Mon 15 Aug 16
We went on our first Holland America shore excursion today. A four hour tour that included the Botanical Garden, the Godafoss waterfall and Laufás. The gardens had a surprising range of plants considering the climate, with lots of colourful flowers.
Laufás is a 19th century stone and turf farmhouse and museum, and is a good example of a wealthy vicarage. Fascinating! If you are ever in Akureyri, this is one place you must visit.
The tour gave us a chance to get out of the town and see some of the countryside which is very green, but rather sparse (and to see some sheep). The valley where Godafoss is, is the valley next to the one where the movie "Rams" was filmed. The sheep in Iceland are free range but instead of flocks like we are used to seeing, here they tend to range in "family" groups, a ewe and her two lambs. There is a roundup at the end of summer when a few farmers get together and roundup all the sheep they can find and then separate them in pens back at one of the farms.
There was light intermittent rain, but the temperature was a mild 12-13 deg.
We spent the afternoon walking around the town looking at lots of souvenir shops. There were three cruise ships in port and Akureyri now gets about one hundred each year. So tourism is becoming a major industry, fishing being the major one currently.
The rain cleared as we sailed up the fjord, with the sun shining through the clouds making for spectacular sights.
Spectacular is a word that could be (has been?) overused in writing or talking about this area.
We also saw (glimpsed?) quite a few whales as we sailed up the fjord and out into the sea.
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