Hveradalir
We left Akyureri this morning feeling a bit guilty; we had spent two nights in Iceland’s “second city” and hadn’t seen any more of it than our apartment and two restaurants. But it really didn’t look very interesting, like a small nondescript modern town anywhere in Europe. And a long day’s drive across the rugged interior of Iceland on rough roads awaiting us!
In the event, the road was of excellent quality, so not quite as exciting as I’d hoped. That said, the wild landscape with ice caps ever-present in the distance is magnificent.
Strokkur
Anyway, a few miles higher into the mountains is the most amazing place. Hveradalir is an area of geothermal activity pretty much up at the snowline. The chemicals that colour the rocks and soil make for a kaleidoscopic landscape, especially combined with white snow and blue glacial ice, and the occasional vivid green patch of vegetation. What you can’t really capture with a camera is the sulphorous steam pouring out and drifting around in stinking clouds.
Yet again, Iceland dishes up something that is like nowhere else on earth.
The old schoolhouse hotel
Hveradalir
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