Iceland

I got to spend the winter of this year in the north of Iceland! I've been meaning to make some sort of page for it since then but had no idea where/how I wanted it but here it is now!
I took a LOT of pictures so I decided I just wanted somewhere to log them all with some info dumping :>

This was my first time travelling abroad by myself! I've also only been on a few planes in my life so I was very excited :3 This was when I started my Bulbasaur hunt in FR (I still don't have it but it was a nice pastime). Because of weather we ended up circling for aaages but other than that it was fun.

I was staying near Hjalteyri and it was so beautiful :')

I got to see the Northern Lights! They were soo pretty but it was hard to get a good picture with my phone :(

Completely forgot the name of this place but I THINK it was Möðruvallakirkja in Hörgárdalur valley. Around there anyway.
This church had to be rebuilt in 1865 after (according to stories) monks let the original burn down while drinking.
I really love church architecture (not religious lol) and just thought this was so !!! All the little stars on the ceiling !!!!!

The little island you can sort of see is Hrísey. It's the second largest off the coast of Iceland.
On that topic, to the North is Grímsey which is actually on the Arctic Circle!
Two places I'd like to go to if I get to visit again.

Héðinsfjörður valley! It was here that I learned about the legend of the mother who walked across this terrain (or a nearby area) to get help for her family during a snow storm which should have been impossible to do. It's also where the bus got stuck in snow and had to be pushed out.
The deadliest air accident in Iceland happened here when a passenger plane crashed into the side of a mountain - 1947 Héðinsfjörður plane crash.

Siglufjörður is a small fishing town with a museum about the herring industry - I do like a good boat model.

While in the hotubs at Hauganes we saw seals!! Also went into the fjord water - it's a bit cold.

Snow shoe walking above Akureyri and snow tubing! This was where I was introduced to rhubarb jam I had on pancakes... packed 2 bottles in my suitcase... it's just that yummy.

Ice fishing at Ljósavatn - soooo pretty!! Didn't catch anything but got to make the hole myself and still had fun :3
The name literally means 'lake of light'. A landslide nearby actually created another lake :P

And here's some random pictures... Hjalteyri (in 4th picture) is a fishing village (there's a lot) and the big building was an oil processing factory that's no longer in operation. It has a dive center where you can scuba dive and see Strýtan, a hydrothermal chimney!

Goðafoss!!!!!! I'd never seen an actual, proper waterfall before!!!! It was so loud and you could literally feel the water splashing on you!! It sometimes even makes rainbows :3333
It's name means 'waterfall of the gods'. There's another waterfall to the south I learned about called Barnafoss (children's waterfall) named that because of the story of two children who fell into the river and drowned while their parents went to church for Christmas Mass. They had fallen off of a natural stone bridge which was destroyed afterwards - either the mother had it destroyed to prevent another accident, by spell or curse, or just erosion.

Pseudocraters at Mývatn! I'll try not to infodump too hard about volcanoes ehe but pseudocraters are super rare! Basically, they were caused by steam explosions when lava from a volcanic eruption entered the lake. And they look really sick.
Hverfjall (last image) is a volcano you can hike up! I'd never seen a volcano irl before so I wanted to walk up it right there and then... maybe next time.
The eruptions near Reykavik started a bit before I got to Iceland so that was also exciting :P
aah Iceland has so much volcanic activity - some of the largest effusive eruptions happened in Iceland: of Laki and Katla.

Dimmuborgir was also formed by volcanic eruptions! Although legends say that it's trolls who got turned to stone by daylight.
I've never watched Game of Thrones but this was one of the places in Iceland where some of it was filmed - forgot the rest and honestly don't especially care about that.

Grjótagjá! Small lava cave! The water's actually a thermal spring but I didn't test that - although it makes the whole cave very warm and cosy. Eruptions between 1975-1984 actually heated the water up too much but it's dropping again now.
It's located on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge where the North American and Eurasian plates meet (hence: volcanic activity). This means you're standing on a different plate either side of the ridge!

Stinky sulfur mud pits: Hverir. SUCH a weird place. Er also the rocks are hot but I doubt you should be going around poking them all.

Pretty Akureyri! Also, this was when I started a new HG save!

