Monday, August 1, 2016

The Diamond Circle - Asbyrgi

There are so many things to see and do in the Akureryi area. We decided on a few that we really wanted to see, then figured we could add in some others as time allowed. Next time we go to Iceland we will do some of the things we missed. I would really like to go to Grimsey, but that is a real time commitment.

John had a plan as to how we could maximize our time and see everything we hoped to. We drove from Akureryi to Asbyrgi first. That drive took us through Husavik, a lovely little town on a fjord. You can do many things from Husavik - whale watching and so on.


Cruise ship coming in 






Husavik through the fog



The road into Husavik is filled with these little characters and signs. 







If you open this picture up you can see there are happy faces on the top bales. 

We eventually crossed this bridge











The clouds were lovely


Asbyrgi is in Jokulsargljufur, the northern part of the Vatnajokull National Park. The park has a beautiful visitors' centre, Gljufrastofa. Asbyrgi is a huge, horseshoe shaped canyon. Myths say the canyon was formed by the hoof of Sleipnir, the 8 legged horse of the god Odin. Other theories say it was formed by massive floods. No matter how it was formed, it is impressive to see.


We did a short hike through the woods. The view at the end was amazing. We'd have liked to do more hikes in the area but we had so many other things to see that we decided to stick to just one. It would have been nice to hike to the top of the canyon, but that was a multi-hour endeavour. We will do that next time we go.


John, leading the way. I am always trailing behind because I'm taking pictures. 





















This beautiful rock juts up from the ground







The horseshoe shaped canyon from a distance



Beautiful wildflowers






The canyon wall is as high as 100m in places


An exercise gym!




The view on the way out

No comments:

Post a Comment