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Thursday, August 28, 2008

Day 7: Off the Beaten Path - Grettislaug Pool

Driving Route: Akureyri -> Glaumber -> Saudakroker -> Holmavik

Sort of. Today we spent the morning in Akureyri and then started our drive towards Holmavik in the West Fjords. Akureyri is the second largest city in Iceland. Pretty cute though there wasn't much to do in terms of sight seeing.

Akureyri:


Church in Akureyri:


Along the way we stopped at Glaumber to see the 18th century farm houses, then detoured to Grettislaug where there's a natural hot pot!

Glaumber is probably the oldest structure we saw in Iceland. Everything else we've seen is rebuilt or new (1900s). The farmhouses are small and low to the ground!


Cemetery near Glaumber:


Grettislaug is a pool from Grettir's Saga near Sauðárkrókur. According to the Rough Guide it is "off the beaten path". Well not so much anymore since it's now written up in the book. There were 2 other couples there. It is somewhat hard to get to since it's 20km towards the coast via gravel road.

The naturally hot pool where we took a dip. The water is geothermal but not sulphuric (YAY) :) The weather was cooperative that day and even a little hot so we had to alternate being in the water and outside, but it was nice and I worked on my tan while chatting with a nice Canadian couple. We spent a little too much time there not leaving till around 4pm for Holmavik but it was absolutely worthwhile.

Company at Grettislaug:


Saw some gorgeous Icelandic horses along the way:


As we drove towards Hotel Laugarholl near Holmavik, the weather got increasingly treacherous. It was almost 9pm and it had started raining. The wind picked up as well.

Sights Covered: Akureyri (church, Nonnihaus, town center), Glaumber, Saudarkroker, Grettislaug


Accommodation:

Hotel Laugarholl near Holmavik. It's 20km on gravel road from Holmavik (in the middle of nowhere) which took us longer than expected. The hotel itself has quite a few rooms and I was amused by the owner. He's this little old guy in his hotel fortress surrounded by his "stuff". He's technically saavy with his Macbook, large flat screen TV and satellite internet. I wasn't expecting this being so far out in the country. Hehe!

Hotel Laugarholl itself was basic like most of the places we'd been staying. Nothing to write home about. It was about USD$140 a night with private bath.

See where it is on a map.

Our room:


>> Take me to Day 8!
My Iceland Travel Blog Index

Day 1: Hello Reykjavik!
Day 2: Battling Nature? Not for the Faint Hearted
Day 3: It's a Beautiful Day (channel: U2)
Day 4: The road to Myvatn
Day 5: Iphone Malfunction
Day 5: All Fossed Out
Day 5: Jarbodin - Spa Myvatn
Day 6: The Barren Interior and Askja
Day 7: Off the Beaten Path
Day 8: Hellish Driving Day!
Day 9: Revenge of the Puffins
Day 9: Food and Botched Reservations
Day 9: Nuni? No Nüni ....
Day 10: Time to Say Goodbye

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