Next Stop, Iceland!

After leaving Dublin, the itinerary called for two days at sea before our next port stop in Akureyri, on the northeast coast of Iceland, but as the old saying goes about the best laid plans…….

As a quick aside, on the first of our two expected sea days before Iceland, we had arranged a dinner at Prego for some of the Cruise Critic people as well as Jim and Steve. A couple of people couldn't make it, and instead we were joined by John Loesser. Here's the photo of all of us at the table:

From left: Steve, Jim, Larry, Monica, (the other) Larry, Nancy & John

After an uneventful Saturday spent sailing northward, things began to get just a bit rougher Sunday morning. Of course, we had been warned. At his morning update Saturday, Captain Zander said that the wind would come up and waves would grow as we headed north. That evening, at the Cruise Critic cocktail party he told us that the forecast for Akureyri was not looking good, with strong winds and 30 foot waves, meaning we might have to cancel.  Sure enough, at the Sunday update he announced that due to forecast winds of 50 MPH, waves of 30 – 40 feet and SNOW, he had decided to cancel Akureyri. Good plan!!! All we need to tell you, to describe how rough the seas were Sunday and Monday, is that we are on Deck 10 and about10:30 Monday morning a wave washed our balcony door! It looked like someone threw a bucket of water at the door. Scared the heck out of Monica who was quietly sitting in the cabin knitting! She even dropped a stitch!!!!!!!!

First view of Iceland, before the clouds and fog rolled in

How the verandah looked AFTER the wave!

On Tuesday we arrived in Reykjavik about 4 hours before our original schedule, so we had a little more time to explore the city. It was a pretty day, nice and bright and about 7 degrees C, but with the strong wind it felt more like 1 or 2 degrees. Since we were in no particular hurry to go ashore, we thought we would take advantage of the room service breakfast option before we set out on our day.

It turned out to be a good thing that we'd packed some extra warm stuff for the whale watching we were supposed to do in Akureyri; at least we still got the use out of it. There was a shuttle bus service running all day, so we decided to do some exploring and maybe a little souvenir shopping.

Our first stop was the Hallgrimskirkja, the main church in Reykjavik and the biggest landmark in the city. It took 40 years to build and was opened in 1986. It is quite an impressive structure from both the outside and the inside, and is a great example of minimalist design. The statue outside is of Lief Ericsson, acknowledged to be the founder of the Viking colonies in Iceland.

It is also only one example of modern architecture around Reykjavik. For some reason, we don't think of a country as remote as Iceland to be as progressive and modern as its equivalents in Europe or North America, but it is a very interesting mixture of traditional and new. It is in a way just a representation of the country's culture – the people mix a firm basis in tradition, such as their own language that has stood since the Vikings and which they don't want to lose, with new technologies and uses for the geothermal energy that is abundant everywhere due to the volcanic nature of the landmass. (We'll go into that a little later.)


One of the other traditions is the folklore around trolls and elves. Elves are the 'good guys' who are there to help if anyone asks, and the trolls are the mischievous ones who like to make trouble, so the elves keep the trolls in line. In this way, the Viking tradition was carried here from Norway. And into downtown Reykjavik!

Larry and his new friend!

On our way out in the morning we bumped into another couple we know who were already on their way back. They commented that there was nothing to see and their first impression of Reykjavik was correct "grey with a little grey thrown in for colour." We're glad we didn't take their advice. After visiting the church, and doing our bit for the Icelandic economy on the main shopping drag, we decided to just wander about and see what there was to see. And this is what we found;

After all that sightseeing, it was time for lunch, so we set off in search of a restaurant and some authentic Icelandic food. Found it!!!

Monica's lobster salad and Larry with his lobster sandwich

As we had a tour scheduled for Wednesday anyway, after lunch we headed back to the ship and a leisurely afternoon of high intensity relaxation. But we did pass an interesting boat along the way.

A sylized depiction of a Viking ship on the waterfront