The North was probably my favourite part of Iceland. It was the most geographically diverse, and we finally had a few days of decent weather.

 

We left Seyðisfjörður and headed inland. For the first time the ring road was not following the coast. After an hour or so of climbing we came upon a vast rolling landscape, covered in small volcanic peaks (see the banner photo above). Looking towardthe interior were larger volcanoes, each capped with lenticular cloud formations. There was very few signs of life here, just patches of dead looking grass.

 

Continuing westward and a short detour later we arrived at Dettifoss, a huge waterfall which is supposedly the most powerful in Europe.

After dozens of waterfalls in the last few days there were still some out there that could impress.

After spending an hour or so looking at Dettifoss and Selfoss, another slightly smaller waterfall further upstream, we got back in the car and set of west again. Up next was Lake Mývatn, a large lake formed by volcanic activity. There are numerous geothermal areas nearby so we stopped at one area to take a look. There were steaming fumeroles and pools of boiling mud and water. It was impressive but not quite on the same level as Rotorua.

The steaming landscape

We had missed out on having a geothermal pool experience at the Blue Lagoon so were keen to try the next best thing at Mývatn Nature Baths, just over the hill from the mudpools above. As usual it was incredibly windy. The water wasn't as hot as one might expect which was a little bit disappointing but it was still a cool experience.

It was late in the day by this point so we didn't get a chance to check out the lake properly. It supposedly harbours a great deal of life thanks to its nutrient rich volanic water. In particular large numbers of birds live or visit the lake throughout the year.

We planned to spend the next two nights in Akureyri, the largest town in the North and the second largest overall. Don't let that fool you though, the population is only 19,000.

Akureyri lies at the end of a long low fjord. The town is a lot more picturesque and has a lot more character than Reykjavík in my opinion. The hostel we stayed at had some sort of group who had booked the whole main area out. Luckily for us however we were offered a cozy cabin instead for the price of a dorm room which was cool. 

Our second piece of good luck came when went went to go on a whale watching tour. We had been told that there was a charity tour being operated that day which was much cheaper than usual. This turned out to be fully booked by the time we got there but instead we got an even better deal. We went and had a look at one of the other tours in the harbour and found that because their normal ship was away for a few days, they were offering the more expensive speedboat tour at the much cheaper price of their standard tour.

It was an amazing experience rushing around the fjord. We were lucky enough to see several whales and thanks to the speedboat we were able to get much closer to them than we otherwise would have been. The whales we saw were humpbacks and the crew on the boat seemed to be familiar with each individual. Each whale would come up to the surface for a few breathes before diving back down into deeper water.

 

Fishing is a big part of the town's economy and there was a large old factory a short way down the fjord that we visited. Beside the water were large wooden racks where Hákarl (fermented Greenland shark) is prepared. The smell was so strong that we had smelt it while out on the boat earlier in the day. As far as we could see there weren't even any pieces there!

Akureyri was a really nice town and was a nice change of scenery. Next up is the final chapter in the Iceland Saga - The West.