the first place we stopped after we arrived.

After learning about the town, but not much about the textile factories we where looking for, we went to the Icelandic Seal Center, which we learned serves as an information booth in the city, and stayed for the information about seals.

The building, aside from serving as an information booth, also directs visitors to nature and seal watching and sea angling trips.

Hvammstangi is well-known for it's support for camping and camping culture, providing many rewarding views, so we decided to venture out and go camping ourselves. 

 As a habit, we repeated our list of places to visit before sleeping: - (Japan, Germany, France, Russia, Italy, Brazil (x5)) -

After a was-to-be-hard night, (thankfully we had our mages with their pyromancies ready for this occasion) we went nature-hunting, for 4 structures in particular, which hopefully wont take too long to find; Ánaðastapi, Hvitserkur, Stapar and the local fjörd; Midfjördur, which can be seen from the local restaurant: Sjavarbog

The first one we found was the Fjord, by chance, looking through the windows at Sjavarborg restaurant, presumably the best in the region. Well, a fjörd is basically just a little valley with water from the ocean filling the space in the middle. In fact, it wasn't until we reached Ánaðastapi that we realized we had already seen the Fjord.

Our hike has earned us many amazing views, definitely worth all the trouble.

Despite having to actually swim across masses of water to get here, we are still satisfied to get to know Ánaðastapi in person!

Still exploring in Vatnsnes Peninsula, over 3 km(1.86 mi) away from Hvammstangi by sea through Midfjördur, we sighted Hvitserkur, a 15 m/49 ft tall rock formation. At this point we were already dry from the swimming, and it was getting dark, so we decided to stay for the high chances to witness the Northern Lights, (which is very common in Iceland) and we got very lucky! what an awesome sight.

Our last report is from Vatnsnes Peninsula as a whole, of which we have seen very little of. Our nature-hunting here finished in walking across green lands, where we saw the local wild life and vegetation (weirdly, in all of our exploration we saw very little to no trees) and also visited an important event location, the farm "Hamarsbúð" where the traditional Icelandic Food Festival, “Fjöruhlaðborð” (Fun buffet), is celebrated every year. We also found horse and cattle pens and old abandoned farms.

Time to go "Ice fjord deep" in Iceland

Dalvik, Dalvikurbyggd, Iceland - 07/10/17

Dalvikurbyggd COA

Going further north in Iceland we discovered a river, which we later learned is called "Sverfadardalsa river", and began to follow along the waters in hopes to get to our next location.

Our suspicions were right, and by the mouth of the river was Dalvik, a regional port for import and fishing with 1.454 inhabitants as of 2011. Dalvik means "Valley Bay" in Icelandic, and the valley which it refers to is Svarfadardallur.

Like Akureyri, Dalvik also has ferry services to Grimsey island, which we learned about while in our last stop, Akureyri. Grimsey was amalgamated with Akureyri in 2009, and is the northernmost inhabited Icelandic territory.

Interesting Fact:

The festival Fiskidagurinn mikli (The Great Fish Day) is celebrated here in August, and is attended by up to 30.000 people. The festival is consisted of a free fish buffet which is sponsored by the local fishing industry.

- The programmers among us were intrigued by the name of the town, it was not in vain. Dalvik used to be a virtual machine in the Android operating system. The open source software was replaced by Android Run Time (ART) from Android 4.4 (KitKat) to all further versions.

For our first activity here in Dalvik we decided to take the opportunity to finally go whale watching, after two lost opportunities in Djupivogur an Husavik,

The expeditions are realized by Arctic Sea Tours, a rated five stars service offering Rhib boat and whale boat whale watching. In addition to seeing whales, porpoises and dolphins (with 99% success rate) for up to three hours, we also enjoyed some hot chocolate, fresh cooked and barbecued fish, which were caught by the crew and grilled upon our arrival on land. They also guaranteed us that if we didn't cross paths with whales we could ride again free of charge.

