Jeffrey Donenfeld

Tag: Blonduos

  • Iceland Day Three – Blönduós To Akureyri

    Iceland Day Three – Blönduós To Akureyri

    Since the earth’s crust is so thin in Iceland, natural geothermal pools of water, locally called “hot pots”, are in almost every town.

    This morning Sari and I woke up at Christina’s apartment in Blönduós, and together with our Slovakian hitchhiker friend Martina, hopped back in the car and drove a ways down the road to Sau?arkrokur. We stopped for a minute to let Martina out at the petrol station in town, and then turned off Route 1, onto a smaller dirt road to the north. Dropping Martina off at a petrol station on the side of the road felt a bit strange, but since she was hitchhiking around Route 1, she said it was no problem, and that she’s surely find her next ride easily. She was traveling with a medium sized camping backpack, and had mostly been spending the nights camping in her tent at local campsites in the towns she was dropped off in.

    We turned off Route 1 and headed north towards the small farming town of Reykir, which is named after the region’s role in Iceland’s famous “Grettir’s Saga”. According to the Saga, Grettir swam ashore here, after a long 7.5 km swim from the flat-topped island of Dragney, and soothed himself at Reykir. Grettislaug is the geothermal pool that Grettir relaxed at during the 12th century, and still exists today.

    Sari and I arrived at Grettislaug in the afternoon, enjoyed a relaxing time sitting in the geothermal pool looking north into the Skagafjordur bay.

    After Grettislaug, we drove on to the 18th century turf farm museum Glaumbaer. The museum is a collection of 12 turf houses that give real-world insight into the living conditions that 18th century Icelandic farmers endured.

    Our last stop of the day was for well deserved pizza in downtown Akureyri, and then a quick walk around town, through the botanical gardens.

    Tonight we’re staying with Joseph, and tomorrow we’re waking up early to take the ferry to Grimsey.

  • Iceland Day Two – Reykjavik to Blonduos

    Iceland Day Two – Reykjavik to Blonduos

    Iceland is beautiful.

    Last night Sari finally got in to Reykjavik around 3:00, and met me, where I was already asleep, at Sabrina’s house.

    This morning we woke up early, and after walking around the Reykjavik harbor and finding breakfast, we hit the road for the Blue Lagoon.

    Since the earth’s crust is so thin in Iceland, the country is able to generate a significant amount of its power geothermally. They drill deep into the earth, and run water lines through hot portions of the earths crust, to make steam and drive electric turbines. When this heated water is done being used for power generation, it’s pumped out to large pools on the volcanic flats.

    Since the water is very pure and warm, it’s used by the public for bathing and relaxing, and the largest one, built just outside of Reykjavik, is the Blue Lagoon.

    The Blue Lagoon has an other worldly feel – the large steaming lake of milky white water is surrounded by a pitch black field of sharp lava rocks, with the steaming cooling towers from the power plant gleaming in the distance.

    Because of the minerals that are washed out from deep in the earth by the water, the lagoon is lined with a perfectly white, smooth silica mud. The mud is routinely used as a skin creme, which immediate softening effects.

    We had a great time relaxing for a few morning hours at the Blue Lagoon, and then got back in the car and drove north on Route 1 for Borgarnes.

    Arriving in Borgarnes, we passed through a 5km long underwater tunnel. Notably, when the tunnel was build in the sub-sea rock, the drilled out walls were never covered with anything – they’s still the raw rock, so it feels a bit like a very large mine shaft. Stark contrast to the tile-lined tunnels in NYC.

    In Borgarnes, we stopped briefly for a run through the town’s museum to learn about the Icelandic Sagas, and the drove through the dramatic western coastal terrain towards Blonduos.

    Tonight we’re staying with Christina at her apartment in Blonduos, along with another couchsurfer, Martina from Slovokia. We had a great dinner at the one local restaurant, hung out with the geese on the edge of the water, and now at 12:26 am, the sun has finally sunk below the horizon, and we’re going to sleep.