8/8/15 Akureyri, Iceland and Lake Myvatn

Akureyri is the "capital of northern Iceland" - it is the commercial, cultural, and governmental center of the north. It is the largest fishing port. The 16,000 inhabitants work in fisheries, light industry, and food processing. The climate is mild despite being only 60km from the Arctic Circle. In the winter Akureyri is the winter sports center and provides many tours of the Aurora Borealis. In the winter there is only 3 hours of daylight. In the summer people hike and garden, young people sail boats. Kids play outside until the 10PM curfew. People love to swim and bathe in mineral baths year round.

During the ice age, volcanic eruptions continued and mountains were formed under the ice. Lake Myvatn, midge lake, was formed when two tectonic plates separated, still 1cm/year. It was fed by a spring that is under the lava field. It is fairly shallow - 7ft 2in. It is 14 sq mi and has 50 islets. Shoreline is protected for nesting birds. Our coach toured around the lake today.

Godafoss (Waterfall of the Gods) was named in 1000 AD when the Law Speaker of the Parliament proclaimed Iceland a Christian country and he threw all his pagan statues into the falls. The water from the river falls from a height of 12 meters over a width of 30 meters.








































Hverarond is the famous boiling mud pit and we walked on wooden walkways amid the muddy and smelly pits.

Skutustadagigar Pseudo-craters were formed when water was trapped beneath flowing lava, boiled up through the surface creating what looks like a volcanic cone. US Astronauts trained here prior to walking on the moon. There were many craters here

 Dimmuborgir (black castles) is a huge 2000 yr old field of contorted volcanic pillars some as
high as 65ft or 20m. There is a walk among them including a place where two tectonic plates separated and you can put 1 food in America and 1 foot in Europe.

On the way back to the ship.

In the evening we heard a classical piano concert!