So as many of you know from my Penis Museum post, my parents came for a visit, and we took a short trip up north. And guess what? We did more than see the penis museum.
Our first night we stayed at a friends sumarbusta, or cabin, in the tiny village of Hofsos. This is an important place to Vesterníslandingur (Western Icelanders) because this is where a lot of the emigrants left from. The place has only about 175 residents, but it has a wonderful museum on the emigration to North America, and also the most beautiful swimming pool I´ve seen here. It sits on a cliff, over looking the ocean and the Island Drangey, and when you swim, it looks like you´re just going to keep going into the ocean. No photos unfortunately. We also visited the oldest church in Iceland just outside of town as well. My parents couldn´t walk through it without ducking, it´s so tiny. But lovely.
The next day we started on our drive to Akureyi, the largest city in the North. Which is pretty tiny. A full 60 percent of the country´s population lives in the greater Reykjavik area, so there are only just over 120,000 people to inhabit the rest of the country.
The drive was beautiful. The nicest thing about the North is the weather. Where Reykjavik is rainy and gloomy, the North is snowy and bright. The sort of weather I´m much more used to dealing with.
Along the way, we had to stop to pick up some sand for a friend in Canada who collects it. We stopped in Dalvik, which has black sand beaches, and is also where his grandfather is from. Apparently there is a statue of good old Zophonius (not kidding. Best name ever) in a forest here somewhere, but we lacked the ambition to go looking.
Our first night we stayed at a friends sumarbusta, or cabin, in the tiny village of Hofsos. This is an important place to Vesterníslandingur (Western Icelanders) because this is where a lot of the emigrants left from. The place has only about 175 residents, but it has a wonderful museum on the emigration to North America, and also the most beautiful swimming pool I´ve seen here. It sits on a cliff, over looking the ocean and the Island Drangey, and when you swim, it looks like you´re just going to keep going into the ocean. No photos unfortunately. We also visited the oldest church in Iceland just outside of town as well. My parents couldn´t walk through it without ducking, it´s so tiny. But lovely.
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| Oldest Church in Iceland |
The drive was beautiful. The nicest thing about the North is the weather. Where Reykjavik is rainy and gloomy, the North is snowy and bright. The sort of weather I´m much more used to dealing with.
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| Beautiful. Also, notice the lack of guard rails. |
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| Beach in Dalvík |
In Akureyri, I saw a lovely photography show, we went to the pool, drank some Easter beer, and just relaxed from a long day of driving.
The next day, we drove to Husavík for the penis museum, and then on to Lake Myvatn, a large nature area. Its claim to fame is the large number of duck species that live there, but unfortunately non were there, as the lake was still frozen. The area was still amazing.
There were fields of bubbling sulfur mud.
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| The wind smelled terrible. |
There were sheep with evil, scary eyes.
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| These sheep were both friendly and terrifying. |
And then we went to Dimmiborgi, a crazy lava crater-ish formation. We got a little lost, but it was just breathtaking. My mom kept seeing trolls in everything, which is one of the myths about the place. Apparently a large group of trolls got caught out in the daylight, and were turned to stone. It seems legitimate.
We also went to the Northern version of the Blue Lagoon, and relaxed in some weird smelling mineral water. You really do get used to the sulfuric smell after a bit. It really was lovely.
On the way home, we also stopped by Guðfoss, the waterfall where it is said the Chieftain who was first to accept Christianity, threw his weapons. It was a huge and spectacular waterfall, and you could walk right up to the edge. The amazing thing about Iceland is that there are no guard rails, or fences anywhere. Do you want to stand on an icy cliff right beside a huge waterfall? Go right ahead. Is there a fence between the edge of the road on that sheer dropoff? Nope. It´s one of the strange things about Iceland you just have to love.
It was a short trip, but really nice. I love cities, but a lot of the amazing things about Iceland are outside of Reykjavik, and I haven´t seen as much as I would like to. I think I will have to come back as a tourist one day.
And thanks to my parents for an amazing trip!