After the rewarding whale watching expedition, we nostalgically remembered our experience in Dalvik Folk Museum in Akureyri, and how we almost mixed up the places, and remembered that the 'Viking Giant' was born and buried here.

(Interesting Fact:

In addition to being a circus performer (and sadly being seem as an abomination) Johann the Great starred in the movie Prehistoric Women(1950) where we played the role of a giant cave man.
He was buried in Dalvik after dying in consequence of a falling accident.)


We found out where he was buried in the town, so we made a special pilgrimage to the cemetery after the museum.
We split into groups and started searching, after about 3 minutes we actually found his grave! - The party gains 3 points to Perception.



Now, it might be seen as inconsiderate, but we decided to visit a local pool and gym next, to enjoy life while we can.



From what we have seen, Icelanders are very clean and organized people, as well as friendly. Our experience in Dalvik Swimming Pool reassured that expectation.
One of the habits Icelanders have which helps to keep the pools clean is showering (often times naked) before getting it. In the end we saw more nature than we could expect in a swimming club.

The features of the facility are just as impressive: geothermically heated pools with different temperatures, a cooler main pool with swimming lanes, a water slide and a gym.

As we near important stops in the country, we make a few essential stops. 

Akureyri, Eyjafjörður, Iceland - 07/09/17

Walking east of Reykjahlid we reached Akureyri,  one of the most anticipated stops in Iceland for us. The city nestles at the head of Eyjafjördur, Iceland's biggest fjörd, with over 70km (45.4 miles), and is the country's second largest urban area and fourth largest municipality, being called 'Capital of North Iceland'.
Permanent settlement at the site started in 1778, although it has been used as a trading route since the 16th century, due to it's outstanding ice-free harbor. It started with a population of 12.
Akureyri started to grow from the year 1862, when it regained it's municipality status, due to it's port conditions and fertility. The towns current population nears 20.000.
The town is surrounded by mountains, the highest being Kista (1.447m/4.474 ft) and is annexed to an island; Hrisey island, 35km (22mi) to the north, with ferry services. Hrisey has a population of 200 and is Iceland's second biggest island, it is a site for pet and livestock quarantine.

Interesting Facts:

• Akureyri has one of the largest libraries in Iceland.

• The Icelandic folk dance "Vefarinn" comes from Akureyri.

• The town was site of Allied units during WW2.

• Jon Sveinsson, a popular author of children's books, was born here, today the city has a museum in his memory.

• Akureyri has one of the warmest climates in Iceland, despite being only 100km (62 mi) from the Arctic Circle.

• The northernmost 18-hole golf course in the world, Jadar Golf Course, is located here. There is a tournament each summer which takes place during the night, under the midnight sun.

In addition to admiring the landscapes, we decided to visit a few museums presented by the city, starting with Akureyri Museum.
The museum hosts two permanent exhibitions: "Eyjafjördur from early times" and "Akureyri, the town on the bay".
Here we saw many articles, photographs and artifacts relating to the Viking period, The Middle Ages, religion and everyday life in Eyjafjördur and Akureyri.

Interesting fact:

• Akureyri Museum also has a playroom and offers historical walks.

We also visited Akureyri Art Museum, which proudly presents paintings from North Iceland artists.
It was established in 1993 and as a consequence of it's opening, the region develop as the largest artistic community outside the capital (Reykjavik).

The following Museums are also present in Akureyri: Aviation Museum, Motorcycle Museum, Industry Museum, David Stefansson Memorial (poet and writer), Into the Arctic; a very interesting museum of exploration, Jón Sveinsson (writer) Memorial, Matthias Jocumsson Memorial (Reverend, poet of the Icelandic National Anthem) and Old Toys Exhibition (Like the Museum of Childhood we visited in Edinburgh, back in Scotland).

Next, a product of city beautification, and first public park in Iceland we visited the Botanical Gardens, a place for peace, tranquility and scientific research.
The park was granted to the women in Akureyri, who founded an association (Park Association) to beautify the city. In 1910 they were given a hectare of land, by 1953 it had increased to 3.6 hectares.

