Reykjavík Grapevine - 08.04.2005, Blaðsíða 42

Lake Country… Iceland Style
By Bart Cameron
O
utside Reykjavík
Mývatn
It is spring, the sun is out, and city
dwellers are losing their minds with
the return of serotonin—now is the
time to get out of Reykjavík. If you
have any money and want to see
Iceland and/or Mars, make the 450
km trek to Mývatn.
A town of 400, Mývatn receives
200,000 visitors in three short
summer months. Because of this, it
has the means to accommodate the
masses, with three all-season hotels,
hundreds of kilometres of hiking
trails, and its attractions like Krafla,
Hverfjall and Dimmuborgir, all
magnificent volcanic creations, don’t
suffer the crowds as badly as say coral
reefs, perhaps the only other natural
wonders that challenge them for
aesthetic beauty.
But spring and fall are the best
possible times to make the journey.
For starters, the three hotels I
mentioned are all 40% off up until
mid-June, and after September 1st.
For example, I drove to Mývatn,
and chose the most attractive and
central hotel, Hótel Reykjahlíð, and
could easily afford the room. In July,
this would have been impossible as
a)every room is booked in advance,
and b)they don’t come cheaper than
15,000 ISK in the summer months.
Just as spring is the time to go to
Mývatn, a hotel is the way to go
when you’re there. The reason:
Mývatn requires a guide to be done
right, and, if you’re mobile or in
good shape, Mývatn offers the kind
of hiking that requires a good bed at
the end of the night.
If you make the trip, you have
five destinations that are flat
out National Geographic-style
amazing: Dimmuborgir, Hverfjall,
Krafla, Hverir and Jarðbaðsholar.
Dimmuborgir (dark citadels)
is a stunning collection of lava
formations that looks like that
primeval city that you probably
either had nightmares about, or
daydreamed about while playing
Dungeons & Dragons. Hverfjall, a
massive crater, offers an astounding
perspective of the sheer power
of volcanoes—and, yes, hiking
it, overlooking the dark volcanic
rock that ends a few kilometres
off, you do feel like Frodo of Lord
of the Rings. Krafla looks like an
Hieronymus Bosch painting. And
Hverir is a mass of hot springs that
look like Salvador Dali’s favourite
picnic destination. Every one of
these locations has at least one hour
of hiking trails around them, and,
planned correctly, you can do some
solid hiking from one destination
to the next, going 20 or 30 good
kilometres a day.
I have done these sites often, and
they never fail to impress me. What
did surprise me on my recent visit
was how peaceful Lake Mývatn
itself was. On previous trips, I had
camped or used guesthouses. The
Mývatn area is a preserve, so you
can only camp in restricted areas,
and guesthouses only have so much
room to grow. On this visit, then, a
hotel on the lake provided me with
almost as much of an escape as my
daily hikes.
Were there no wonders of nature,
the lake here would be an attraction,
I realized, as my friend and I
took a couple drinks with Pétur
Gíslason, owner and manager of
Hotel Reykjahlíð. The conversation
was continually interrupted with
elongated pauses, as we watched the
local ducks take off, or just couldn’t
help staring at the shades of purple
reflecting off the water.
I hadn’t thought myself a beautiful
sunset type of person… nor had I
thought myself someone who could
be wowed by Northern Lights—but
the spectacular light show we got our
first night in Mývatn turned me into
a babbling sky-gazer.
Hótel Reykjahlíð. Reykjahlíð II,
660 Mývatn Ph# 464-4142
The Sites
Ga-Jol,
Good for Cooking
Turns Pork
Loins into Chicken
42