Day 3 saw us covering a pretty small area relative to the previous 2 days. We drove
only about 250 miles from our starting point. We woke to a foggy day and were pleased to find our charming little hotel a lot more charming in the day than in the pitch darkness we had arrived to the night before.
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| Photo Credit: Goh CT |
The sun wasn't as bright as the day before, but the scenery was still as gorgeous as ever.
Our first stop was
Dettifoss, Europe's largest waterfall. Yes, we had seen some pretty waterfalls in the past few days, but this one was different. Powerfully different.
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| You actually see the mist of the waterfall from a distance away while driving in. And that's how we found our way to Dettifoss. Photo Credit: Sharon Chan |
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| Look how small the people on the cliff on the left are relative to the waterfall |
According to official stats, 193 cubic meters of water fall over Dettifoss
every second. It's only 44 meters in height, but the force of the water is unbelievable. The noise was thundering, too! Check out the video, and turn down your speakers a little bit.
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| Closer view of the Dettifoss |
While we were standing by the falls, we saw a guy throw in a big heavy rock, a bit bigger than a basketball, and the river just took it away as if it were as light as a pebble!
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| Remember how some people love giving others heart attacks? |
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Others of us were way more considerate of our friend's hearts.
Photo Credit: Sharon Chan |
A little damp from the waterspray, we drove on through the Jokulsargljufur National Park (Dettifoss was in the south end of the park), where we visited Asbyrgi canyon - a giant horseshoe shaped canyon. It apparently remains a geological puzzle how Asbyrgi was formed, but the legend passed down from the first Viking settlers was that it was the giant hoof print formed by Norse god Odin's flying horse Sleipnir.
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We trekked to the bottom of the 'U' and this was the view looking out at the two ends of the horseshoe.
Photo Credit: Sharon Chan |
The canyon was about 1 km across its width, and the cliffs were about 100 m tall. Another lesson we learned on this trip was how many
Icelanders really believe in elves and other supernatural beings. Asbyrgi is, according to legend, the capital city of the "hidden people", and they live in these cliffs. Apparently, there are concert halls, schools, etc for the hidden people within these walls. They are human-sized creatures, but are experts at hiding from us. This belief in elves actually affects building projects in real world Iceland, where there will be protests if building or development threatens elves' lairs, etc.
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| The bottom of the 'U'. Can you spot any hidden people? |
Another attraction within Jokulsargljufur National Park were the Hjlodaklettar rock columns, also known as the Whispering Cliffs. It is a strange weird sight because lava rock was cooled into weird, gravity defying shapes.
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| Photo Credit: Sharon Chan |
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| Photo Credit: Sharon Chan |
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| Photo Credit: Goh Chour Thong |
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| Close-up of the rocks. Some of them seemed like gargoyles. |
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| This was a really creepy cave formation. I didn't dare to linger here. |
With the light falling, we decided to move along towards Lake Myvatn, a major tourist center, especially for its geothermal springs. We visited the Krafla area first, which is the heart of the most recent volcanic activity in Icealnd. Below the Krafla area is a magma reservoir, which has been responsible for several eruptions in the 70s and 80s, and volcanologists expect another eruption at any time. The landscape in this area is the reason for the title of this post. It was like we were on another planet - the lava fields, the bubbling mud pools, the smell of sulfur in the air (read: egg-y smell)...
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| Fields of cooled lava, but some of it was still steaming. |
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Mud pools
Photo Credit: Chour Thong Goh |
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| Photo Credit: Sharon Chan |
I think this was where it really hit us how young Iceland was geologically. It was still an active geological space, and it was really exciting to be there!
Not far from Krafla, we were met with some Icelandic sheep who gave us the stare-down. Apparently Icelandic farms are pretty big, and the sheep roam free over large areas of pasture. The result: really puffy sheep!That's what I call free-range, grass-fed goodness!
Our next stop was the nearby Hverarond mud pits where there was boiling mud and hissing steam vents. It was a surreal experience. First the steam vents were loud, like standing next to the loudest vacuum cleaner (except this was spitting out instead of sucking in).
And the mudpits.. well, were boiling. It's hard to describe that eerie feeling, and it's mostly about how it sounds. So really, the closest I can get to giving you that experience is through a video.
That brings us to the end of this weird, alien-landscaped Day 3. Day 4 - we go for nature!
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