Into the north (of Iceland)
Coffee and donuts.....in the middle of nowhere
5/29/23
The north of Iceland is quite different. While there are still tourists, there are far fewer than in the areas around Reykjavik and the south coast. It is very rural with long stretches of open and nothingness. Although much of it is strikingly beautiful. Much to my surprise, we have had cell service nearly everywhere we’ve been.
We stopped at a corrugated metal gas station/coffee house literally in the middle of nowhere (see the pic). It was run by a young couple and we got coffee and fresh homemade donuts that were to die for. The building looked nothing on the inside like it did on the outside, being partially sod construction.
The north of Iceland is quite different. While there are still tourists, there are far fewer than in the areas around Reykjavik and the south coast. It is very rural with long stretches of open and nothingness. Although much of it is strikingly beautiful. Much to my surprise, we have had cell service nearly everywhere we’ve been.
We stopped at a corrugated metal gas station/coffee house literally in the middle of nowhere (see the pic). It was run by a young couple and we got coffee and fresh homemade donuts that were to die for. The building looked nothing on the inside like it did on the outside, being partially sod construction.
Waterfalls abound
We arrived Myvatn for a one night stay at Vogar Travel Service…which of course sounds like a gas station. It was, however, an incredibly nice guest house, with a great kitchen, nice bed rooms, and nice bathrooms. They also have a campground that had probably 40 campers staying.
Guests houses are different from hotels. You have a room with your bed and other facilities are shared with everyone else. A common kitchen, and in this case multiple showers and toilets. The cool thing is they separated everything. In the event someone is showering they don’t keep someone from using the toilet. Each room has their own sink.
Guests houses are different from hotels. You have a room with your bed and other facilities are shared with everyone else. A common kitchen, and in this case multiple showers and toilets. The cool thing is they separated everything. In the event someone is showering they don’t keep someone from using the toilet. Each room has their own sink.
Shared kitchen, Vogar Travel Service
The kitchen is furnished with cookware, utensils, a fridge (in this case with a clear box with your room number on it), oven, microwave, stove, etc. We have cooked at most of the guest houses we’ve stayed at. This saves a huge amount of money over restaurants, eating several meals for what one would cost in a restaurant.
We usually have oatmeal, toasted honu (a kind of Icelandic bread) with cream cheese, and skyr (an Icelandic yogurt) for breakfast. We cooked pasta and meat sauce at the fishing lodge and wound up getting several meals out of it. Meals are simple, but tasty and ingredients here are very high quality.
We usually have oatmeal, toasted honu (a kind of Icelandic bread) with cream cheese, and skyr (an Icelandic yogurt) for breakfast. We cooked pasta and meat sauce at the fishing lodge and wound up getting several meals out of it. Meals are simple, but tasty and ingredients here are very high quality.
Most guest houses ask that you remove your shoes
Oddly enough, one of the things we have bought was ground beef. It is very lean and seems to be on sale all over the country, for prices that are cheaper than the states. Chicken is crazy expensive, with a roasting chicken running about $30. Baked goods and pastries keep without refrigeration so we always have a few of those about.
I have tried to do the best I can with sodium while here but it’s nearly impossible. Nearly everything has lots of salt in it. I haven’t had a hotdog yet….the Icelanders have somehow found a way to get over 1000mg of sodium in a single wiener. With a bun and condiments you’re over 1500mg and closing in on 2000. For ONE hotdog.
I have tried to do the best I can with sodium while here but it’s nearly impossible. Nearly everything has lots of salt in it. I haven’t had a hotdog yet….the Icelanders have somehow found a way to get over 1000mg of sodium in a single wiener. With a bun and condiments you’re over 1500mg and closing in on 2000. For ONE hotdog.
Bowie camper van
My low sodium diet is not just off the rails, it’s on fire in a ditch and they’re bayonetting the survivors. I do the best I can and try to eat things that are lower in salt…..but finding low sodium or salt free just isn’t an option here. So I do the best I can and try to make the best choice possible with what is available.
