July 23, 2017
Hotel Laxa in Myvatn. Roof is sod as are many in Iceland. Distant crater is the one we hiked.
We have slowed down a lot and it feels good. Did not leave the hotel until 10am with another beautiful warm day to enjoy. We drove through another large green valley dotted with farms and plastic covered hay bales. As the cultivated areas give way to hillside, planted trees can be found in many areas.
Small forest planted by one woman over several years in the 70’s and 80’s. Common scene.
I wondered about them and have learned that a tree planting program began in the 70’s and millions of trees have been planted since then by school kids, farmers and house wives. At first they were planted in tidy rows until people realized how bad that looked and started planting them randomly. The older trees are the ones we can see in rows and they are 40+ years old. The majority of trees are sitka spruce, Alaskan cotton wood, Russian larch and lodgepole pine. Birch, the only indigenous tree, was wiped out by the Vikings who used it for construction and heating. It is rare to find birch today. Willow is abundant as a shrub, but rarely grows into a tree. The forests we have seen are relatively small, but with mixed varieties of trees.
People are continuing to plant trees wherever there is uncultivated soil, especially on hillsides. We met a farmer today who pointed to the hillside above his house and told us his 68 year old mother planted every one of them years ago and is very proud of her effort. He said she planted many more than we see. Unfortunately, not all of them survive, so there are bare spots in her forest, which explains why we see bare spots in most forests we see from the road.
Godafoss, another large and popular waterfall near the highway.
Godafos from the other side of the river.
We have driven counter-clockwise around the country and are now in North Iceland. Our first stop of the day was…. you guessed it…..another waterfall. This one is called Godafoss. By now you have probably noticed that every waterfall name ends in “foss”, which means “waterfall”. The story is that this particular foss was in the territory of an important Viking Chieftain, who in 1000 AD, made the decision to convert all his people to Christianity. He gathered all his pagan statues and symbols and threw them into the falls. Thus the name, God’s Falls. The slightly horseshoe shape of the falls reminds me a bit of Niagara Falls. This is a very popular tourist stop. There were bus loads of people arriving frequently. Today, many seemed to be French. Other days many have been Asians. We see occasional Americans, but so far, not in big groups.
Roadside scenery
From the falls, we had no other planned stops until reaching Akureyri, the second largest city in Iceland, about 40km away. So we took our time and enjoyed the scenery.
A farm house reflected in a lake.
We had been hoping to see a farm machine bailing and wrapping hay, but had had no luck until we passed a farm with one sitting in the yard. We drove in and, happily, the farmer was near the machine. We introduced ourselves and asked if we could watch it working. Unfortunately, the machine, called a Uniwrap, needs some repair and the farmer, Christian, was waiting for the repairman to fix it.
Christian, a farmer with his Uniwrap machine.
He said we could come back later and watch. We said we would try to do that. By the way, it was his mother. who planted the trees I mentioned above. Within a 10 minutes we were at the end of the Fjord where Akureyri sits. It seemed like a charming place, but as we drove into town we could not miss the huge passenger ship docked at the harbor. It must have held 5,000 people and looked like it would double the population of the town.
The approach to Akureyri.
We were too early to check into the Hotel Kea, so we parked and walked around the delightful little town. Ate a famous SS hot dog we had been told to try. It was ok, but unimpressive. Maybe it wasn’t as good as reputed because we bought it from a street vendor. The weather was so perfect that everyone wanted to be outdoors.
The walking street in downtown Akureyri, Iceland’s second largest city. Hard to find a place to sit.
We finally found empty seats at an outdoor cafe and ordered a beer to wash down the dogs. Next thing you know, we were talking with a couple at the next table, who turned out to be from Michigan and had just returned an hour before from a morning flight to Grimsey Island, where they saw thousands of nesting Puffins and had a “fantastic” experience.
Steps, immediately next to our hotel, that climb to the Lutheran church.
We had driven by the airstrip as we entered town and got so excited about the prospect of an airplane ride and seeing Puffins that we shortened our conversation with the couple and hurried back to our hotel to have the front desk clerk see if she could get us a booking. We hoped to go this afternoon, but the best we could do was noon tomorrow. That means we will hang out in Akureyri in the morning, fly to Grimsey at 12:35, get there at 1:05, spend 2 hours wandering around the island looking at Puffins and depart at 3:05 and get back to Akureyri at 3:35. Then Mark will drive pretty fast to our stop for tomorrow night. There is a fair amount to see along the way that may have to be skipped. For us the choice was easy. We will fly to Grimsey Island and visit Puffins.
Locals enjoying the Botanical Garden in the sunshine. The temp got to 27 c, a rare event.
With so much excitement we forgot all about going back to watch the farmer. Maybe we can do that in the morning. Having checked in, we went back to walking around town. First we walked up several levels of steps immediately adjacent to our hotel to see the local Lutheran church.
A large columbine in full flower.
Mark saw a billboard advertising a classical concert at 5pm and we decided to try to get back for it. In a short time we were in the Botanical Gardens meandering around the multitude of blooming plants. I especially liked the huge columbine plants, that are twice as tall as the largest ones we have at home.
These front yard peonies, reminded me of my mother. Her peonies flourished too.
From the gardens, where many locals were taking advantage of the warm day, we continued walking to the also famous ice cream store called Brynja. We waited in line and selected soft ice cream in a waffle cone with walnut sprinkles for me and chocolate ice cream for Mark. I thought mine was good, but Mark could not get excited about soft ice cream. That is all there was with dozens of sprinkle options that could be blended into the ice cream and served in a cup rather than a cone.
Waiting in line at the ice cream shop.
After a short rest in our room, which is truly in the heart of town, and a hike back up the 100+ steps to the church, we were right on time for the 5pm concert, which included an organ, cello and baritone singer performing works by Dvorak, Mendelssohn, Bach, Saint Saens and others including Icelandic compositions. It was a joyful hour of beautiful music. Then we crossed the street to the Rub 23 Restaurant recommended by our hotel.
The pipe organ inside the Lutheran church. The organist made it sing more sweetly than I have ever heard an organ sound.
In addition to delicious reindeer and sushi appetizers, we shared an amazing platter of fresh fish, salad and, for Mark, pork belly. We walked through another part of town after dinner and were back in the room in time to hear the ship give three blasts and pull out of the harbor. Maybe there will be fewer people around tomorrow.
The trio included Andreas Schmidt, the baritone, Inga Ingolfsdottir, the cellist and her husband, Horour Askelsson, the organist.
In bed at 11pm, even though it is still light outside. It does not get completely dark during mid summer in Iceland. Tonight the air is warm and windless. Several of you have sent very nice comments and I thank you for them. There is not enough time to respond individually, so I hope you will understand that your remarks reach us and we enjoy reading them. Do ask more questions. When I receive questions, I make an effort to learn and report the answer.
Adventures with Julia 