Europe 2016: Akureyri

Friday 26^th August 2016

Having entered the Arctic Circle last night at around 8.30pm, we passed the Northernmost tip of Iceland before heading Southwest to enter Eyjafjorour, the longest fjord in Iceland. Our destination , Akureyri, is located at the end of this fjord and is 60 km South of the Arctic Circle.

It is overcast with slight drizzling rain as we progress into the fjord, with the mountain tops engulfed in cloud. As we approach Akureyri, we can see steam rising from a building complex on our port side and there appears to be hot water runoff into the fjord.

We later discovered that this was coming from a road tunneling project, where the tunneling had hit a source of hot water coming up through a fissure in the new tunnel, and this was being diverted into the fjord so the tunnel could continue.

The berth at Akureyri is very small and I could not envisage more than one cruise ship being here at any one time.

The population of Akureyri is only 18,000, so an influx of around 2000 people from the cruise ship has a significant impact. Nevertheless, when we went ashore at around 9 am, not much was open, other than the tourist information office, housed in an impressive building called Hof. The rain is holding off, but it is around 9 C, but doesn’t feel as cold as that.

At the tourist information centre we found a small mini bus tour that was leaving to see the countryside and the Godafoss Falls, at 10.45am, so signed up, and then went sightseeing in Akureyri.

It is a small place ! Initially we walked along the waterfront for a short stroll before entering town, and heading towards one of the major landmarks, a large modern church built on a high spot that promised a view.

The climb up the stairs to the church got the circulation going, and we quickly found out that the church was closed for a funeral and would not be open until 2.45pm this afternoon. The view however was worth it .

Our next attraction was the botantical gardens, which were up on the hill, but another 500m past the church. We still had plenty of time before our tour left, so headed off in that direction.

An impressive School

The gardens were compact and nicely laid out, containing most of the plants that exist in Iceland. The staff were very friendly and enthusiastic.

They even had grapes growing in a glasshouse

Still with plenty of time up our sleeve, we headed back towards town, past a few old wooden buildings, including a wooden church.

and a “famous” authors house.

Back in town, the main street is a mix of new and old buildings, with a number of restaurants, cafes and souvenir shops, demonstrating how import tourism is. Fishing is their other major income producer. Unemployment is very low, less than 2% throughout Iceland, with services employing most of their people.

Like most of this part of the World, trolls have a major role in their folklore and we were lucky enough to meet a couple in the main street.

We also think there may be a few Aussies hidden away here by the name of this restaurant.

It was now approaching 10.30am, so we headed back to the pickup point for the bus to Godafoss, having now seen most of the attractions of Akureyri.

When you have a lot of spare time, this is what you can do with river stones

Once on the bus, it was only a matter of minutes before were out in the countryside and heading inland, past rural land and mountains still with some residual snow. Cows and sheep are the most popular grazing animals, interspersed with Iceland Horses, a very small but strong breed dating back to the Viking days.

Within an hour, we are at the falls, hailed to be one of Iceland’s most spectacular falls. Legend has it that in the year 1000, the then leader of Iceland had to make a decision as to whether Iceland would continue to be a Pagan nation, or turn to Christianity. He eventually decided that the Pagan days were over and that Iceland would become a Christian nation. To symbolize the change, he hurled statues of the Pagan Gods into these falls, hence the name Godafoss, Waterfalls of the Gods.

Our bus trip took us back the way we came through more rural scenes

before stopping at a lookout back near to town to give us a vista of Akureyri.

The tour continued to take us through the old town, a collection of old wooden houses, that in most cases have been lovingly restored.

Our guide, and bus driver, was very good and quite an entrepreneur. He intends driving 400 km to Reykjavik to meet up with our cruise again there with the hope of filling the bus again there for a tour of the local attractions. The cost of our tour was 50% of the equivalent Holland Americas organized tour.

It was now time for lunch (around 1.30pm), and to find somewhere with free internet, so we can catch up. We found a nice little café in the main street, ad had a llght lunch (at considerable expense).

By now the rain had returned, and as we had covered the extensive highlights of Akureyri this morning, we were back on board the ship by 3.30pm, with sailing planned for 5pm.

There was a get together on the pool deck with a bit of commentary for the sailaway, so we ventured up and had a beer.