Yesterday was a blizzard and coincidentally, I had decided to stay in the hotel area instead of paying for a tour. The people that did go on the tour were back by 10 a.m. due to the high winds and poor visibility.
Today was much different; the skies were clear, the temperature was balmy and we headed off to see some more of the surrounding area. The first stop for the day was at the Laxa III Hydroelectric Power Station on the Laxa River. Laxa means salmon in Icelandic, and the river apparently has some great salmon fishing, but it is very expensive for tourists starting at around $1000 for a fishing permit. This power station is all underground built in the lava rock and sends water from the river through large pipes into one turbine. There was a second generator planned for the station, but the local people blocked its use since it required raising the level of the water behind the generating station. There is an interesting sculpture display within the caverns depicting old Norse gods.
The next stop was a museum that depicted a turf house beside a church that was at one time a farm and the home of the local clergy. The Grenjaðarstaður turf farm was owned by a wealthier person, the clergy being some of the wealthiest people in an area. I thought the most interesting part of the museum was actually in the adjacent church yard where there was an old grave stone with Viking Runes on it dating from the 1400’s. The stone had been moved from the original site of the church, so it didn’t really mark the burial location any more.
Next we headed to the fishing village of HúsavÃk for lunch and to visit the whale museum. Lunch was a delicious seafood soup at the Hvalbakur Café. In Iceland, it is common that when you order soup, you serve it yourself and you are welcome to refill your bowl as much as you like. They also provide bread and butter to go with the soup. The seafood soup was thick with vegetables, large chunks of fish and other various seafood bits including mussels and shrimp.
The whale museum was very interesting and included skeletons of many species of whales. Interestingly, the museum is also a mini-putt golf course for seniors, so we had to avoid getting in the way of golf shots.
Since the village of HúsavÃk is a fishing village, there was also an opportunity to walk around the docks and look at the boats. This schooner caught my eye.
The last stop was at the Mývatn Nature Baths where we spent a good hour soaking up the volcanic minerals in some beautifully warm water. The landscape was beautiful surrounding the baths further enhanced by the steam rising from the water and the sunset on the horizon.
There were no northern lights tonight as the sun spot activity was low. The night was ideal for stargazing, however, so I went out anyway and viewed some moons around Jupiter, the Great Orion Nebula, caught a glimpse of a galaxy and learned a little more about the constellations. It is also possible to see the glow from the Holuhraun volcano about 120 km away.