Iceland - Day 10 - The Diamond Circle

The Diaamond Circle is a looped road about 80 km east of where we're staying.  The loop itself is a 4.5 hour long drive, but it gives a wealth of nice places to stop.

The first stop was Godafoss Waterfall.  It was raining pretty heavy so we didn't spend a lot of time here.  As we drove on further the rain started letting up.

Part of the beautiful landscape as we were driving.  Fall has come on quickly up in this northern part of the country.

We stopped at a place named Hodfi to do some trail walking.  The trails here are amazingly well kept.

I don't remember the name of the red-berry tree's, but in Iceland they believe if one grows on your grave it's a sign that you were a good person.

Not that one would particularly care at that point, but what the heck.  😋

Should I crawl down into the cave here or not?

More water front beauty.

Another pool of steaming hot water from a geothermal source.  The aqua color of the water was mesmerizing.

Warming up the hands.

This bridge design is common here in the north.  Nice looking.

The river flowing away from the falls shown below.

Dettifoss Falls ... said to be the most powerful falls in all of Europe.

Between the light drizzle and cold wind, we didn't stay for long nor go any closer to the falls.  We found a nice girl to take a picture of us and then got on out of there.

And then on to Jokulsargljufur Canyon.  (You figure out how to pronounce it!)

Until next post, hi de ho.

Iceland - Day 9 - Onto the Main Northern Stay

Finally on day 9 we were getting past the one night stands.  Not a bad thing, those one nighters, but it get's old unpacking and packing all the time.  We were finally on to Akureyri where we would be staying for 3 days.  Yippeeeeee!!!

We got in early and had some time to kill before our room would be available.  We walked the down town streets and Tina found a local Icelander to which she really took a liking.

I, on the other hand, wasn't so lucky.

Iceland loves there flowers in the middle of town square.

Then it was out of town for some hiking.  Beautiful peaks and a house on the way.

More glaciers at the hiking area.  And no ... we weren't trying to get there.

Tina climbing over a barbed wire fence. At least they provided steps ... which made it seem legal anyway.

More scenery from the hike.

 Tina leading the way back down to the car.  Not a bad thing to follow. :)

Until next post, we're going to keep on hiking.

Iceland - Day 8 - Swimming in Iceland

On the road again today, slowly making our way to the northern central part of the country, with lots of stops along the way.

The lodge we stayed at the night before was actually a horse farm.  We would have loved to do a horse ride but didn't have the time that day.  Iceland has very unique but beautiful looking horses.

And then it was off on the road again.  A pretty and colorful hillside along the way.

Why do you leave Florida and go to Iceland in September (other than to avoid a hurricane)?  To go swimming of course.  This was a heated swimming pool, heated by the geothermal waters of Iceland.

A local Icelandic mother and child enjoying the pool.

The scenery as viewed from the pool.

 

After swimming and lunch, we did a walk through the town and came across this beautiful flower bed.

Then we were off again, driving by Drangey Island off the coast line.  We were going to do a boat tour of this island but the tours stopped at the end of August.

Then we arrived in Saudarkrokur, a beautiful little town on the coast line.  While hiking a bit we came across this unique rock formation on the coast.

The downtown harbor of the town as seen from our hotel room for the night.

For some reason Tina didn't like this detour I took to go up into the mountains.

But it did give a nice view back onto the town.

The church in the middle of the town.

And the colorful town square.

Until the next post, stay cool.

Iceland - Day 7 - Gravel, Gravel, and More Gravel

Our day was supposed to start out with a late morning "Viking Sushi Boat Tour".  HOWEVER, due to 30 mph winds they cancelled the boat trip.  Frankly given 30 mph winds and low temperatures, Tina and I were a bit relieved they did so even though we were really looking forward to the tour ... just not on a day like that.

The reason for the title of this thread is that probably 75% of the roads we took today were gravel.  It was the more scenic route even if it did take a bit longer than the all asphalt trip.  On the way out of town we came across the amazing colors of this foothill and meadow leading up to it.

Still nasty sky's to go with awesome scenery.

Looking up at the mountain where we'd driven up just yesterday.  Hard to believe we were at the elevation of the glaciers.

One of Iceland's main meats ... also used for some pretty cool wool products too.

Another glacier covered mountain with the associated cloud cover.

Used for both riding and as another major source of meat.  (And yes I did!)

 Tina ready for a swimsuit and some suntan lotion.

So all caught up again.  Onward and upward for tomorrow.