Travel Flashback – the Lake Mývatn region of Iceland (2008)

(Kingston, Ontario, Canada)

My previous post dealt solely with the otherworldly scenery at Námaskarð in northern Iceland.  However, that was only one brief stop on an incredible day tour of the the Lake Mývatn region.  We went on the tour just after our memorable day trip to the Arctic Circle on the very remote island of Grímsey and I wasn’t sure if anything else could live up to that journey.  I needn’t have worried!

Goðafoss ("Waterfall of the Gods"), Bárðardalur district of Iceland
The misty Goðafoss (“Waterfall of the Gods”), Bárðardalur district of Iceland

Our first stop after leaving Akureyri was the famous Goðafoss waterfall.   The name translates as “waterfall of the gods”:  around the year 1000, Christianity became the official religion of Iceland and a local leader threw his statues of the Norse gods into this waterfall as a repudiation of his prior faith. The volume of water here is still immense and the mist was everywhere:  the river became even more of a raging torrent as it dramatically narrowed just beyond the waterfalls.   Despite all this fury, the landscape surrounding was eerily still. 

Pseudocraters in Skútustaðahreppur on Lake Mývatn
Pseudocraters at Skútustaðahreppur on Lake Mývatn

After leaving Goðafoss, our next stop was (Lake) Mývatn.  In Icelandic, “Mý” means “Midge” and “Vatn” means lake:  this lake is apparently infested with midges in the summer.  We were fortunate enough to escape any such infestation despite the sunny skies and (relatively) warm weather.   The lake is characterized by “pseudocraters”, as you can see from the photo above this paragraph.  A pseudocrater is volcanic in origin but it is not an actual vent for lava. Instead, pseudocraters are formed by steam explosions when flowing hot lava (from another location) crosses over a wet surface.

Lava fields at Dimmuborgir

Lava fields at Dimmuborgir

The bizarre rock formations at Dimmuborgir are also volcanic in origin.  Dimmuborgir can be translated as “dark castles”:  we hiked around and through these for a while.  It is hard to imagine how such a landscape could evolve from lava fields, but that is indeed how it was formed. The Mývatn pseudocraters stopped the flow of lava and created some temporary lava lakes.  When the lava eventually drained from these lakes, a forest of rock pillars was left behind at Dimmuborgir.

Path through the "Dark Castles" at Dimmuborgir
Path through the “Dark Castles” at Dimmuborgir

I haven’t said much about traditional Icelandic food yet, as much of it is from the sea and we don’t eat a whole lot of seafood.  However, I always enjoy interesting bread and we found some here.  When Icelandic rye bread is baked by burying it in the ground near a hot spring, it is known as hverabrauð or “hot-spring-bread”.  We had some for lunch in the village of Reykjahlíð:  with a hearty soup, we did not need to eat for the rest of the day.

Old lava flows in the town of Reykjahlíð
Old lava flows in the village of Reykjahlíð

The village of Reykjahlíð is located right beside Mývatn and has also had to deal with lava flows.  When a nearby volcano erupted in 1729, the village was destroyed by a lava stream from the eruption. However, the villagers were spared when the lava flow stopped in front of the village church. Legend has it that this was a result of the village priest’s prayers.

The photo at the top of this post was also taken from the Lake Mývatn shore:  time and again in Iceland, despite the complete deforestation, we were confronted with bold and brilliant colours.  It was a great place to try out my brand new digital camera!

Stay tuned for yet another post from our remarkable day trip to the Mývatn region!

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