Iceland: Hofn to Lake Myvatn

We had been in Iceland less than a week and we were already blown away by the sights and scenery.  The decision to buy a nice DSLR camera turned out to be a good one and we soon were filling its SIM card to the limit.  Our next destination was Hofn (pronounced like a hiccup), a smallish town on the South coast whose main industry was, yup, fishing!  We had a pretty good lunch at a log cabiny sort of affair.  However, appropriately enough, I came down with a nasty cold.  So, the next day we did not do much except drive to a natural hot spring with an honor system payment slot.  For a couple of hours we just sat in naturally hot water.  Surrounded by severe weather and imposing terrain, it was a perfect therapy.  Getting out and redressing in the cold was the hard part.

Natural hot tub at Hoffell

The next morning we drove further along the Ring Road to or next destination at Lake Egilsstadir, which has a Loch Ness Monster called the Wyrm.  We did not see it. Along the way we saw some amazingly beautiful sights that were completely different from the coastal views of the last few days.  Egg's, as we abbreviated it, was inland, so we saw some really alien-like volcanic terrain.

I want the gold.

A trio of sheep.  They outnumber people 3 to 1.

A horse along Lake Egg's.

We got to the hotel in Egg's at a decent hour, so we drove to Seydisfjordur, the most bucolic fjord town i've ever seen (it was my first fjord town, so I'm 1 for 1).  It was a winding, steep drive, but we emerged into the coolest setting.  Founded and kept alive by the fishing industry, it is now a haven for artistic types and hipsters.  We posted up at a cool little bar, played boards games and had some drinks.  We settled on dinner there before driving back to our cute accommodations at Lake Egg's to look for it's lake monster.

Seydisfjordur.  So beautiful.

More beautiful Seydisfjordur.

After the best breakfast a hotel could offer, including DIY waffles, we headed for the alien landscape of Myvatn.  It is a geothermal region almost smack dab in the middle of the country.  Along the way we visited a few peculiar attractions pointed, including a "hairy house", a Viking house and the most isolated vending machine on the planet.

Quirky home known as the "Hairy House".  The turf acts as an insulator.  And yes, someone lives there!

Reconstruction of an early Viking long house.

The loneliest vending machine on Earth.  It's completely solar powered.  We had to push a button to get it out of sleep mode.

The drive was moonscape-like, but we broke it up with a side trip to Detifoss: the most intimidating water feature I have ever seen, heard of, or seen in pictures.  It was also the star in the opening scene of "Prometheus".   

Detifoss....

Detifoss some more.

It was crazy windy, rainy weather and me being sick, it was the perfect moment to see this waterfall.  It was powerful beyond words.  The noise was deafening and the spray of water drenched you from the parking lot.  Probably the most magnificent thing I have even seen.  

Just outside of Myvatn and past the falls was another cool feature of note called the Krafla Power Plant.  Fun fact: Iceland uses 100% energy from the Earth.  This plant was in the middle of an old lava field complete with extinct volcanic craters and nauseating sulfur smells.

Power plant tubes over the road.

We made it to our hotel, which smelled of sulfur and decided on a romantic night at Daddi's Pizza.  It was a total win.  It was a great little spot with amazing pizza.  Middle of Iceland.  Who knew!?  After we ate, we took a short drive to a small hot spring cave that was featured in Game of Thrones.  It was really cool, but unfortunately, swimming was banned.  After a long day of adventure we crawled back to our smelly abode and crashed.  The next day would bring the term adventure to a whole new meaning...

Kristin trying to feed a carrot to a horse.

Final Thought:  It is hard to put into words what we saw on this leg of the journey.  We saw endless beauty, which is in infinite supple here.  We also saw places with the raw fury of nature on display.  Going the the hot spring at Hoffell was the first time being inside the water that was heated naturally by the Earth.  It put into perspective the forces at work underneath the surface and allowed us to realize that no matter how calm things may lie, there is always something eminent at bay.