We had an early start today as we were going to take a long bus trip to Akureyri. The hotel was helpful enough to call us a taxi after they checked us out. After a quick ride we arrived at the BSÍ bus terminal. We'd already got our tickets from the travel agent.
The bus left on time at 9 o'clock. I thought the suspension felt rather springy; we found out why later on. I had guessed that we would go around the coastal ring road but it turned out the bus route we'd been booked on was a tourist route that ran through the rugged heart of Iceland. The first stop was at Selfoss to pick up some more passengers, but the first tour stop of the day was at Geysir, the original geyser. The bus stopped at a hotel by the road leaving a short walk along a gravel path.
You first see this this little bubbling pool
This is Strokkur, a geyser that erupts every five minutes or so
Thar she blows!
And this is the real Geysir erupting
We moved on to Gullfoss, a 32 metre high waterfall over which 110 tons of water fall every second. A path leads to the head of the falls but the drifting spray kept us back. We knew we were coming back on a later tour and we'd bring our raincoats that day!
After leaving Gullfoss the road deteriorated into a dirt track. We bumped along this for several hours. Along the way we passed by the eastern edge of the Langökull glacier.
Hvitàrvatn - a lake at the base of Langökull
Our mid-afternoon stop was at Hveravellir, another area of hot springs and geysers.
This one didn't erupt; it just constantly whistled
And the whole place stunk of sulphur
We arrived in Akureyri just after 6PM. The bus stopped in the centre of town at the combined bus station and tourist information office. Although Akureyri is Iceland's third largest city it has a population of just 14,000; smaller than my home town! After some aimless drifting around we found the hotel.
The Hotel Norðurland
In a continuing quest to find somewhere in Iceland that was cheap to eat in we tried "Crown Chicken", a third rate KFC clone. Not recommended.