Chasing Waterfalls - Litlifoss, Dettifoss, Godafoss, Jökulsárgljúfur, Asbyrgi

Our first visit of the day was to the underground bakery by Lake Myvatn where they make Icelandic rye bread aka "thunder bread" due to the noises that you would make if you eat too much of it! Too funny. It's made of molasses and rye flour and baked in the heated ground for many hours.

We took a peek into several of the pits, but alas, there were no buns in the oven. Sad.

It turned out that we were going to see a slew of waterfalls that day. After seeing Gullfoss, I was really excited to see Dettifoss, Europe's most powerful waterfall. But first, we stopped by Litlifoss, a much smaller waterfall that's in close proximity to Dettifoss. I guess it was like a waterfall appetiser.

I made J more than a little nervous by sitting on the cliff edge, but it was worth it since I got a great view of the black sand beach below.

We walked along the alien landscape to get to Dettifoss.

I'm sorry to say, but I wasn't that impressed. I thought Gullfoss was much more impressive - it's cleaner looking and easy to get close to.

The landscape got even weirder when we drove to Jökulsárgljúfur canyon to explore the rock formations there. There were more elf churches...

And the most amazing geometric rock formations that looked manmade!

We moved on to the Asbyrgi oasis, where we could see a beautiful calm lake where it's possible to see a variety of birds. There's even a purpose-built viewing platform, and the canyons provide amazing acoustics. Our guide told us about rock concerts they would hold nearby, and J and I had fun yodeling into the rocks.

We had one more waterfall we had to stop and see, Godafoss, which translates to waterfall of the gods. Legend has it that when Iceland made the official switch to Christianity, they threw the carved Norse gods of old into the falls.

It was a very short hike...

With a very big payoff.

It turned out to be a short day with a lot of driving and a little hiking, which was probably just as well since our feet were taking a beating from the rough terrain. We finally reached Akureyri, the northern counterpart of Reykjavik, where we settled in for the night.

Believe it or not, one of my law school chums was in Akureyri at the same time with his girlfriend. Or I should say fiancee, as they had just gotten engaged that morning! It's the oddest place in the world to run into someone, but I was really happy to be able to congratulate them in person on such a happy occasion. We had drinks at the lounge at Hotel KEA and ended the night with some hot chocolate at the local pub. I wonder where I'll run into them next?