Iceland, the land of fire and ice

 

Photo courtesy of The Icelandic Met Office/Halldór Björnsson

We didn't see the fire, as that would have required more time and an expensive helicopter ride, but the lava is still; very active in Iceland, that is bisected by two tectonic plates which are pulling apart on the geologic scale.  When we arrived in Isafjordur on July 30th, we knew it would be easy to walk around the village, and in short order we viewed the museum (mostly Liz because of the steep and narrow stairs, steeper and narrower than those at the Cabin), purchased a few mementos, and found ourselves returning early to the ship.  It is a lovely village, but explorations of this part of Iceland require a vehicle and time.

Our next stop was in the city of Akureyri a day later on July 31, where we could have explored for far longer.  Our excursion took us to the spectacular Godafoss Waterfalls, Laufas Folk Museum to see the historic Icelandic huts built with thatched roofs and thatch inserts in the walls, and to the Botanical Gardens.  This latter we could have explored on our own as it was a short walk from our ship.  Lizzie took many photos of the beautiful flowers which I'll try to integrate into the blog later--but first some images of Godafoss Falls and of the countryside.

We can't forget the ubiquitous heart-shaped red traffic lights--the City Council (equivalent) decided to make all the red portion of the red-green-yellow traffic lights in the shape of a heart.  How perfect for Akureyri!

Godafoss Falls was very impressive, and also where we encountered our first pay bathrooms, which apparently are common in Europe.  I paid with my credit card (which can be tapped-to-pay anywhere, it seems), so I will have a memento on credit card statement...

The agrarian countryside was lovely, from scenes of Icelandic horses, sheep, roll-after-roll of white wrapped hay, to just the green hillsides.

The cruise port was under construction, so it itself was not attractive due to the piles of building materials, many pieces of heavy equipment, etc., denoting "under construction."   homes.

Our tour guide was wonderful, and our journey took us through the backlands about 45 minutes from Akureyri where we have a wonderful time exploring everything from the falls to the Icelandic turf-roofed and tucked hut and of course the wonderful red hearts light signals: