After starting our day with a great breakfast thanks to some eggs from the chickens at the farmhouse at which we spent the night, we continued our journey east across northern Iceland.

On our way to our first stop in the town of Akureyri, we drove through striking landscapes complete with farms, green mountainsides, and abundant rivers. We also had our first glimpse at the unique pens used in a classic Icelandic tradition – Réttir. For the summers in Iceland, sheep farmers let their sheep free to roam the mountains and valleys throughout the country. During Réttir, which occurs around this time every year, Iceland becomes home to a nationwide round-up where sheep farmers and other willing participants retrieve their sheep from the countryside. Sheep are herded into large round pens with many sections (that look like pizza slices) and the sheep are then sorted into the different sections depending on the farmer to which they belong. Although we have not yet seen a Réttir pen in action, we have seen many farmers and their children herding sheep on ATVs.

In Akureyri we had a nice lunch and explored our third grocery store – a favorite activity of ours in other countries. Grocery stores offer a unique viewpoint into the true culture of the country and also allows us an opportunity to try different snacks! We then ventured to the great Goðafoss Waterfall, a very famous gem of Iceland. We were greeted by 70 mile an hour winds (we are getting very used to strong wind gusts, so much so that we need to remind each other to hang on to our doors when we exit our rental car so that the doors don’t fly off the hinges) but the views did not disappoint. Akin to Niagara Falls, Goðafoss is a spectacularly powerful and wide waterfall, known as the “Waterfall of the Gods.”

We ended the evening in Lake Mývatn, where we are spending two nights. Here we explored the Skútustaðagígar pseudo-craters. While not caused by an eruption or explosion, these formations are formed when hot lava flowed over the lake, causing steam that quickly cooled the lava and blew the lava to form small nearby hills with depressions inside.

This evening we had a nice casual dinner at a local pizza place where the server let us know that although it gets quite cold here in the winter months, the snow does not accumulate much due to the constant high winds. On the upside, they are treated with impeccable views of the Northern Lights. For us, we are spending the night in another cozy cabin along the lake shore, looking forward to our “loop-trip” to the town of Húsavík, Dettifoss Waterfall, and many more sights tomorrow.