Having seen the southern part of Iceland a month before, we wanted to get up to the west and north parts of the country while the weather was decent. When the forecast provided a good-looking weekend, it was time to act. With the days quickly getting shorter and the weather deteriorating at the same pace, we were thrilled to have a good opportunity.
We picked up our rental car at 9:00 on a Saturday morning, loaded it up with some food and supplies, and shot out to the north on the ring road. That day we drove alongside beautiful mountains, rugged fjords, and a lot of sheep and horses en route to Akureyri, the second-largest "city" in Iceland with a population of roughly 17,500 people, which is situated in the north-central part of the country along the water on a fjord. Arriving in the city in the mid-afternoon after five hours on the road, we realized there was no way we could accomplish our aggressive itinerary with a two-day rental. After weighing our options, we decided it would be worth the extra cost and extra work I would have to do upon our return, to extend our rental for another day. Finding a phone in a gas station, we were able to extend our car rental until Tuesday morning. With that out of the way, we decided to spend the rest of the day and night exploring Akureyri, before setting off further to the east the next morning.
Arriving in the center of Akureyri we found a good parking lot near the small downtown area to set up our car/hotel for the night. We jumped out of the car and walked around the town, seeing an amazing botanical garden (which was quite impressive considering its proximity to the Arctic Circle), some guys playing American football, and the downtown area for some coffee. That night we got some dinner at a family-style restaurant, and quickly realized that the town was not going to become active until at least midnight. We decided to watch a movie, and afterward went out for a couple drinks. Opting not to pay a cover, we found a bar and sat with Marco, a Swiss amateur photographer who was traveling around the ring road (we met up him again in Reykjavik to play a trivia game). From about midnight until dawn (though we didn't stay awake quite that long to find out), the center of town was full of cars and young people, but was significantly less busy the rest of the time.
The next morning we woke up early, and shivering, and headed out to explore the area around Mývatn in the north-central part of Iceland. This area features a large lake, a lot of old craters, and a lot of volcanic/fissure activity. It is also one of the most beautiful parts of Iceland that we saw on our trip. While there, we drove the road looping around the lake, stopping to take photos and to visit a museum on the birds of Iceland. This museum featured a very strange and unique (the only other place they appear is Japan) spherical, underwater plant, called Marimo. Also while driving around the lake, we hiked up to the top of a small mountain, which gave us wonderful views of the craters from above. The entire area looked somewhat like the surface of the moon, minus the light vegetation. Near Mývatn, we drove over a ridge and suddenly found ourselves in the middle of a steaming area of geothermal activity right outside the Krafla caldera. After exploring this area, we drove past a geothermal power station, and hiked up to and into the actual caldera. The landscape was quite dramatic, featuring jagged, black volcanic rock, and a lot of hot, steaming vents. It was getting dark, so after walking a ways into the caldera, we turned back and made our way to the nearby Mývatn Nature Baths. This site is dubbed "the north's answer to the Blue Lagoon" and it did not disappoint. Sharing the warm, thermal pool with only a handful of other visitors, we relaxed in the warm (and in some places, simply too hot) turquoise water. On the drive back to Akureyri that night, we were treated to a good display of the aurora borealis, and stopped a couple times along the way for photos. By the time we got back to Akureyri, we were exhausted and accustomed to the idea of another cold night in the car.
On the final morning of our trip, we awoke fairly early (and cold once again), and started the long drive toward Snaefellsness, a long peninsula off the west coast of Iceland. Our route there ended up being a long, arduous one, as we were stuck on a bumpy gravel road for a good portion of the drive. We briefly explored a few of the coastal towns on the north part of the peninsula, and then headed out to its tip, where we saw the Snæfellsjökull glacier and volcano. While there, we explored a lot of interesting, old lava flows, saw some of the jagged, black coastline, and visited a sign paying tribute to Jules Verne's Journey to the Center of the Earth, which was set in the area. After a full afternoon of exploring the region, the rain started to get harder and harder, and we made the journey back to Reykjavik. Luckily we did not have to turn in our car until the next morning, so we were able to sleep in it one last night... just kidding, it was great to be back in a real bed.
