The little town of Isafjordur, Iceland, is in the northwest area of the country known as the Westfjords. Fortunately the Captain didn’t freak out when he saw a little wave and we were able to dock. I’ve gotta say from the looks of it this isn’t a place you want to spend a lot of time…think fishing village meets industrial center…but we did have a tour planned and we visited a few beautiful spots.
We boarded the 18 person bus and headed to our first stop, Dynadi waterfal. We drove through two tunnels that were quite long…one was about 5.5 km, and the other just over 7 km. Our guide advised us the second one just opened in 2020, shaving an hour off the trip to the waterfall. Even with the extra hour it would have been worth it!
There is a short hike up to the top part of the falls, and it’s well worth it. Unfortunately, on this day, little bugs were out in force! They aren’t mosquito’s as they don’t have any of those in Iceland. It was some sort of fly, that fortunately doesn’t bite, but there are SO FRICKING MANY OF THEM that they fly into your eyes, your nose, your mouth…even your ears! It was disgusting! I was flailing my jacket around constantly to keep the little bastards off! Fortunately the view was worth the hassle.
On the way back down there was a bus load of folks coming up the trail, and the flies seemed to gravitate towards them, so it got a bit better. There are about 6-7 waterfalls cascading on the way down from the main waterfall. Plenty of opportunities for photos….if you could keep the bugs away. I don’t know how many photos I deleted of us swiping away bugs instead of focusing on the camera!
Looking down the trail of waterfalls.
One last shot of Dynadi. I think the word means “shower of bugs”, but that’s just my interpretation.
Our tour guide then took us to the small village of Hrafnseyri, along a fjord that had a whale swimming around. Sorry, I didn’t get any photos of the whale. This little village is the birthplace of Jon Sigurdsson, the Icelandic member of parliment (whom they refer to as the “President of Iceland”) who was the foremost leader of the push for Iceland’s independence in the 19th century. The best thing about this stop was the little shop where you could buy treats that were made by the locals.
We had some sort of cheesecake thing made with the local yogurt called Skyr. It was actually quite good! On the way back our guide stopped at a very small waterfall called Gljufurarfoss…the name is WAY larger than the waterfall!
Here is our mini-bus. Kim and I took a stroll toward the beach, and after maybe 30 yards we started getting dive-bombed by two birds. Apparently we were too close to their nest. These birds don’t play…and have been known to peck you right on the head! My jacket came in handy once again.
We stopped one last time after exiting the long 7 km tunnel. This spot is at the base of their local ski resort, looking down on the town of Isafjordur, with our ship in the distance. I think that’s our ship?
The obligatory perfect sunset to end the day!
Next up, we arrive at our final port, Reykjavik, what turned out to be the nosiest city we’ve been in since we visited New Orleans.
The photo by the waterfall is gorgeous but I wish I could have seen “the jacket dance” with the flies and the bird.