Iceland is a subarctic wonderland of volcanoes, Vikings, geology, glaciers, waterfalls, whales, puffins, ponies, falcons, foxes, aurora, elves, music, and more. Its independently minded people are inspired by natural elements of the land and sea, where long summer days give opportunity to appreciate the natural beauty of a young island born by fire and cut by ice, and long winter nights give time for reflection, companionship, and creative expression.
Today we explored the volcanic landscape around Lake Myvatn, an area that has inspired trolls, Tolkien, Game of Thrones, and practice Apollo moon landings. Late in the day using the long light of summer we voyaged north to the Arctic Circle.
Given the ban on horse imports to maintain Iceland’s unique genetic stock of short beautiful horses with an extra gait, Lord of The Rings was shot in New Zealand despite J. R. R. Tolkien’s awe for this region; Hobbit actors on small horses would otherwise have seemed gigantic.
Daylong tours with separate emphases on geology, photography, and secret filming locations of Game of Thrones, departed Akureyri, Iceland’s ‘Capitol of the North,’ for the rolling green pasturelands and surreal volcanic formations around Lake Myvatn. We managed to elude the famous midge swarms for which the area is named (‘My’ refers to bug, and ‘vatn’ water).
We walked along the mesmerizing baptizing waterfall of the Gods, Godafoss, the place where pagan deities were thrown in and Christianity born in Iceland. We stood with one foot in America and one in Europe, straddling the mid-Atlantic Ridge at ‘Darktown,’ Dimmuborgur, an area full of bizarre a’a lava formations. We found caves and troll faces in the rocks above us and wildflowers down by our feet.
Nesting shorebirds and migratory ducks at the lake guarded their young against predatory merlins and gyrfalcons. Boiling cauldrons of bubbling mud and hissing smoking fumaroles created sulfurous scenes worthy of witches. We saw geothermal power plants, smoking thermal pools where people bathed, caldera lakes of turquoise water, and pseudo-craters produced in explosive interactions of lava and water.
After a full day of travels across Icelandic volcanoscape, we rendezvoused with the repositioned National Geographic Explorer in Husavik after a visit to the excellent whale museum there. Our explorations were not then complete either; for after dinner we steamed north to Iceland’s farthest reaches, Grimsey, a low-lying outlier island of nesting puffins and once fanatic chess players. With white-beaked dolphins leading us through blustery seas we sailed across the Arctic Circle to the sounding of the ship’s horn, ending a truly full day experiencing wonders of this great nation island of Iceland.
