May 15, 2018

    At this time of the year in Iceland, the early morning hours are not dark, since there is still a tiny glimmer of light in the sky through the night, thus no possibility of seeing the Northern Lights. After midnight there seemed to be a light fog. We passed through the Arctic Circle briefly as the ship rounded the northwestern Iceland peninsula, Hornstrandir, during the night. 

   The morning temperature was 8 C. It was windy and overcast but there were small patches of blue sky. During the day people on some of the excursions encountered rain and light snow.

    Before breakfast, the Eclipse entered the Eyjafjöröur fjord, Iceland’s longest, to reach Akureyri, Iceland. Akureyri is located in the banana belt of Iceland due to the ability to grow banana trees in hot houses.  

    There were lots of flat snow topped mountains as we approached the city. Akureyri is Iceland’s second largest city which is on the north coast of Iceland almost at the Arctic Circle. The population is about 19,000. The mountains around Akureyri vary from 1,000 to 1,400 meters high.  There is a winter ski resort not far away.

    Our Excursion today is “Nature Folk & Flora”. As the bus of 48 passengers left the dock, we passed the HOF cultural centre, a modern circular building covered in cultured stone completed in 2010.

   During the 45 minute long ride to Goðafoss, which is an impressive waterfall, we saw horses and sheep grazing in the pastures.  We drove along Lake Ljósavatn.  After 30 minutes to take pictures, walk on the pathways and browse the gift shop we departed to visit Laufás museum. It is a beautifully preserved series of gabled farm buildings, an example of earlier Icelandic farm life with authentic furnishings and farm equipment from over 100 years ago. The farmhouse dates back to the late 1860s. It is built on a slight hillside with a commanding view of Eyjafjöröur fjord. The upper bedroom level had wooden plank floors, but the ground level had dirt floors, which may have been covered by something like the burlap sacking that covers them now. This farm has been tended for over 1,000 years. Beside the sod house is a church which was built in 1865.  Inside the small building is a carved wood pulpit is over 300 years old.  

   The final stop was at the Botanical Gardens of Akureyri (Lystigardur Akureyri). Although May is a bit early to enjoy the garden in the full bloom of summer, there were many perennials out in flower. The gardens were established in 1912 by a group of housewives  who wanted to beautify the town with a garden. They were granted one hectare of land which today is three times larger than the original garden. The management was taken over by the local government in 1953 and the botanical garden added in 1957. All the plants have labels identifying them. Most of the 7.000 plants are from Arctic and alpine regions and some from temperate zones.

    We walked the one kilometer downhill back to the ship along residential streets, visiting the Akureyrarkirkja - the Church of Akureyri. There are 112 steps up to the top of the hill. It was consecrated in 1940. There are 17 beautiful stained glass windows in the church.

   At the bottom of the hill is the shopping street, Hafnarstraeti, where we stopped at the book store to buy a book in English by Icelandic author Ragnar Jónasson. We continued along the street looking for two of the Icelandic “Yule Lads” statues.  There is an Icelandic Christmas tradition that revolves around the 13 Yule Lads, a kind of Father Christmas and 7 Dwarfs rolled into one. The Yule Lads are mischievous and take turns visiting children on the 13 nights before Christmas.  Each night children place one of their shoes on the windowsill in expectation that a Yule Lad will leave candy, if they have been good. However, if they are not deserving then the child will find rotting potatoes in the shoe.  There is more to this ancient legend which includes the parents of the Yule Lads. Their mother, an ogre named Grýla, eats badly behaved children.  She can be visited at the Christmas House a few kilometers away for from Akureyri.

   When were back to the ship in time to enjoy coffee before dinner.

   There was a saying on tonight’s menu that read: “Age and glasses of wine should not be counted.”  Tonight, dinner selections were salad, soup, Veal Cordon Bleu with mushroom ragout & vegetables and Steak Dianne & vegetables.  Dessert choices were Sacher Torte and Crème Brule.

   Tonight’s show featured Greta Salóme, a talented singer and violinist, who played some great melodies.

   When Randy and Cathie watched the sail away from the Sky Lounge on Deck 14 they saw some whales as the ship travelled up the long fjord out to sea.

    Early tomorrow morning the ship will again pass through the Arctic Circle as it sails around northeastern Iceland on the 39 hour trip to Lerwick in the Scottish Shetland Islands.

         Distance walked today was 11.98 km