Flashing by Akureyri, Iceland

Extending my footprint on the Pinmapple map again. Turns out I've never posted about Iceland before, I'm so glad I can add another country to my map now. This is part of my Nordics and Iceland summer cruise in 2012. I first posted about this in Jan 2018, about how cruising isn't my cup of tea, but I went as it was a family holiday with my five siblings plus partners, plus four of the kids.

Docking at Akureyri

Akureyri was the penultimate stop during our ten day cruise, and the first of our two stops at Iceland. As there were 16 of us, we booked our own private coach tour. It was cost effective and provides more flexibility which wasn't possible if we were with a bigger group of strangers. The only downside with cruise day trip tours, regardless of whether it's private or bigger groups, is that you're limited to where you can go and what you can see. That's why cruises aren't my cup of tea. Anyway, it is what it is. Not complaining, as this is a family holiday, not a normal holiday.

Iceland has always been a very remote country for me, and nature is the first word that springs to mind as I know the country was born from volcanoes. And then two things happened which confused me. In 2008, Iceland pretty much went bankrupt sending ripples of economic daggers throughout the rest of Europe. Then in 2010, there was the Eyjafjallajökull eruption, bringing much of global travel to a standstill for a month. Mmmmm... seems like there is more to Iceland than just nature. It does bad things to the world as well. So what exactly was Iceland like? I was about to find out.

This is my first glimpse of Iceland, and Akureyi from the cruise ship. I love how open it was, the vast mountains behind the city, and was that snow on top of the mountain beyond? This was the Iceland I always had in mind. We got a bit nearer towards the dock and the Akureyri Church stood out from the rest of the buildings. Its architecture is totally different from the churches I'm used to seeing in UK and Europe. Nice.

As soon as we docked, we were quickly whisked onto our coach to start our private tour. Wait!! What about Akureyri? Sorry, time is of the essence here. We had exactly 8 hours to do all the sightseeing to be back at 4pm otherwise the cruise ship will leave without us. We'd have to make do with Akureyri from the cruise ship. Wow! First been there and done it ticked off my list even before I set foot on Iceland.

Oh well, nothing we can do about that. At least the scenery on the way was looking gorgeous.

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Godafoss

Our first stop of our tour was to Godafoss. Probably a must for all tourist visiting this part of the country. This horseshoe shape waterfall is one of Iceland's most spectacular and famous waterfall. It's 12 meters high and 30 meters wide split in the middle creating two big and one little waterfall.

Although I have this photo of me standing in front of the Godafoss Waterfall, I really don't have much recollection of my presence there. I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm not dissing it, because looking back at the photos, it is very impressive, especially when I can stand so near to the edge. It's just that I can't remember how I actually felt when I was there. How roaring was the waterfall? Did I get splashed by the water? What was the weather like? Were there a lot of other tourists?

I can't even remember us going to another viewpoint of Godafoss. From this photo below, you can see the dots of people and vehicles on the right hand side where I was standing earlier on. Its quite a distance away which means we must have driven here but I can't remember getting on the coach and off again. Nevertheless, this view really shows the scale of Godafoss, the water flowing down the Skjálfandafljót River and down another fall, the Geitafoss. It's these images where we can feel the power of nature.

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Skútustaðagígar pseudo-craters

According to our itinerary, Skútustaðagígar would be our next stop. These are some of the photos I have after Godafoss, so I'm guessing this is the right place. Again, I have no memory of coming here (actually, I'm starting to get a bit worried now, hope I'm not starting to lose my marbles).

Assuming this is Skútustaðagígar (I hope it is), these pseudo-craters were created some 2300 years ago when lava flowed over wetland causing steam eruptions. This formed some crater like shapes in the ground, hence are called pseudo craters and not craters which are formed directly by lava. This area is a popular for birdwatching, but the view itself is breath taking on its own.

I'm going to stop here for the time being and continue the rest of my Akureyri trip next time where I will take you to another famous landmark Lake Myvatn and the surrounding geothermal area.

March PUD Guessing contest

Apart from adding a new country to my Pinampple map, the reason for doing this post is to reveal the answer to my March PUD Guessing contest - In which country was this photo taken?

And yes, you've probably guessed the answer now, it's Iceland!!! I saw this toilet plonked on the side of the road by the Hverir geothermal area during my trip. I'll be talking about that in the next part of my Akureyri trip.

There were 14 people who entered my PUD guessing contest this month, quite a few regulars and some first timers. That's always a great sign as I love meeting new people through my PUD Guessing contest. Anyway, there were four people who guessed/knew the correct answer - congrats to @failingforwards, @gems.and.cookies, @phortun, @jizzyjoe and @ace108. You guys will share the 20 Hive prize pool. Thanks to everyone for entering my PUD Guessing Contest and hope to see you again in the April one.

_{PS, if you still haven't yet, please come and drop by my latest community The LooLoo Community https://peakd.com/c/hive-165962/created, I guarantee you will love it!!!}

Hiver	Answer
@mau189gg	New Zealand
@wesphilbin	New Zealand
@fionasfavourites	New Zealand
@failingforwards	Iceland
@riverflows	New Zealand
@gems.and.cookies	Iceland
@siphon	Chile
@lizelle	Chile
@brittandjosie	Chile
@phortun	Iceland
@jizzyjoe	Iceland
@ace108	Iceland
@rubido	Russia
@zanoz	New Zealand

You can checkout all my travel post on the Pinmapple here or click on Mr Pinmapple below