Yes, the Icelanders love salt……..but they love one thing even more. Sugar. Every grocery store has at least FOUR entire aisled devoted solely to candy. They have dozens of licorice/chocolate covered licorice candies that Laurie loves. Milk chocolate, gummies, you name it……if it has sugar in it, they have 9 varieties of it. And don’t get me started on their ice cream……..they do that incredibly well too.
Yes, the Icelanders love salt……..but they love one thing even more. Sugar. Every grocery store has at least FOUR entire aisled devoted solely to candy. They have dozens of licorice/chocolate covered licorice candies that Laurie loves. Milk chocolate, gummies, you name it……if it has sugar in it, they have 9 varieties of it. And don’t get me started on their ice cream……..they do that incredibly well too.
Geothermal piping with the road underneath (expansion loop for you engineer types).
Myvatn is a Viking name that means “smells like a boiled egg fart” (joke). Not the whole town……just the geothermal areas. We visited steam vents, bubbling pools of water, and blooping mud pots, all well over boiling and belching steam that causes the sulfur smell. They’re fascinating to watch and the steam is what feeds the geothermal power plant we passed.
Electricity here is cheaper than free water. While a minor exaggeration, it is a minor one. Their power generation requires no fuel, and the hot water is also used to heat the homes in the area. All of our accommodations have been, in my opinion, a bit hot. We’ve slept with the windows open.
Electricity here is cheaper than free water. While a minor exaggeration, it is a minor one. Their power generation requires no fuel, and the hot water is also used to heat the homes in the area. All of our accommodations have been, in my opinion, a bit hot. We’ve slept with the windows open.
Hissing (and smelly) natural steam vent
Because of these very cheap energy costs, you find heated pools everywhere. We went to the Myvatn Nature Baths and went swimming! It is outdoors and while the run from the building to the pool was a bit bracing, once in the water, it was wonderfully warm.
Myvatn Nature Baths is exactly the same experience as the Blue Lagoon near Reykjavik. With towels, etc. the Blue Lagoon is something like $120 and quite crowded. Myvatn was $44 (towel extra) and not crowded at all. The entire facility was very nice.
Myvatn Nature Baths is exactly the same experience as the Blue Lagoon near Reykjavik. With towels, etc. the Blue Lagoon is something like $120 and quite crowded. Myvatn was $44 (towel extra) and not crowded at all. The entire facility was very nice.
Myvatn Nature Baths!
Different spots in the pool have different temperatures and you choose where you want to hang out based on your comfort level. It also has a swim up bar. You get a drink, hang out, and chat with other travelers in water around 95 degrees fahrenheit (35C) while the air all around you is at least 40 degrees colder.
It’s basically a hot tub that will hold around 400. We met a couple from Arizona who were our age, traveling the ring road in a camper. We chatted a while before they left and a young lady asked if she could take a photo for us with my GoPro. Her name was Gabby, originally from Iowa, but lives in Chapel Hill, NC! We chatted for some time.
It’s basically a hot tub that will hold around 400. We met a couple from Arizona who were our age, traveling the ring road in a camper. We chatted a while before they left and a young lady asked if she could take a photo for us with my GoPro. Her name was Gabby, originally from Iowa, but lives in Chapel Hill, NC! We chatted for some time.
Kinda like.....a puffy pita
We went back to the hotel, squeaky clean and relaxed. I downloaded our photos to the laptop. I went back to the room and was sitting in bed with the laptop in my lap. I fell asleep editing photos for the next post. I woke up, put my computer away and slept.
Sod building construction
5/30/23
Today is a travel day, but not your normal travel day. We are after all in Northern Iceland. We stopped at a waterfall for photos, but drone flights were restricted so I couldn’t do that. We did photos and then headed to Akureyri, Iceland’s second biggest city. Their second largest city has a huge population…..of 18,000.
We planned to stop for groceries and fuel. Our stay tonight is far from any town and we’d have to cook for ourselves so we planned accordingly. We bought the makings for burgers, potato salad, breakfast stuff, and other comfort foods. We may be a bit too comfortable with our comfort foods.
