Getting to Asbyrgi
Getting to Asbrygi was a breeze. It was only 8 km from our lodging . We woke up late, had a leisurely breakfast, packed and left for our first destination for the day.
Asbyrgi
Asbyrgi was fascinating. It was a gigantic, enormous, humongous, colossal….. horseshoe shaped depression in the ground! Its length was about 3.5 km and width 1 km. It seemed like “heaven” had punched a huge hole in the ground.
There was no road that could bring us to the top of the canyon to look down into the vast depression. Instead the road led us to the base of the depression where the ground was flat. A straight road brought us from one end of the “horseshoe” canyon to the other end.
There was no entrance charge to Asbyrgi. Entering Asbyrgi was like entering a medieval fortified city. The canyon cliffs looked like huge, high and long “fortress walls”. This canyon was so unlike others, its base was a vast flat land and the canyon walls was vertical rocky cliffs.
Soon we saw a huge rock hill in the middle of canyon dividing the canyon into two halves. The rock hill was very high of about 80 feet tall. We stopped the car to explore the rock hill. This rock hill had a name and it was called Eyjan!
There was an “overgrown with grass” path to the base of the rock hill, as we walked nearer we saw a “white dot” moving on the top of the rock hill. It was a “man” up there! Wow, how did he got up there? Amazing!
We could not find any route that could led up to the rock hill, so we returned to our car and drove forward. We found a carpark at the end of the road and signboards pointing to three walking paths.
The paths led us into a woodland of birch, willow and trees. Soon we reached a beautiful lake. The water was clear, still and green. The cliff walls at the further end of the lake was about 100 metres high and stood absolutely vertical! This cliff walls marked the end of this horseshoe shaped canyon.
The ambience around the lake was very cool, serene and mystical. There was a beautiful silence, (not a deafening silence) that enveloped the surrounding. We felt the freshness in the air as we walked slowly and gently so as not to disturb the peacefulness around us.
We saw an uneven rocky path that seemed to lead up the cliff wall at one end of the lake. We went up the path but did not manage to go up much as the path soon became unpassable. We felt disappointed as we were hoping to view the canyon from the top.
After an hour of exploration we were really to leave, but before we left we stopped at the Visitor Center that was near the start of the Canyon. There we read about the creation of the canyon. A staff at the center pointed to a path a the back of the center that would lead us to the top of Eyjan, the rock hill we saw earlier in the day. She told us that a return trip to Eyjan was 1.5 to 2 hours and the walk was gentle. We decided to forgo the hike to Eyjan.
Ásbyrgi Canyon was formed by catastrophic glacial flooding from the river Jökulsá á Fjöllum. The floodwater was thought to have come from Vatnajökull, one of Iceland’s largest glaciers. Legend wise, Asbyrgi Canyon was created when the flying horse of Odin put one of his feet upon Iceland while riding across the sky. The weight of one hoof was so powerful that it punched this 3km by 1 km horseshoe shaped hole in the ground.
Krafla
We were half a day ahead in our schedule. We had originally planned for a second visit to Dettifoss, this time on the east side, in the morning. But we did not carry out the second visit as the first visit of Dettifoss on the west side was very satisfactory. So we brought forward our Asbyrgi visit to the morning. By about early noon we were done with Asbyrgi.
Our next destination was supposed to be Husavik town where we had planned to go on an “evening whale watching” ship. Since it was “many hours” to evening we decided to visit Krafla which was a destination in our intinerary for the next day.
The drive from Asbyrgi to Krafla was 84 km and took about 1 hour and 10 minutes. Near Krafla we saw several columns of white fumes rising into the air. Soon we saw some industrial structures around these columns of fumes. We figured that they were Geothermal Powerstations.
Krafla was a caldera of the Krafla Volcano system that had been around for 100,000 years. It covered a diameter of 10 km.
Our route to Krafla ended in a carpark near the ridge of a crater, Krafla Viti Crater. This crater was one of the creations during the “Myvatn Fires”, a massive eruption lasting from 1724 to 1729.
