Iceland: GoT Cave, Mývatn Nature Baths, & the Big City

After departing the wonderful and magical Möðrudalur campground, we made our way toward Iceland’s second largest city and the capital of northern Iceland, Akureyri. We looked forward to spending the next two nights in an Airbnb apartment in the “big city” complete with laundry facilities. Of course, we had to make several stops along the way as Iceland’s Ring Road offers something new every few miles.

Of course, waterfalls aren’t really anything new. In fact, we suffered from waterfall fatigue to a degree. Still, we pulled off the road to check out another major waterfall, Dettifoss, and once again, we we were amazed, but there was more! Selfoss could be viewed as well along the trail from Dettifoss.

We hopped back on the road and decided to visit Grjótagjá Cave. Whether or not this small lava cave deserves all the hype is up for debate, but as Game of Thrones fans, we figured we would check it out. For those of you who are not GoT fans, Jon Snow and Ygritte consummated their love in this thermal spring cave. Only a few tourists milled around the location. There isn’t much to do except peer into the cave and take pictures.

Now that we had our GoT fix, we drove over to Mývatn Nature Baths. I regret not taking any pictures as we approached the facility. These thermal baths contain silica and have that same milky blue hue as the Blue Lagoon but without the hefty price tag and massive amounts of tourists. We ate lunch in the cafe, changed into our bathing suits, and wandered outside for a dip. The weather cooperated with sunny blue skies. We lounged around in the waters for a couple of hours, enjoying cocktails and people-watching. We just reached the mid-point of our trip, and nothing could feel better than relaxing in the late afternoon sun. We drifted around the hot pools, seeking the warmest areas and soaking up the atmosphere.

We returned to our camper van so relaxed and ready to finish our drive to Akureyri. We knew we’d be hitting rush hour, but we didn’t mind making an additional stop for yet another waterfall. Yes, another waterfall! This time it was Goðafoss.

Although we neared Akureyri around 6 p.m., we didn’t encounter much traffic. In fact, we found the traffic very light. I knew the majority of people lived in Reykjavík, but I somehow expected Akureyri to be bigger. What I found was a town quite similar in size to my own hometown, which has around 20,000 people.

We found our Airbnb apartment just a few steps from the main street. The hostels next door and across the street bustled with activity. We parked our camper van across the street and threw all our dirty clothes in the big suitcase.

Grateful to be spending an evening outside of the camper van, we made dinner at the apartment that night. We had so much food that we needed to eat! We made pasta with vodka sauce, snacked on assorted cheeses, and drank wine. Our dining room table even had a little hygge candle display so we lit the candles and enjoyed our dinner.

After dinner, we stretched our legs with a walk around the city. The cathedral can be seen throughout the town, and it was magnificent! We noticed the steps painted in rainbow colors near the church. We also got a glimpse of local art with knitted-wool trash bin covers. We stopped and got lakris (licorice) ice cream, and we were immediately addicted! Iceland loves its lakris, and they do it up right!

We returned to our apartment eager to explore the city in daylight and ready for a comfortable night of sleep. Our bedroom included different weights of down comforters so that we could each pick one we liked best. We stayed up later than expected mostly because folks in the city like to party! We listened to people wandering around in the streets laughing and talking as we nodded off to sleep.