Today is a travel day, but not your normal travel day. We are after all in Northern Iceland. We stopped at a waterfall for photos, but drone flights were restricted so I couldn’t do that. We did photos and then headed to Akureyri, Iceland’s second biggest city. Their second largest city has a huge population…..of 18,000.
We planned to stop for groceries and fuel. Our stay tonight is far from any town and we’d have to cook for ourselves so we planned accordingly. We bought the makings for burgers, potato salad, breakfast stuff, and other comfort foods. We may be a bit too comfortable with our comfort foods.
Godafoss (foss means falls)
The food here is great…..and not at all like the nasty Icelandic fare (cured shark, sheeps heads) that everyone talks about. To quote Karl (Time warp Iceland) a guy we follow on youtube, “It tastes like ammonia and will make you cry. Why would anyone eat that?” I’m with Karl….but the rest of their food is wonderful.
We get back on the road as we are checking in at our next accommodation at 3 p.m. sharp. I’ve told Laurie that we are staying in a guest house on a very remote farm in Northern Iceland. While this is true……I did not tell her that I had also booked a horseback riding tour of the area. She loves riding and I wanted to surprise her……and I did.
We get back on the road as we are checking in at our next accommodation at 3 p.m. sharp. I’ve told Laurie that we are staying in a guest house on a very remote farm in Northern Iceland. While this is true……I did not tell her that I had also booked a horseback riding tour of the area. She loves riding and I wanted to surprise her……and I did.
Riding horses at Helluland
We rode before we moved in and our guide was a young lady from Germany named Katie. She is in her “gap” year between high school and university. She’s an avid rider and is leading tours and working on the farm, called Helluland. She’ll work here until October when she returns to Germany. She did a wonderful job and we truly enjoyed it.
I’m not a big rider, but I really enjoyed it. Laurie just LOVED it, which was my aim. I have to say that it has to be one of the best deals in all of Iceland. A two hour riding tour was 11000 ISK ($79 per person) and our guest house stay was without a doubt THE best deal in Iceland for 7000 ISK ($50 dollars US).
I’m not a big rider, but I really enjoyed it. Laurie just LOVED it, which was my aim. I have to say that it has to be one of the best deals in all of Iceland. A two hour riding tour was 11000 ISK ($79 per person) and our guest house stay was without a doubt THE best deal in Iceland for 7000 ISK ($50 dollars US).
Icelandic horses are cool!
The website for the farm is: https://icelandhorsetours.de/fi/. I cannot recommend this enough. The guest house even has decent internet with 20 megs up and down. Couple this with an amazingly beautiful location, a great dinner, and the company of the one I love the most.
I am a lucky man.
I am a lucky man.
A bit from Laurie
Iceland’s tourist motto is the land of fire and ice. I think I’m going to write them and suggest they change it to Iceland - the land of fire, ice and wind. It has stopped raining - Yay! - but hasn’t stopped blowing since we got here. I was told by someone today that the amount of rain and wind this May has been unusual. We are staying tonight on a horse farm and our guide said that they have had to cancel a lot of their horse tours this month because of the weather.
BUT we lucked out and other than the wind it was a very pretty, sunny day. As mentioned we are on a horse farm for the night (Island Horse Tours of Helluland) having spent 2 hours on horseback riding up to a lookout point. We were going to go out on the black sand beach but couldn’t because of - take a guess.
BUT we lucked out and other than the wind it was a very pretty, sunny day. As mentioned we are on a horse farm for the night (Island Horse Tours of Helluland) having spent 2 hours on horseback riding up to a lookout point. We were going to go out on the black sand beach but couldn’t because of - take a guess.
Words to live by
Our guide, Katie, is probably about 19- 20 years old and taking her gap year leading tours in Iceland. She grew up with Icelandic horses near Stuttgart, Germany and has been riding since she was 3. Apparently Germany is the number one importer of Icelandic horses with Scandinavia next. They raise the horses here and let them run wild learning how to survive in this inhospitable environment until they are 4 or 5 years old. Then they train them to ride. Iceland does not allow any animals to enter the country. So the Icelandic ponies are a pure breed.
