Akureyri in Iceland is often called the Gateway to the North or the Capital of the North. It lies at the base of the Eyjafjordur channel, which at 60 km is the longest fjord in Iceland. The city is only about 100 km south of the Arctic Circle. From the town you can do tours to many of the top attractions in this part of Iceland.
Looking at the town from the harbour and then from the other side of the fjord -
The first stop on the tour was the Godafoss waterfall, which is like a mini Niagara falls. It is very impressive. The river Skjalfandafljot falls from a height of 12 m over a width of 30 m.
Looking down river. The bridge was built in 1972 -
And the view from the bridge -
We went on to Myvatn, a large volcanic lake. A lot of tours go to the geothermal baths.
We went to Namafjall geothermal area, at Hverir, to walk around the boiling mud pools.
This is an impressive geothermal area, with clouds of steam, hissing fumaroles and a smell of sulphur. The fumaroles are natural steam vents. There are also mud pools or mudpots, formed when a little water collects in the rich volcanic ash surrounding a fumarole.
The colours of the hills reminded me of Death Valley in the US.
We encountered the midges for the first time, they were horrendous. Although they don't bite or sting they are totally annoying, constantly flying into your face, especially nose and mouth.
From here we went back to the lake and continue on around, past the large Hverfjall crater, 420 m, 1 km in diameter, it erupted 2500 BP and is a tephra cone or tuff ring volcano.
In the above photo, the crater is in the background. Re the hay bales - Farmers cut the hay about 3 times a year as the animals are kept indoors in the winter. They wrap the hale in plastic and if it is coloured it means they have donated to a cancer charity (pink for breast, blue prostrate, etc etc.). However all the bales I saw were white except for about half a dozen blue ones.
Our next stop was Dimmuborgir where we did a lava walk. It is a large lava field with large formations. It is the only place that charged for toilets, kr 200, (£1.40) but we had a free ticket.
There is an observation platform over the area.
Our guide took us for a walk around one of the several trails. Saw the rift between the North American and European plates, it was smaller here than the one I had seen in Pingvellir.
There are lots of legends about trolls, one rock represents 2 teenage trolls who were kissing when the sun came up and were turned to stone -
The 13 Yule lads live in Dimmuborgir! These brothers love to sing, trick people and tell funny stories.
We saw their cave -
Our last stop was the Skutustadagigar viewpoint over the lake and false craters but the flies were really annoying. The craters are formed like holes formed in boiling porridge. The Myvatn wetlands are popular with birdwatchers.
We headed back to Akeuryri and I had a look at the town. The traffic lights have heart shapes. These were installed after the Icelandic financial crash in 2008, to reinforce some positive thinking.
As we sailed back out of the fjord there were good views. Note the entrance to the Vadlaheidi Tunnel, which is 7.5 km long and cost 1500 kr (£9) for a car, one way.
We also saw some humpback whales but I didn't get any good photos.
After we left the fjord, we sailed north of the Arctic Circle. It was the 16 of June. This is the midnight sun, as we went into 17th June.
The sun was supposed to set at 1.27 am and rise at 1.45 am. But by then we were further north and the sun didn't actually go below the horizon.
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