Northern Iceland

Actually Varmahlíð and Sauðárkrókur — where we stayed and ate dinner at in the last blog — are considered the start of the north region. We (Luca) drove a lot on our first day! But here’s a bunch of photos from our second full day.

Hofsós — off the infamous ring road but worth the detour
Closeup of the basalt columns which are a huge part of why the rock formations are so stunning across Iceland
The #1 attraction is the swimming pool which, when you’re in it, looks like it flows into the fjord beyond
It was REALLY windy. Look at my hair! There was no way we were going into that pool. Though we did see a family go there, they were in the hot tub that’s out of my shot
Other views — all of the coastal towns have this amazing fjord and sea views in one side and the mountains, often snow-capped on the other. And “towns” were usually under a few thousand people

From Hofsós, we kept on the side roads to curve around the coast (think Michigan shaped — also sort of a left hand — without the UP!). It’s called the Troll Peninsula or Tröllaskagi. Also part of the lovely detour.

Coming into Siglufjörður
At the harbor
We stopped for coffee right near a troll thatch roofed house !?
Iceland also seems to love colorful buildings or at least roofs, which we see more of later. Luca thinks it’s because they need to add a little color
Throughout the trip, the weather changed mercurially (though got progressively colder and was often very windy) — and often mountains that seemed next to each other would have one covered in snow and the next barely white

Next town on the troll peninsula was Dalvík where we only pulled off for photos.

Luca looking straight east, across the
Eyjafjörður fjord at another peninsula, which we did not drive through
Me looking I’m not sure what?!
More cross-fjord views

We stopped in Akureyri, the second largest city in Iceland, just at the bottom of the troll peninsula and back on the ring road. We didn’t stay long — mostly grabbed more groceries and took a quick walk around their downtown.

Akureyrarkirkja, Lutheran church, and designed by the same architect as the Reykjavik church, Hallgrímskirkja
Hm, I see I didn’t take a photo of their cute downtown near where we parked but of the scenery near the church

After Akureyri, we deviated again from the “best way” to drive by going to a major waterfall and cute village before ending the day at our airbnb which has its own geothermal pool!

Goðafoss — not the largest waterfall in Iceland but I thought the prettiest. Maybe I just like horseshoe shaped falls, like Niagara
It was windy and I decided to use my hat as a way to hold down my hair! Nice Illini support though honestly it’s just the cap that fits my head the best
Unlike many of the other major waterfalls we later visited, Goðafoss is very close to the ring road and had a very easy walking path to access it
I’ve seen other photos of the waterfall and they’re more beautiful because of either the winter ice and snow or gorgeous blues of the water and the green grass in summer. So maybe this is as ugly as it gets but it was still lovely

We then took another little detour up the next peninsula to see Húsavík, a cute town known for whale watching trips (there’s a lot of them but this location is stellar apparently for whale and and porpoise spotting as well as a puffin island). It’s also known as the town where the Will Farrell Eurovision movie was based out of (and which I made Luca watch at our first Iceland stop).

I see I never took photos of the quite cute town. These were of the harbor
We stopped for a nice drink in a finally warm sun— and even made it before 6 and scored happy hour prices!

After this we went to a nice restaurant where I ordered their famous fish stew, which I hated — had curry (which is ok) and coconut (which I hate). Thankfully we had already had a great appetizer plate (including goose) and Luca ordered my typical fish of the day plate so we swapped dishes.

Appetizers -yummy
Luca’s fish of the day also yummy but my fish stew — yuck!
Our Airbnb, actually a family’s home and the only place where we’d share a bathroom. But it had its own geothermal pool!!!
So I had to book it and it was worthwhile. This is back down off the Ring Road and near Lake Mývatn
The hot water comes down into the pool or it’d be too hot to sit in! they also had a cold pool and an actual swimming pool but they were both too cold to use
A view the next day as we were leaving and the geothermal pool was a little walk up. We dipped in around 9 pm and it was still very light

It was actually nice to chat with our co-airbnbers, two German women around Luca’s age. They were also doing the Ring Road but went counter-clockwise so could tell us what to expect. And they were spending 2 weeks there so had time for whale watching and horseback riding. One woman was a film producer and heading to Cannes soon! Of course I was obsessed complaining about politics so didn’t have as much time to hear about her job!!

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