Katie was a great guide, chatting the entire 2 hours of our ride. One thing she talked about was the difference between German and Icelandic cultural norms for just showing up to visit whenever they feel moved to do so. And the Icelanders apparently are not planners or very punctual. “I come from Germany, I am very German - this has taken some getting used to” was her comment. But she loves it here and plans to come back for summer holidays to lead tours. Meanwhile she starts university in the fall and plans to study politics. I hope she is successful in her desire to change the status quo. It is refreshing to see a young person interested in that kind of leadership.
Katie was a great guide, chatting the entire 2 hours of our ride. One thing she talked about was the difference between German and Icelandic cultural norms for just showing up to visit whenever they feel moved to do so. And the Icelanders apparently are not planners or very punctual. “I come from Germany, I am very German - this has taken some getting used to” was her comment. But she loves it here and plans to come back for summer holidays to lead tours. Meanwhile she starts university in the fall and plans to study politics. I hope she is successful in her desire to change the status quo. It is refreshing to see a young person interested in that kind of leadership.
Vista at the Geothermal area, Myvatn
It amazes me how competent and focused the young people are that we have met. At the hot springs we spent some time talking with a young woman from Iowa, living in Chapel Hill , and traveling Iceland by herself in a camper van. She works online so can travel and work. Her next trip is to south Korea. I can’t imagine having that kind of confidence in my 20s, but maybe I did and just don’t remember.
The mountains meet the clouds here. Water is everywhere - ocean, lakes, rivers and waterfalls. The power of the waterfalls is literally awesome. Water can be soothing and calming, or violent and driven. Either way it changes everything in its path.
The mountains meet the clouds here. Water is everywhere - ocean, lakes, rivers and waterfalls. The power of the waterfalls is literally awesome. Water can be soothing and calming, or violent and driven. Either way it changes everything in its path.
Myvatn Nature Baths!
So far since my last entry we have driven from Hofn to Egilsstaðir where we stayed in the Ormurinn Guest house. It had rooms for 11 people and only 2 bathrooms with the showers and toilets together. That was only problematic when they were occupied for several hours by a rotating group of 4 young women. But the place was very clean and had an adequate kitchen. AS always there are pros and cons to guest houses but in general they are a good place to meet other people.
From there we drove to Myvatin and the topography was ever changing. Myvatin is a geothermal area with electrical plants and lots of aroma in the air. The guest house there was lovely and we chatted for some time with a young man from Italy and a family from Toronto. We went to the hot pots and if there is ever an alien invasion from Mars, they will feel right at home there. Bubble, bubble toil and trouble and all that. Not at all difficult to see where a lot of the Norse mythology came from. There be dragons there I’m certain.
From there we drove to Myvatin and the topography was ever changing. Myvatin is a geothermal area with electrical plants and lots of aroma in the air. The guest house there was lovely and we chatted for some time with a young man from Italy and a family from Toronto. We went to the hot pots and if there is ever an alien invasion from Mars, they will feel right at home there. Bubble, bubble toil and trouble and all that. Not at all difficult to see where a lot of the Norse mythology came from. There be dragons there I’m certain.
Sulfur collecting on the steam vents
We managed to get to the Myvatin hot baths. It is much cheaper than the Blue Lagoon and was probably a similar experience. It wasn’t as stinky as I feared it would be and was like being in a giant hot tub, outside with a nice view and with other people. While it would be fun to find one of the natural hot springs, I haven’t been all that anxious to get wet in the windy cold without somewhere in shelter to change.
Now we are in Sauðárkrókur in a perfect guest house on a horse farm. Life is good, and the trip has been excellent so far. It seems like we have been gone much longer than we actually have because we have seen and done so much. There is so much more we could do here. But we are not done yet. It has been an excellent adventure so far.
Now we are in Sauðárkrókur in a perfect guest house on a horse farm. Life is good, and the trip has been excellent so far. It seems like we have been gone much longer than we actually have because we have seen and done so much. There is so much more we could do here. But we are not done yet. It has been an excellent adventure so far.