Tag Archive for ‘Iceland’
Iceland: Volcano-walking on Krafla
After all the impossible-to-pronounce names in Iceland, a simple one: Krafla. Simple name, powerful landscape. Always windy. Not a tree in sight. At most, earth-hugging miniature purple flowers, several types of moss and very pretty white pompons atop green stalks. Krafla is a volcanic area and a geothermal powerstation in the north of Iceland, near [...]
Iceland: Drangey Island, a puffin paradise
Even the islands around Iceland are volcanic in origin. So, too, Drangey, a 180 meter high steep-cliffed, tuff-stone blob of about 20 hectares in diameter, that is the remnant of a 700,000 year old volcano dominating the Skagafjoerdur fjord in the north of Iceland. Now uninhabited (except for a small cottage for bird catchers), it [...]
Iceland: Hotpooling with heroes
Although the north west region of Iceland was only permanently settled by Norwegians in the mid 19th century, a natural hot pool located about 18 km north of the town of Saudhakrokur was already mentioned as being enjoyed by the great outlaw hero Grettir, protagonist of Grettis Saga, one of the famous Icelandic sagas from [...]
Iceland: Surprising Sauðárkrókur
Pronounced Saudhárkrókur or Sauthárkrókur it literally means sheep-river-hook and refers to the place where the river Sauðá meets the ocean. The sand on the river banks is of the finest quality, super fine as any sand found in the Caribbean, only it demonstrates its volcanic heritage by being dark grey in color. Nowadays Sauðárkrókur is [...]
Iceland: Akureyri Botanical Garden
Just 100 km south of the Arctic Circle, Iceland’s second largest town Akureyri (pop. approx. 20,000) boasts a mostly ice-free port and one of the most charming Botanical Gardens I have visited so far. My visit at the beginning of August coincided with the explosive bloom of thousands of delphiniums in a rainbow of blue [...]
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