We leave the west of Iceland to venture north. On a map of Iceland, in the middle of the north coast, is Akureyri, the second city of Iceland (and think about that knowing that Reykjavik is home to two-thirds of the population of the island). Although the road is beautiful, the ride took us the day and the freezing rain from outside did not especially invited us to make stops.
We saw the top of the mountains sprinkle with snow (snow is also expected for tomorrow, I hope moderately).
Our landlady offered us to join the family for a visit to a traditional brewery that celebrated its tenth anniversary. In addition to the tasting of beer, we were treated to the edifying account on the sale of alcohol in Iceland: taxed at 75%, only state stores can sell to the person over 20 years. Beer was banned until one or two decades ago. It seems to me that this is a rather harsh but effective public health policy to prevent half of the population from being drunk dead during the 6-month night.
Last night, we were also very lucky: we went to bed early, because the rainy sky left us with little hope, when someone drummed at our door, around 22h, shouting “northern lights!”. And they were there: the Aurora Borealis. It is a rather unreal, spectral spectacle to see a band of green, phosphorescent ribbon, to take shape better and better, until they become sticks of green crystals dancing in the sky.
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