Smile, you're in the promised land. Part 2.

After visiting Husavik we drove to the Myvatn area.  Solrun had told me that, to her mind, this was the most beautiful place in Iceland and I expected an idyllic lake with clear water, grassy fields and sandy beaches where handsome Nordic youths frolicked merrily in the shade of pine trees.  Instead, Myvatn is a morass of molten, sulferus pools, volcanic rock and middle aged Germans.

The first place we visited in the Myvatn area was Dimmuborgir; an expansive volcanic field formed by a collapsed lava tube 2000 years ago.  Dimmuborgir's name is translated into English as "dark castle" and the site was significant to Icelandic folklore in the Viking period as the place where hell met the earth as well as the site where Satan landed when he was forced out of Heaven.  From an overhanging cliff desolate, craggy black ridges rise up into the distance.  From inside it is impossible to see out beyond the pillars and crevasses which dominate the landscape; one is surrounded as though in a thick forest.  Today, Icelanders believe that Dimmuborgir is home to the Yule Lads, mischievous trolls whose names are scarcely single entendres; Sausage Swiper and Window Peeper, Door Sniffer and Skyr Gobbler.

Not far from Dimmuborgir is Namafjall Hverir where sulfur bubbles up from the earth in boiling mudpools and plumes of smoke.  Nothing lives on this hillside where sand and bare rock are the order of the day; Namafjall Hverir is a small piece of Mars in the Icelandic highlands.  This oddly surreal landscape is like nowhere else I have ever been.  More cheesy 80s sci fi than real life.

After everything we had done it was great to finish the day by relaxing at our next stop;  a swimming pool atop a mountain overlooking the Myvatn lake.  Despite being highly developed as a tourist resort the pool itself was all natural; lined by black rock and sand and heated by volcanic energy.  The water was wonderfully warm and I would have been quite happy to surrender all my hopes and ambitions and to lie there forever dining on food and drink brought to me by eunuchs.  Sadly, I was not able to take any photos as I left my camera in a locker.
Though I was sad to leave the pool driving through the beautiful, Icelandic scenery is always lovely.  I dozed happily on Weddle's shoulder as we drove home through lonely fields bathed in amber light watching the sun dip into the mountains.