Parking was free. Krafla Viti Crater was a huge crater filled with turquoise water. It was much larger than Kerid Crater which we had seen at the beginning of the road trip. The diameter of Krafla Viti Crater was 300m. We were amazed by the size of the crater. It was so huge and the humans walking on the ridge of the crater were tiny dots. The crater was too huge for us to do a circle around it!
Standing on the ridge of the crater we saw what looked like a path near the edge of the water, but we did not see anybody on the path by the water or any path on the ridge that led down to the lower path.
Námafjall Hverir
It was a short 12 minutes drive from Krafla Viti Crater to Namafjall Hverir. Namafjall was part of the Krafla volcano system sharing similar geothermal activity, including boiling mud pools and steaming vents located at the base of Mount Namafjall also know as Hverir.
At Namajfall Hverir we saw mud pools, mud hills and mud fields. Yellow, brown, white and grey colours came together creating a colorful landscape. Parking was free and easy available at Namajfall Hverir.
We walked as close to one of the larger mud pool as possible. It was boiling mud… “puking” up fumes and sediment. This “muddy” place reminded us of “The Geysir” except that there was no geysir here.
There was a walking path made by footsteps that went up to the hill. We went up the path and got to see Namajfall from the opposite side from a high view point. The place was vast and the mud pools looked yellowish green from afar.
Myvatn Nature Baths
Beside Namafjall Hverir was Myvatn Nature Baths. It took us just five minutes to drive 4.5 km to the baths. We did not went to pools for a “soak”, instead we went to its cafeteria that overlooked the pools for a “coffee break”.
We had two cups of cafe latte, a chocolate muffin and a crossiant and the bill came up to 3000 ISK. Price wise, pretty reasonable .. about the same as at home..
Myvatn Nature baths had two hot steam lagoons that sat directly on top of churning geothermal waters and its temperature was close to 50 degrees Celcius. The water was said to be packed with mineral, particularly sulphur which was supposed to be good for respiratory and skin problems.
We were not keen on public pools or thermal spa. Whenever it was said to be good for “skin problems” our imagination ran “wild”. Sharing water with bathers with “skin problems” just did not appeal to us!
Húsavík
It was about 4.30 pm when we left the cafeteria and drove to Husavik which was some 59 km north. The drive took about 48 minutes and our car speeded passed some very nice meadow.
On the way to Husavik we passed our accommodation for the night, but did not stop to checked in (self check in). At Husavik our first stop was to the supermarket to stock up some grocery.
Surprisingly, Husavik was a busy town instead of the peaceful fishing town that we thought. There was a festival going on! We parked our car by the Whale Museum (free parking) and walked towards the many tentages that were erected near the harbour.
We were half hearted about “whale watching” and very soon we were distracted by all the festivities that was all around us. After having our “fun” in town we left without searching out for a “whale watching” boat. We had done “Whale Watching” before in Australia so was not very particular about going for another similar activity.
Our Accommodation for the Night
Our stay was Laxhus a Double Room with Mountain View. Laxhus was about 9km from Husavik town. We initially planned to stay in town, but all the good accommodations were too pricey. Laxhus was a “studio” which costed Eur200 a night, not cheap but better value for money.
There were four units at Laxhus and our unit was “Myrarsel”. Each unit had a parking space just right in front of the unit. The unit had two beds, a toilet and a kitchenette. The furnishing had a “white theme” which gave the place a clean and bright look.
We loved the environment around Laxhus. Looking out of our full length windows we could see a sea of vast green-ness outside. It was stunning to view the sunset from the comfort of our room, enjoying the sight of the horizon turning yellowish gold to amber gold. The view was stunning!
The kitchenette in our unit did not have a stove or oven. It did had a fridge, a microwave, a toaster and a coffee machine. Without a stove or oven we could only whip up simple dinner and breakfast. Simple yet yummy with cafe lattes and a great view.
