More holiday photos.

We told mum we will let her have our blog again today. The Friday Flashback should be back again next week. So it is over to mum.


The second stop on the cruise was at Akureyri also in Iceland. It was another dull day, but at least it didn't rain and was warmer.

The scenery cruising up the fjord was lovely.

After a while the mist started to lift.

This was our first view of the town as we approached the harbour. You can see Akureyri church, just left of the centre of the photo. This is another Lutheran church and can be seen from most places in the town.

We took a coach tour and the first stop was Godafoss which means Falls of the Gods.

Then it was on to Lake Myvatn which is the fourth largest lake in Iceland. There are said to be more species of duck living and breeding there than anywhere else in the world. Most of them seemed to be in hiding while we were there.

By the lake were pseudo craters. These craters were not caused by lava erupting from them, but by steam explosions when burning lava reached the lake.

There were lava formations wherever we looked.

We walked down a trail to Dimmuborgir which means dark castles. It was formed when a huge lava flow covered the marshes and made the marsh boil and the vapour formed the lava pillars. The lava lake was thought to be over 30 feet deep.

The American and Eurasian tectonic plates can be seen by Dimmuborgir. We were expecting to see a huge crevasse. Ivor is stood on one side of it. If he had straddled it, he would have had his feet on the tectonic plates of two different continents.
This is about the only place in the world above sea level where the tectonic plates can be easily seen. They are very slowly moving apart.

This is looking down on Dimmuborgir from a higher viewpoint.

After that we went to the boiling mudpots at Hverir. This is an old bore hole that has been covered in by rocks.

The fumarole field is full of vents from which volcanic gas escapes.

Boiling mud can be seen in the pots and the sulphurous smell from them is quite overpowering!

Then it was time for the coach to go back to the ship with a last look at Lake Myvatn, but still no ducks.
This was our last stop in Iceland. Next stop Norway.