Being only 50km/31mi south of the Arctic circle, it has helped to prove that certain plants (shrubs, tress and flowers) can survive on the edge of the Arctic.
By the end of 2007 there were about 7000 species grown in the garden, including those from temperate zones.

Our next stop caused a little confusion, it is called (Hvoll) Dalvik Folk Museum, but it's in fact located in Akureyri. We actually had to walk back a little after realizing it too late.

As expected, the museum presents many historical objects, as well as the daily life, farming, fishing and hunting crafts and people's educations in past times, through amazing educational photos and memorabilia. Aside from the documents, objects and taxidermied animals, the real star here is once world's tallest man Johann Petursson (1913-1984), known as The Viking Giant.
Johann the Giant was born here in Dalvik and measured 2.34 meters (7ft 8in) at 359.35lb (163kg).

Interesting Fact:

• In addition to being a circus performer (and sadly being seem as an abomination) Johann the Great starred in the movie Prehistoric Women (1950) where we played the role of a giant cave man.

He was buried in Dalvik after dying in consequence of a falling accident.

The Museum exhibits some of his possessions, most of which were made to fit his size. We had a chance to see his very tall crutches, to aid with mobility; his enormous shoes and even the contents of his wallet. There also is a demonstration of his size placed on the wall, which can be seen even when the museum is closed.

Husavik, Nordurping, Iceland - 07/02/17

Norðurþing Coat of Arms

Leaving the Eastern Region and reaching the north coast, we arrive in Husavik, a town in Nordurping with 2.122 inhabitants. The name of the town means "bay of houses".
As with most coastal Icelandic towns, the income is based around fishing, tourism, small retail and industry.
One of the tourist attractions in the village is bay watching, due to whales of different species entering the bay. The city is known for it's whale watching, and for the presence of Husavik Whale Museum, which is already in our list, along with the Exploration Museum.
Due to it's proximity to the north pole, Husavik experiences midnight sun (when the sun is visible during the entire day) from 11 of June to June 29. - I guess we could say that people in Husavik have 18 days more than us ?(or less nights, if you like going out -or sleeping). - Anyway, we just barely missed it.

As planned, our first stop was the famous Whale Museum, a non-profit organization established in 1997. There we could learn about whales and other cetaceans and their environment, through informative and attractive displays.
The museum is run by an international volunteer program, which gives the participants the chance to learn more about the whales and experience them in their natural environment, with one trip per day on whale boats for research.
There were two floors; on the first one we learned about the habitat and ecosystem of whales, with very captivating and creative exhibits, and on the second floor we entered the "Whale Gallery", with authentic skeletons of 9 species.

Interesting Facts:

• The museum gives emphasis to Icelandic whales and cetaceans in the North Atlantic.

• Special attention is given to orcas, including the most famous Icelandic orca, Keiko, who portraits Willy in the 1993 movie Free Willy.

• The museum offers two whaling documentaries to give visitors an understanding of the issue.

The second visit on our list is a very recent and captivating museum, The Exploration Museum, opened in 2014.
The main things we experienced were objects (photographs, artifacts and documents) from astronaut training and early expeditions.
Husavik has an interesting connection with space exploration; there were geology training expeditions done by the Apollo team in Iceland in 1965 and 1967, and in 2015, on the 50th anniversary of the first Apollo field trip to Iceland, the museum organised a return trip with three Apollo astronauts, Walter Cunningham, 'Rusty' Schweikart and Harrison Schitt.
The museum has also been visited by a few other astronauts.
Along with space exploration artifacts, we learned about viking expeditions and the discovery of the South Pole by Norwegian and British explorers (who tragically died on the return journey) in 1911.

Next stop, "Capital of North Iceland"

Reykjahlid, Skútustaðahreppur, Iceland - 06/28/17

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.

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).