Local taste day! Suuper cute sheep and icelandic horses are super fluffy. I got to try different beers which I don't normally like but these were nice. You could have a beer bath at this place.
Hákarl... fermented shark... was on this day. I didn't try it since vegetarian + just. not wanting to eat sharkies especially. but it STANK! It's greenland shark specifically and smells really strongly of ammonia. The whole process of preparing it is interesting, since greenland sharks would give you v bad food poisoning otherwise, but it just makes me sad so,
Greenland sharks are found in icelandic waters and are one of my favourite shark species! They're funny looking and smell like pee! They're a type of sleeper shark and live in cold waters but the most exciting fact is that they take around 150 years to fully grow and can live for up to 400 years!!!! I got a poster with icelandic sea creatures on I'd seen in a random fish and chips shop in Siglufjörður that's also cool :P Just had to share that.

Frozen mini waterfall.

Turf houses look absolutely sick - it's my life goal to live in one. How actually practical is this goal? Don't know, don't care.

Wild pikachus? It was Öskudagur (Ash Wednesday)! Children dress up and sing for sweets - unfortunately I am absolutely too old to be doing that.
I also had a bunch of nice pastries/treats whilst there! My favourite was Sörur!!
I was genuinely surprised to see Nandos outside of the UK it just feels Wrong.

MEOWOWW MEOW MEOW MEEEEEEOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! meow

Went back to Goðafoss on a later date and it looked so different. Very cool. Please respect nature though signs are there for a reason :( (dickheads) + like... it's a dangerous waterfall... safety...

MORE TURF I LOVE TURF!! The grave has runes written on it but my photography skills are beyond lacking so just trust me.

Frozen beach... tried yoinking driftwood (not that big stump - not That stupid) out of the ice but it was too frozen and then saw little paw prints!!!! I followed them for a while - so silly.

More Hjalteyri walks, treats and snow shoeing :) Iceland has black sand beaches because of the volcanic rock!

Drangafjall - super super cool looking ridge. Long hike to Hraunsvatn and back in deep snow was very tiring but really worth it!

aaaa the last day was a sunny walk around Akureyri when I got to try a chocolate covered icecream P:
All the traffic lights in Akureyri have heart lights which is so cute - everywhere should have this.

Even saw whales from the window on the last day although I couldn't get a photo...

And that was it :( Flew over Herðubreið (another volcano) though!

I loved the few months I got to spend here soo much!! It really is just such a beautiful country and I've never seen so much snow in my life!!!
This was nearly a year ago now and I did do/learn some other things but it's just hard to remember + over 150 pictures here alone... I think I've covered enough...
In saying that! This was a while ago and I'm mostly going by memory since I did a terrible job of noting things down so please forgive any mistakes :') I did try to fact check as best as I could but things like folklore can vary based on who's telling the story or I might have just mixed some names up :')))
All that being said, I hope you found this interesting if you did read this far! I can't recommend visiting here enough :D

I plan to visit again one summer to see some different areas including the south so you can scroll past a video of me discovering the joys of blocks of snow if you are interested in some more landmarks/things I found interesting that I haven't actually visited (yet).

In the north in summer, Iceland experiences 24 hour days!
I'd also like to do a multi day hike with camping one time...
The Ring Road
Basically, I want to do this. It's a road trip that goes around Iceland!
FV Epine (GY7)
The remains of a shipwreck that are still on a beach. The ship was actually built near where I'm from which is why it fascinates me So much.
Crashed DC 3 Plane
More remains - this time of a plane! (Everyone survived this one dw). I promise I like things other than wrecks but they Are cool to see.
Vatnajokull
The largest glacier in Europe!
Akureyrarkirkja
Beeg church in Akureyri. Technically I DID see it but it was under construction so it doesn't count to me.
Akureyrarkirkja
And the beeg Reykavik church with the crazy architecture.
Gullfoss
Massive waterfall.
Dettifoss
Europe's biggest waterfall by volume.
Haukadalur
Active geothermal area - geysers!
Eyjafjallajökull, Hekla, Snæfellsjökull,
Basically any volcano!! Especially active ones!!!

future lin please come back and shrink image file sizes and/or host them somwhere else im too lazy rn

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