UK/Iceland, Summer 2023 - Petersontravels

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.

So after two agonizing days at sea, where our illustrious Captain decided that compensation for missing two ports of call was extra bingo games (that you still had to pay for….and no, we didn’t partake…we aren’t that fricking old yet), we finally pulled into our first port in Iceland, Akureyri, the largest city in the northern part of the country. Since we had an extra day here we decided to visit some local attractions. Here is our ship at anchor as we are on our way to the Botanical Gardens.

The gardens exceeded expectations. I actually wasn’t expecting much given that it’s Iceland, but there were some pretty cool plants, with Iceland Poppies taking center stage.

The garden was founded in 1910, so some of the trees in the garden are well over 100 years old, which can’t be said for most of Iceland, where the trees were mostly cut down for building houses and for firewood. Kim of course wore the appropriate attire for the setting.

We visited the Akureyri Church, which sits on a hill overlooking the city. While it has an interesting exterior, the interior was so “blah” I didn’t even take a photo. If anybody stays awake during a service in this building it would either be a honest-to-god miracle or an act of 5 shots of cappuccino. Yikes!

On our second day in Akureyri, the actual date we were SUPPOSED to be here, I had a tour planned for our group of 10. Our first stop was Godafoss Waterfall, the “waterfall of the gods”! Remember those commercials advertising the monster truck shows? Sunday Sunday Sunday!!! Just think of them when you say “waterfall of the gods!!” and you get the picture.

I gotta admit though….Sunday Sunday Sunday is pretty appropriate!

Put this on your must-see list!

We next visited Skutustadagigar (who in the hell came up with these names?), an area of “pseudo-craters”, a rare geological formation created through the interaction of lava and water.

This is the most distinct pseudo-crater we saw. The interaction of the lava with the lake caused the lava to explode around the spot of contact, spewing cooled lava into a cone shape, hence a pseudo-crater. Class dismissed!

This is the same pseudo-cater from a different perspective. Gorgeous spot!

Our next stop was the unique lava formations of Dimmuborgir, known by the Icelandic people as the home of the trolls. Dimmuborgir translates as “dark castle”.

The below sign lists the current trolls who inhabit this area, the Icelandic Yule Lads, also known as Iceland’s 13 Santa Clauses. Starting on December 12th, these trolls are said to start giving gifts to children by placing them in their shoes, as long as they are good. If they have been bad, their shoes will be filled with rotten potatoes.

This is the home of one of the trolls, the “Spoon Licker”, who is known to sneak into houses and lick the wooden spoon used to scrape the pots and pans. Other trolls have names like “Stubby”, “Pot Scraper”, “Bowl Licker”, “Door Slammer” and “Sausage Swiper”. The Iceland population has too much time on their hands…particularly in the dead of winter.

That’s “Spoon Licker’s” cave behind part of our retreating group.

These two lava formations are said to be “kissing trolls”. Legend has it that if a troll stays outside too long and they are hit by the sun, they are frozen in place forever, which is what apparently happened during this troll kissing party. You know what’s really surprising?? Marijuana isn’t legal in Iceland! Seriously!

We visited one of the thermal baths, this one called Hverarond. I don’t care how relaxing it might be, they stink to high heaven.

Mike and Julie opted to enter the smelly hot water, so Kim and I took a short hike on a nearby hill. There are thermal vents all over this area…you have to make sure you aren’t standing on one, as it might melt your shoes! In the distance is a major geothermal electric plant.