Myvatin Marathon

The following race events are held in Lake Myvatn: Marathon, Half-Marathon, 10 Km and 3 Km.

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.

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.

Grjótagjá Cave

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.

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.

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.

Reyd'arfjörd'ur and Neskaupstd'ur (Fjard'abyggd')

Fjardabbyggd Coat of Arms

Our third destination in Iceland was broader. In hopes to get to know more about the country,
we decided to visit a couple of towns in Fard'byggd' municipality in the Easter Region of Iceland.

The valley around Fjardabyggd

Our first stop was Reyd'arfjörd'ur, in a good harbor location at the bottom of the largest fjörd on the east coast, which gives the town it's name (fjord'ur refers to fjord)
As with most Icelandic towns, the landscape is surrounded by mountains, the largest being 972m (3.189 ft). It often has the highest temperatures in Iceland in the summer, although the climate is particularly rainy and foggy.

Reyd'arfjörd'ur is the second most populated village of Fjard'abyggd', with 1.182 inhabitants as of 2011.

From the early 20th century it was a trading and fishing post, and became the second largest Allied base in Iceland during WWII due to it's strategic location.

Alcoa Smelter (Fjardaal)

The town saw an economic revival in the early 2000's when the american aluminium company 'Alcoa' decided to build a smelter in the area. The smelting facility is called Fjardaál, meaning "Fjord's Aluminium" in Icelandic.
During it's construction, Fjardaál employed over 2.600 workers from various countries (most notably Poland), over 1.800 more than the town's total population. It now only employs 450 people.
The smelter required the construction of a Hydropower plant in Fijotsdalscherad', a neighbor municipality which is a good candidate for the next stop.

Interesting Fact:

• Reydt'arfjördt'ur was the filming location of Sky Atlantic's Fortitude series.

While hiking in a mountain next to the city, we sighted what looked like an airport in a relatively small town, so we changed plans and headed it's way.

Only within throwing distance did we discover that it in fact was a museum, rather than an airport.
By chance, we visited the town's War Memorial Museum, occupying the old barracks used by British Forces during WW2. Interestingly enough, Iceland was never at war.

Djupivogur, Djúpavogshreppur, Iceland - 06/16/17

Djúpavogshreppur COA

 Our second stop in Iceland is a small town formed in 1992, by the merging of three rural communities; Berunes, Buland and Geithellur.
 As we expected from one of the less dense countries on earth, the population is tiny, 456 inhabitants, which makes us an amazing 5% of the entire population.
Iceland is all about natural beauty; on the hands of the lucky 456 inhabitants is a diverse landscape , with lagoons, mountains, fjords and beaches, all within the 1.133 km²(437 sq mi) area of the city.

Interesting fact:

• Hans Jonatan, known for being the first person of color to live in Iceland, fled from Denmark as a slave to Djupivogur in 1820 and worked at a trading post. He married and had three children, of which two survived. His descendants now number over nine hundred.

As we observed, most of the attractions here in Iceland are going to be landscapes and geological formations, because of the nature of the land.

The landscape in Djupivogur is dominated by a pyramid shaped mountain; Bulandstindur, at 1069m (3507 ft), which according to legend, can make make wishes come true in the summer solstice.

Walking around, we discovered some sort of museum in the city, by the name of Langabud' cultural center, said to be the oldest house in Djupivogur, built in 1790.
It houses works by sculptor Rikard'ur Jonsson, a heritage museum and a coffee shop. Very surprising, even the small cities in Iceland are bringing us something new.




Just outside of the museum is a sculpture by world famous Icelandic artist Sigurd'ur Gud'mundsson, consisted of bird nests and 34 stone eggs.

Just after leaving, we went to Bulandsnes, a bird sanctuary, to do some bird watching.
The sanctuary is renowned among bird lovers and contains most Icelandic birds.
There were also bird and seal watching boat tours available, but after the hike in Bulandstindur we couldn't seem to make it.