From Myvatn to Reykjavik on the N1

The N1 is the main road that circles Iceland. It can be easily driven by visitors in normal cars without hiring a four wheel drive to go on mountainous roads in the interior of the country.

Starting in Skagaströnd, the photos below have been taken on a trip that ended in Reykjavik.



Among many highlights, we discovered:

- The lake Myvatn and the nearby Krafla area, full of fumaroles and bubbling mud pots,
- Husavik, a picturesque town which hosts a phallus museum (including whale specimens taller than me) and a superb whale museum. A whale watching tour brought us closer to these sea mammals and we saw three humpbacks and two minke whales.
- Asbyrgi: it is a massive horseshoe shape canyon which host a luxurious vegetation. Its scale is really impressive and majestic. A nice legend is attached to it: early Norse settlers believed that Oðinn's airborne horse calles Sleipnir accidentally touched down the earth and left a footprint to show it.
- A succession of superb waterfalls at Hafragilsfoss, Dettifoss and Selfoss.
- Jökursarlon: Spectacular, luminous-blue Icebergs drift through the lagoon into the sea. The fallen ice forms eerie ice sculptures where you can spot seals swimming around.
- Skaftafell: the national park offers majestic views on glaciers.
- Springy moss on the way to Vik and Dyrholaey, a magical place to be at at sunset which offers views over an arch in the rocks and hosts lots of puffins.
- Slogar and its nearby waterfalls
- the Vestmann Islands (Vestmannaeyjar). The islands were formed by submarine volcanoes about 11,000 years ago. The main island is Heimaey which almost got destroyed in 1973 when a giant fissure turning into the Eldfell volcano prompted the island evacuation. Inhabitants cleared the ash and rumbles once the volcano calmed down and constructed the city again.

Walks around the island bought us to fish drying structures which are used to dried fish heads. Lines of fish heads like beads on a thread drying in the sun conveyed a feeling of the end of the world. They are actually dried and exported to Nigeria as they represent an important source of protein.