Reykjavík Grapevine - sept 2019, Qupperneq 42

The Reykjavík G
rapevine
Best of Iceland 2019
42
All That Glitters
A road trip around North Iceland’s
otherworldly Diamond Circle
Words: Felix Robertson Photos: Art Bicnick
You don’t need to spend long on the
Diamond Circle—northern Iceland’s
greatest sightseeing route—to realise
that it’s a different world to the neat-
ly kempt and touristed Golden Cir-
cle. Deep in the rugged countryside
of the north, everything is rougher,
stranger and often even more beau-
tiful.
We started out from Akureyri,
northern Iceland’s largest town and
a good base for the Diamond Circle.
After passing through the Vaðla-
heiðargöng tunnel—note, despite
minimal signage, you have to pay
online to avoid a fine—we’re soon
deep in the wilds of the north. A
thick mist contributed to what was
an already disorienting landscape.
The old gods and new
Our first stop was the waterfall
Goðafoss, so named for the statues
of pagan gods that Icelanders threw
into the waters after they converted
to Christianity. Looking down into
the seething torrents of the semi-cir-
cular cascade, you could well im-
agine why a near religious signifi-
cance was ascribed to this place.
40km eastward lies Lake Mý-
vatn, one of the landmark sites of
the Diamond Circle. It’s technical-
ly just one lake, but it’s so pocked
by outcrops and islands that it feels
like many more. We stopped at Skú-
tustaðagígar and walked amongst
the pseudo-craters—bizarre rock
formations caused by lava violently
exploding when it reached the lake-
water. From the top of these craters,
Mývatn seemed to stretch on forev-
er; the outcrops like strange boats on
a misty grey sea.
Boiling and erupting
This elemental clash between water
and lava defines much of the Dia-
mond Circle, nowhere more strik-
ingly than at Dimmuborgir. Some-
times known as ‘The Black Fortress,’
this strange area was formed when
heavy lava covered wetlands, causing
the water to boil and erupt through
the newly formed rock. The result is
an eerie array of calcified explosions.
Extensive pathways run through the
site, allowing you to hike through
the twisted, rocky forest. Over it
all towers the jet-black volcano
Hverfjall, which poured forth the
lava over 4,000 years ago.
The largest town on the Diamond
Circle is Húsavík, where we checked
into the luxurious Fosshotel Húsavík
and enjoyed a pleasant meal before
heading off to explore. Húsavík is
a beautiful port town, famed for its
whale watching tours, which have
some of the highest success rates in
the country. When we visited, the
town was heavily decorated with a
range of colourful, and often bizarre,
sculptures and artworks. The tour-
ist office explained that it was for
Mærudagar, the festival of candy—
and we thought the town couldn’t
get any sweeter.
Thick, pearly silver
Before departing Húsavík in the
morning, we dropped in at the Geo-
Sea Geothermal Baths. These toasty
bathing pools look over the sea, so
you can linger in the warm seawater
and gaze out towards the Arctic cir-
cle, thinking about the day to come
Distance from
Reykjavík:
388 km
How to get there: Start at
Akureyri and choose your own
adventure
Car provided by: hertz.is
Accommodation: fosshotel.is
& akureyribackpackers com North