We had an early arrival in Akureyri, Iceland at 8:00 AM and we were scheduled to meet for our tour in the Ocean Bar at 7:50. The tour was organized by Elsie, someone I met through the Cruise Critic roll call. She had arranged a 6 hour tour to Godafoss and the Lake Myvatn area with Taxi No. 17 Tour Service. The seven of us going on the tour went ashore as soon as the announcement was made that we could. We found the driver/guide, Audun, and the van just outside and we were on our way. We started with an overview of the city. Akureyri, with a population of 18,200 is considered to be a "green and clean" city. We drove by the church (there are 117 steps up to the church) and the botanical gardens which were founded in 1912 by two sisters and showcase the flora of the area. We drove through some of the older sections of the city. The oldest structure dates to 1795. We also saw Nonnahus, a museum dedicated to the children's books written by Jesuit priest, Jon Sveinsson. Driving out of the city, our first stop was at Godafoss (Waterfall of the Gods). The falls are so named because Porgeir, chieftain and Lawspeaker, was given the responsibility in the year 1000 to decide whether all Icelanders would accept the Christian faith. When he decided they would, he threw his statues of pagan gods into the falls – thus the name. The waterfall, on the Skjalfandafljot river is magnificent and a popular tourist destination. Our next stop was Skutustadagigar, the area of volcanic pseudo-craters. Pseudo-craters are formed by steam explosions caused by lava flowing over wetlands or lakes. The area around the pond Stakholstjorn, was filled with these formations. We were given about 20 minutes to walk around the area, but we also had our first encounter with the numerous flies that are found in the Lake Myvatn area. In an average year, it is estimated that 2000 tons of flies emerge in the area. They are so numerous, that the lake was actually named after them. Our guide showed us photos of when visibility was impaired because the huge numbers of flies. Fortunately for us, this was a bad year for flies. Unfortunately, it is not good for the fish and birds who depend on them as their food or for the plants who depend on the dead flies as fertilizer. Audun also told us that there were large numbers of ducklings who died this year as a result of not having enough flies to eat. Despite it being a bad year for flies, they were numerous enough to be a real bother (luckily they do not bite) and most of us ended our walk early. We had been told to try to leave the flies alone and to especially try not to kill any because if you kill one fly a thousand will come to his funeral. There was a souvenir shop nearby where I bought a t-shirt with a fly design on it.

Our next stop was Dimmuborgir (Dark Lava City), another area of unusual lava formations that was formed when lava flowed over a lake about 2300 years ago . The steam vents from the lake made the formations that remain when the liquid lava drained away. Another explanation of the formations are that they are the remains of a huge troll party. The trolls were having such a good time (including lots of drinking) that they didn’t realize they had partied all night and the sun was rising. As everyone knows, the nocturnal trolls are turned to stone when the sun’s rays hit them. Audun accompanied us on this walk, as he said he has lost people in this area. The Mid-Atlantic ridge, the junction of the American and the Eurasian tectonic plates, passes through this area, as it does near Reykjavik. Here the gap was not as wide and it is possible to stand with one foot in North America and one in Europe. We didn’t try that, but we did move from one continent to the other a few times via a small bridge. Dimmuborgir is also known as the home of Jolasveinarnir, the Icelandic Yule lads. They are the 13 sons of trolls, Gryla and Leppaludi. Some say that one of them is Santa Claus. They have strange names like Spoon Licker, Sausage Swiper, Skyr Gobbler and the noisy fellow Door Slammer . Most of the year, they are rarely seen as they are sleeping in their caves, but in the dark days of December when they are getting ready for Christmas, children come here to see them.

Next Audun took us to a spot that was a favorite of his when he was young – Grjotagja. Although he called them caves, it was actually a lava tube that held two pools of thermal water. He told us one pool was for the girls and one for the boys because they always swam naked. Of course, they just happened to find a passage between the pools. They are still a tourist attraction, but have been closed for swimming since earthquakes in the period from 1975-84 made the lava rock roof unstable.

Next stop was the Namafjall high temperature thermal area. It was an area of steam vents and bubbling mud pots and the air was filled with typical sulfur odors. There is a large magma chamber beneath Iceland which is what is pushing the continental tectonic plates apart . Magma also heats ground water that seeps down to it, producing the steam vents and the hot acidic water in the mud pots. Nearby was a crater lake filled with beautiful blue water (like the Blue Lagoon), but it was cold water. Just next to it were two steam vents that had been dug by the local power company. The vents were not yet being used to produce energy, so they were just venting the steam. It sounded just like a jet engine. Another use of the geothermal energy is to bake hverabraud (geyser bread). Audun showed us “ovens” where local restaurants bake the bread in underground geothermally heated cavities.

Our final stop before leaving the Lake Myvatn area was the Myvatn nature baths. Like the Blue Lagoon in Reykjavik, the water was a beautiful cloudy blue and very warm. The café there was selling the geyser bread, and Elsie bought some so we could all try it. It was a dark brown, moist, very heavy bread, something like Boston brown bread. It was okay, but would have been better with butter on it or a cup of coffee with it .

On the way back to Akureyri, Audun asked if it would be okay to take the old road back. We all agreed, but when we saw the rough gravel road with its many hairpin curves and shaky-looking one lane bridges, we wondered if it was the right decision. We were rewarded by spectacular views, one after another, as we climbed up and over the mountain between the fjords, including a great view of Akureyri. Back in the city, we drove through some of the more modern areas with newer homes and apartments and the main shopping street before arriving back at the port.

Since we had a late lunch when we got back to the ship, we went to the early movie and had dinner in the Lido buffet afterwards. For whatever reason, there was no show in the showroom.