Today we continued our journey, visited places from the Diamond Circle in North Iceland, in yesterday’s trip we had covered Dettifoss, Selfoss & Godafoss. Today’s plan was to cover few more of these places on the Diamond Circle North Iceland.
Mývatn Lake
As had become the norm throughout the trip, we took a u-turn and visited the Mývatn lake which we couldn’t visit yesterday. It’s one of the most popular spots on the Diamond Circle North Iceland. The lake has a wonderful calm about it, just like most other attractions in Iceland.
Unfortunately though due to the snow, the lake appeared just like the Lagarfljót lake. So not much variation in terms of scenery between yesterday and today.
Mývatn Nature Baths
North Iceland’s answer to the Blue Lagoon. Equally stunning if not more when compared to Blue Lagoon. It’s a cheaper alternative to Blue Lagoon and relatively less crowded too. Though its not a proper stop on the Diamond Circle North Iceland, some of the unfortunate souls in the group had not booked tickets for Blue lagoon in advance(yes, such people exist). As a result, they had to miss out on the fun we had. So to make up for that, today was their time to chill in the natural baths of Myvatn and just have a good time.
Dimmuborgir – The dark city
Since, we had already enjoyed Blue Lagoon, we went ahead and visited the next stop on our Diamond Circle North Iceland route Dimmuborgir – The Dark City. Dimmuborgir is also known as the Black Fortress. It’s a dramatic expanse of lava in the Lake Mývatn area.
But what was in store for us was probably the biggest irony of the trip. The dark city had turned bright & white due to the snow storm. It was difficult to believe that underneath those layers of snow was a black coloured landscape.
Random Pit Stops
We were now done with some of the attractions from the Diamond Circle North Iceland. By now I think everyone must agree, that Iceland has such beautiful landscapes that you want to stop every 5 mins. Today, luckily we did a lot of that. One such interesting incident was when we parked near a lake next to the road.
We were joined there by a young Spanish couple. We clicked their photos, they clicked ours and then when they finally decided to leave – Their car just wouldn’t go up the slope. The snow was making it really difficult. So all of us got together and pushed their car up the slope – One heck of a workout.
Both Marco & Camila (the Spanish couple) thanked us profusely and counted their lucky stars. It’s not often in Iceland that you stop at a remote place and have people to help you out.
Borðeyri
Since, there wasn’t much sightseeing today, we reached our guesthouse by 4PM. The guesthouse had the best location of the trip. Word’s weren’t enough to describe this place. Me & our guide went out and shopped some stuff for dinner and the breakfast next day.
Back at the guesthouse, we were joined by this American-European group of guys who shoot adventure videos in remote locations all over the world. Just today they shot a video of one of the guys surfing in the black sand beach on the East Fjords. Those guys were crazy and things only got crazier. Since today was our 2nd last day in Iceland, we drank, shared stories and basically went nuts.
Do you remember that video of American folks dancing to Tunak tunak tunak tu…ta ra ra? It was exactly like that, I somehow can’t find the video as it’s probably in one of my trip mates mobile. If I can find it I will surely upload it. It’s probably the most hilarious and nutty thing you would have seen in a long time. We partied late till like 2AM in the morning and then the Aurora Borealis blessed us again. But I don’t think anyone was in their senses to capture a photo.
Expenses for the Day
| Expense Description | Expense Amount |
| Lunch somewhere near Myvatn Nature Baths | Around 1000 INR |
| Riishus Guesthouse in Borðeyri | 3000 INR/person/night for a capsule |
| Activity Expenses |
Nil for me. Myvatn Ticket – 5500 ISK + 850 ISK for towels |