Akureyri

 


We overnighted here and most people were up fairly early to do a full day tour. This is the 2nd biggest town in Iceland, and it's quite spread out. The weather has changed and today is cloudy and cool.

We had booked a small group tour through a company called Imagine Iceland. Not only did they offer a tour to take us to all the places we wanted to see, it was a reasonable price and they promised to get us back to the ship on time! Their van was easy to find on the pier and our group of 8 set out. About an hour drive to our first stop at Godafoss, the waterfall of the gods. The clouds are low and a wind blowing, so we're glad of all our layers! The waterfall is very impressive and there is a huge volume of water. Lots of people around, but there are many viewing spots and paths so it's not crowded.

Then on to Lake Myvatn, about a 30 min drive. There are still a few patches of snow around in sheltered areas. It's a very shallow lake known for the variety of birds and the quantity of bugs. However as it's windy today we didn't see much of either. This area is surrounded by many geographic features; volcanos, lava fields of all different types, steam vents, mud pots, and the joining of continental plates. There are still clouds around, but we've had some sun as well.

We first went to Dimmuborgir with paths taking you through weird and wonderful lava formations. A legend says that trolls live in some of the caves. There are lots of paths and the area goes on for miles.

Next to the steam vents at Namaskaro. This is near where Iceland built it's first steam power station. There are little steam vents everywhere you look in the area, but where we stop there are lots of larger ones, and also many bubbling mud pots. The area really smells of sulphur! There are marked paths here, it's very dangerous if you get too close to either the mud or the steam.

Next on to the Myvatn Nature Baths. There was an option to have a swim here, but our group prefered to see more of the area. So we just stopped for coffee and a snack.

Then to the area where the North American and European Continental plates join. Here it's a rocky fissure in the surface about 30 feet deep. There were a group of young American tourists sitting on the edge with their backs to the drop, unconcernedly having a picnic lunch. Underneath there was a cave with hot springs that for centuries was a popular bathing spot. But after an earth quake about 25 years ago the water is now too hot for bathing.

On the way back to Akureyri we stopped at Godafoss again, this time on the other side of the river for a slightly different view. From here we took a different route through a 7km tunnel, a faster way back. Then our guide Armand drove us through the older part of Akureyri to show us the historic houses. It's the area he grew up in, so he know who lived in each house.

We got back to the ship by 2:30pm and had time to relax and have a snack in the Living Room before sailaway at 5pm.

There is a pretty good wind blowing down the fjord. We see more whales on the way out, but not as many as yesterday. But very civilized whale watching sitting in a lounge with a glass of wine!

We decided to go for dinner a bit earlier tonight as it's been a long day. Main dining room again, and I finally try beef - flank steak with chimichurri sauce.  Flavorful and tender.

After dinner we watched the end of a show in the Den, then a show about dance in India in the Cabaret Lounge.










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