Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Northeast of Mývatn
While Mývatn's immediate surrounds appear fairly stable, the plateau rising just outside
town at
Bjarnarflag
and extending northeast is anything but serene, the barren, pock-
marked landscape pouring out lively quantities of steam and - when the mood takes it
- lava. This being Iceland you can see not only how destructive such events have been,
but also how their energy has been harnessed. Alongside power stations and even an
underground “bakery”, there are the
Jarðböðin nature baths
, building on the centuries-
old tradition of using the area's plentiful geothermal water for bathing. Beyond here, still
on the Ringroad, the bubbling mud pools at
Hverir
are definitely worth a stop en route to
the
Krafla volcano
, reached by a detour north along a sealed track. The mountain and the
neighbouring plains at
Leirhnjúkur
, still dangerously hot after a particularly violent
session during the 1980s, are Mývatn's most geologically active region.
6
Jarðböðin Nature Baths
Daily: June-Aug 9am-11.30pm; Sept-May noon-9.30pm • 2800kr •
W
jardbodin.is
Only 4km from Reykjahlíð,
Bjarnarflag
is a thermal zone on the lower slopes of Dalfjall,
a long, faulted ridge pushed up by subterranean pressures that runs northeast to Krafla
itself. Bjarnarflag has a small geothermal power station (Iceland's first, built in 1969),
whose outflow has been harnessed to create the
Jarðböðin
Nature Baths
, the local version
of Reykjavík's Blue Lagoon. It's an exceptional setting - fractured orange hills rise behind
and the poolside overlooks Mývatn itself - where you can loll to your heart's content in
milky-blue waters heated to 38-40˚C. Just remove any copper or silver jewellery before
entering the water, since the high sulphur content of the water can cause discoloration. In
addition to the pool, there's a café, hot pot and a couple of steam saunas.
The underground bakery
Near the turnoff to the nature baths, a brickworks makes a good landmark for locating
Bjarnarflag's
underground bakery
. This sounds much more technical that it really is;
the “bakery” is simply several small pits dug into the superheated, steaming soil
between the road and brickworks, each covered with weighted dustbin lids or sheets of
scrap metal. Rye dough is mixed with yeast and molasses in a cardboard milk carton
and left underground for a day, where it transforms into neat, rectangular loaves of
heavy
hverabrauð
- “steam bread” - which is especially delicious eaten hot with butter.
This isn't the only such bakery in Iceland, but it is one of the largest; what isn't made
for private consumption is sold through various outlets in Reykjahlíð. Locals will get
irate if they catch you lifting the lids, so please leave the ovens alone.
Námajall
The Ringroad east of Bjarnarflag twists up and over Dalfjall; on the way, look for a big
split in the ridges north, marking the line of the Mývatn rift. The high point south of
the road's crest is
Námajall
, streaked in grey gypsum and yellow
sulphur
deposits
- these
were once mined and exported for use in gunpowder - and there's an easy twenty-
minute track to follow through soft mud to the summit's stony outcrop. The whole
Mývatn area is spread below; in particular, look for Hrossaberg to the southwest, a large
exploded vent with ragged edges simmering quietly away between here and Hverfell.
Hverir
Below Námafjall's steep eastern face you'll find
Hverir
, a large field of
solfataras
:
evil-smelling, blue-grey belching mud pools. These are caused by groundwater
