Day 5

Day 5

Today started cold and rainy again but it soon turned to snow as we traveled west.  It was our first day going inland and away from the coast.  We drove over one of the highest mountain passes, it was only about 575 meters at its highest point.  There was still lots of snow on the ground and it snowing the entire time driving over the pass.  It was sort off like skiing in flat light.  The only thing different from the sky and the ground was the dark colored road.  After a while is got kind of disorienting.  We never saw any maintenance vehicles to sand or plow.  If fact we have only seen a couple of highway maintenance vehicles the whole trip. The snow was only sticking to the roads where the winds had blown it.  We suspect the use the geothermal to heat the roads even on the mountain passes.  We did see one vehicle that looked like it had rolled by the side of the road, but the road wasn't slick.  The roads are narrow with not much shoulder, so maybe they just ran off the side.

Our first stop of the day was at the Dettifoss waterfall.  The parking lot only had a few spots, most it was still covered with snow.  It was about a 2KM hike in slushy wet snow out to the falls.  There are actually 2 large falls here, Selfoss and Dettifoss.  As I was crossing the lava to the Sellfoss falls, I started to see small streams of water in the rocks.  The next thing I knew I was almost in the main water channel of at the top of the falls.  I turned around to see where Linda was and she was way back looking at me like "what the heck are you doing".  Anyway I got some good pictures and video.  We turned around and the hiked about another KM to the Dettifoss falls.  We couldn't see the entire falls because the access to the best viewing on the edge of the canyon had too much snow and ice.  Dettfoss is 44 meters high and a flow of 212 tons per second.  It is thought to be the most powerful waterfall in all of Europe (in case you didn't know, Iceland is part of Europe). A 2KM hike back to the parking lot and it was getting colder, windier and snowing harder.

The next stop was at the Krafta geothermal area.  There is a very small ski hill here with one short lift.  Its a very active geothermal area with lots of steam vents and volcano craters.  We had hoped to do some hiking to one of the craters but it was raining and snowing with a very cods wind so we decided not too.  There is also a geothermal power generating station here.  I am guessing they also use the hot water to heat the roads.  Still no tress or bushes anywhere.

Namafjall is a mountain just south of the Krata area.  We stopped there to see the steam vents, mud pots and pools of boiling water.  Someone was cooking a loaf of Gysir bread in one of the steam vents (more about Gysir bread later).

Finally it was on to lake Mynatn.  A very large lake created from previous volcanic activity.  There is lots of evidence of previous lava flows everywhere.  The were several Pseudo craters right across from our hotel.  We stopped for a light lunch at the Vogafjo's Cowshed restaurant. It actually a working dairy cowshed with a gift shop and restaurant.  They have windows where you can see the cow stalls and the milking machines.  If you are there at 5:30 AM or 6 PM you can help mike the cows.  All the food is local and fresh.  The lamb soup comes from lambs raised on the farm.  The make there own Gysir bread and its soooo good.  the Gysir bread is baked in the ground from the geothermal heat.  The extreme heat caramelizes the bread and makes it very sweet.  They even had homemade ice cream with the bread mixed in and it was fabulous.  After  the snack it was on the the Hrossaborg thermal pools. The pools use the  hot water from natural geothermal wells.  The water has an erie blue color and like most hot springs a strong sulphur odor.  There are a few different pools with varying temperatures.  One is even very cold to cool off in.  I couldn't get all the in but Linda did a couple of times.  Her reward was a stop back at the cowshed for more Gysir bread ice cream on the way back to the hotel.  We spent about an hour and a half in the pools before we managed to get our toasted bodies back to the hotel.  We had a late dinner in the hotel  and took a short hike around the pseudo craters before crashing early.

A couple of thing I haven't mentioned is the quality of the hotels, food and friendliness of the people.  Our hotels have all been excellent, clean and fairly modern.  They all have had breakfast included and the food has been very good.  The food at the restaurants is one of the better surprises.  I was expecting dried fish and bread, but the food choices have been very good and the quality of the food has been excellent.  I even found a dark beer that was really good. The people have been very friendly and all speak english.  The hotel staff is very welcoming and helpful.  The wait staff in the restaurants has been very friendly and helpful with understanding the menu and choices.  Most menus are in Icelandic and english.  Paying is very simple, you pay for everything with a credit card.  I got about $10,000 Kronos for cash from an ATM when we got here and I haven't used any of it.  All in all the people of Iceland are friendly and very accommodating.