Arrive this morning in Akureyri, Iceland, a city of 17,000 population known as the "northern capital" of Iceland. The city sits at the end of a 37 mile long fjord and is picturesque from the harbor. We breakfast and are out on board coaches this morning by 9:30. It snowed overnight and there is a wonderful white on everything. Our excursion today is a full 8 hours as we head overland first to the Godafoss "Waterfall of the Gods." This is a picturesque large waterfall in this northern reach of Iceland. Next, we pass by Lake Myvatn, one of the largest lakes in Iceland. This is home to over 40 species of birds.
As the day continues the sun comes out and melts most of the snow, at least on the roads and fields. This turns into a very beautiful day, weather-wise.
We stop to walk, in the snow, along paths to view the pseudo craters, so called because they are craters formed by gas escaping during a lava flow rather than an actual explosion. We view the largest single explosion crater in Europe from some 15,000 years ago and also cross the mid-Atlantic rift zone, where the North American and European continental plates are separating, causing Iceland to expand at the rate of 2 centimeters per year.
We stop at the boiling mud pits and sulfur scented steam vents that underlie the entire area. We enjoy a wonderful lunch at a small hotel, consisting of Arctic Char fish, caught in the nearby lake, together with some wonderful cream of mushroom soup.
As we pull back in to Akureyri, we get a tour of this town from our tour guide - an older Danish merchant established town based upon fishing and sulfur mining. We arrive around 6:00 PM at the ship, just in time for a dinner of beef bourginon, accompanied by salad and vol-au-vent, ending with a Raspberry Pavlova dessert or whiskey cream over chocolate fudge cake. Another nightcap in the lounge listening to the piano and violin duo and thence to bed. An enjoyable day after our previous day stuck on board ship.
