Exploring Akureyri and more

Tekijä
Friday, Day 8

It has been a week now since we arrived to Iceland and even though the constant moving around and camping can be tiring, time is still going by way too fast. At least for me.
Today we got to make breakfast at a kitchen for a change, a warm one, which was nice. This way we got to save some camping fuel also, although we had plenty left still. We bought a 450g propane / isobutane mix gas canister when we arrived and then got one used one at the first camping site.
In these kitchens there are usually also plates, cutlery, mugs, glasses and pots etc, which is nice if you don't have so many with you.

 Waterfall of the gods

After breakfast we headed out to see the waterfall of the gods. Even the name makes it sound like you don't wanna miss it. And it was one of my favourites for sure. The water is more turquoise, and the waterfall is shaped like a horseshoe. The name is said to come from a story where a lawspeaker threw his pagan statues of the Norse gods into the waterfall after he made christianity the official religion of Iceland. You can get a nice view from the top (which is on the right side of the fall) or then from the ground level, where you can walk to on the left side. There was also a souvenir shop next to the waterfall, and bathrooms and a cafe I think.

Weather

We have been extremely lucky with weather during our trip. The mornings have usually been cloudy and chilly but then towards the afternoon it starts to clear up and become very sunny. However, I haven't been without my coat (and a sweater underneath) more than once or twice maybe, and I also always have a thick scarf. But sometimes we see people walking in just t-shirts even or shorts. I don't know how this people do it. And this is coming from a Finnish person.

Akureyri (The ice-cream city) 

After the waterfall we headed towards the second biggest city in Iceland, Akureyri. We weren't really sure what to expect from this city since we hadn't made so many plans for it. The route to the city was already amazing, with cliffs and views to the ocean and it's turquoise and incredibly clear water. Once we got to the city, both of us fell in love with it right away. There were colourful, old wooden houses everywhere and of course views to the beautiful shore. First stop we made was an important one. You see, we had heard that you can get the best soft ice-cream in Iceland in this city. It's called Brynja ice-cream. And it was indeed very good. You can choose some toppings and/or sauce or have it without anything extra. But I would definitely recommend this to every ice-cream enthusiast visiting Iceland.

After that we went to see the city's botanical gardens, and a local church. There are a lot of churches in Iceland and many of them have a quite modern and strange design. The newer ones are clearly more lutheran whilst the older ones have a more catholic design. Christianity has been present from the beginning of human habitation in Iceland and was brought to the country by chalcedonian irish hermits. Later when the Norse settlers arrived, pagan religions took over the country but in the 10th century catholisism started to spread among the population by missionaries. And then in 1540 the lutheran reformation was established by the Danish crown. It is clear that religion has always been a big part of Iceland since there are churches in even the smallest towns and many of these seem extremely old.

The weather was perfect so it was nice to just walk around and see the city without any hurry. After that we made some sandwiches, took our coffee thermos and went to eat by the shore all the while fantasising what it would be like to live in this city. And it wasn't just because of the ice cream, (though it was a very big plus.) No, this town was just so peaceful and beautiful.

 Horses of the north

As we left Akureyri we (read: I ) wanted to stop to see some horses on the way because there were many horse rental places in this area. To me it seems like there are a lot of horses in every area in Iceland but apparently even more so in this north-west part. We would have loved to go horse-riding too, but as the trip was already getting quite expensive I figured I can settle for just stopping several times to see the horses. Plus we had already done a icelandic horse-riding tour in Helsinki earlier this summer. Not quite the same I admit, but still. Icelandic horses are slightly smaller than normal horses and are said to be much easier to ride because the way they move is much smoother. They are also very calm and because of this they don't get scared easily in the wild and are suitable for beginner riders also.

Hvammstangi camping site

We were heading towards our camping site in Hvammstangi. We started to notice more and more that there was a lot more traffic coming from the opposite direction than there was going the same way as we did. We figured people are probably doing the ring road more clockwise rather than counter clockwise as we were doing. In the end it doesn't matter of course, because there is really no reason why one way would be better than the other. The only thing you might want to consider before deciding which way to go is the weather in different areas.

The Hvammstangi camping place was quite good, with a big common area indoors and free 5G wifi. The kitchen was very small though and if I remember right there were no showers. But the views were great as always and the toilets were clean and there were many.
























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