Iceland is nature in its purest form. Sometimes, with Chinese buses disembarking just when you are about to take a picture of all this unspoiled nature. Nature does what she wants, if she can “want” something. And in this case, it decided that it was going to rain, that the roads would be flooded and the bridges cut off. In short, she does not love us too much. We are still waiting for the state of the road #1 to the south (shall we pass or not?) for Monday.
Although we did not decide our fate, we continued our journey east to Egilsstadir. Leaving Akureyri early, we made a first stop at Godafoss, the gods’ waterfalls, where legend says that a local representative at the Althing would have cast the statues of the ancient gods after voting conversion to Christianity.
We then headed to the Myvatn region, with its lake and its impressive lava formations. Here, we do not joke: nature has enough to prove to us that we are only miserable maggots, helpless in the face of the elements. While the light was playing on the lake, we ventured into the tormented landscape of Dimmuborgir (Manu, you see, it’s not just the name of a metal band…). Here comes Mordor. The water trapped under lava lakes dug chimneys to the surface, which were hissing, howling and explosive, you might imagine. The place is aptly named “black castles”.
It was absolutely necessary to make a slight detour by Grjotagja, the cave where was shot a famous Game of Thrones scene with Jon Snow and Yggrid. I was very disappointed to note that no, the two actors had not shown a fantastic heroism by bathing in water at 2° C: it is rather at 46° C. Outside, we are on a fault; the rock is cracked, broken by the thrust of extraordinary forces. It impresses me and I feel so tiny…
We had a little thought for Beppu and the “Eight Hells” when arriving at Hverir: the smell of egg is characteristic (it’s the same smell as in the bathrooms, by the way, when hot water comes from geothermal plants). The mud is bubbling in hot pools, giant chimneys kinds of earth.
Until Egilsstadir, we passed lunar landscapes, which even the sheep and the moss gave up colonizing. It was a great desert of pebbles with singular charm.
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