Sunday – Akureyri, Iceland
Last night we saw the Aurora Borealis. We didn’t do the excursion – although by all accounts, they saw the Northern Lights too – we saw them off the back of the ship. It was about 10pm; we’d missed the show because of faffing about with Tracey’s computer, and were sat enjoying a relaxing drink in Scot’s Lounge, when one of the lecturers came in and tipped everybody off to the fact that the lights were making an appearance. I dashed downstairs to get coats and cameras and we joined the small assembly on the back deck in the hope of seeing them.
We were in port, having arrived at about 7pm, and there was a lot of light pollution. Worse still; some building a short way off had a row of four really bright spotlights, so to have any hope of seeing anything in the sky you had to hold your arm up to just below eye-level, to blank off the lights. The display wasn’t the greatest we’ve seen, but they were unmistakable; a luminous green curtain stretched across the sky between gaps in the clouds, arcing just above the horizon. The brightness wavered occasionally, with parts of it becoming slightly more intense before disappearing again. We stood there for about 45 minutes, until the novelty wore off, and the cold started to become uncomfortable.
It’s the little things that count in cruising. We’ve enjoyed our cruise so far; the food has been good, the entertainment has been good, and the commmunications from the Bridge have been clear and helpful. This morning, when we left the cabin to head for breakfast, we walked into a couple of balloons and coloured streamers stuck to the top of the doorway… the reason?… it’s my birthday… the ship knew about it, and went to the trouble of marking it… how cool is that? It gets better; later in the day, after we’d been out, we returned to the cabin to find a cute little dog on the bedside table, sculpted from a couple of towels, and a birthday card signed from the captain…. like I say; it’s the little things that count…
We hadn’t been given any escorting duties today, so after breakfast we went out for a walk. Akureyri is an understated place; very relaxed and not too busy – but then, it was Sunday, so that almost certainly makes a difference. As we walked from the ship into the town centre, we saw a baby seal playing in a tiny man-made harbour area, and Eider ducks fished in the shallow waters of the fjord. The weather was bright and sunny; a little on the cool side, but generally it was a nice day. There are a couple of large waterfalls in the vicinity, so we decide we would make enquiries as to the feasibility of getting to them independently. Unfortunately, the Tourist Information Centre was closed. We asked the driver of a bus, who was waiting to set off to Reykjavik, if there was a local coach that would take us there… there wasn’t… Our town map told us that there were a couple of car-hire companies nearby, so we decided that might be worth looking into; sadly, they too, were closed… it was Sunday afterall.
Having failed to find any suitable alternative, we decided to follow a red, dotted hiking path marked on the town map (well; it was red and dotted on the map – not on the ground). It roughly followed a small beck that became quite an interesting beck with steep, rocky sides. There was a lot of snow on the ground, and with the backdrop of the mountains just beyond the perimeter of the town, it was all rather attractive; the sun casting long shadows across the snow making for good photographs.
Eventually, we left the footpath to turn back in towards the town centre. We enjoyed a relaxing cup of tea and a cake in a bakery, and noticed, as we arrived back into the town, that there were a lot of bars and cafes just opening up, that advertised free wi-fi. Even the Tourist Information Centre was open by the time we returned there, and when we asked a taxi driver how far away the waterfalls were, he told us that they were about a 30-minute drive away, and would cost us about £100 if we chose to take a taxi… that wasn’t going to happen, then…
After lunch on board ship, we returned to the town to make use of the wi-fi in a very pleasant coffee shop that we’d found there.
At 4:30pm, we were back on board ship waiting to leave for our next destination…
Unfortunately, when the captain’s voice came over the PA… he had some bad bews for us. The weather forcast for the next leg of our journey, and our next port-of-call, isn’t good. It’s so not-good, in fact, that he’s cancelled it. He said that the deadlights would be closed on the cabins (booo!), and that we would, instead, be heading straight for Reykjarvik.
Our journey out of the fjord was worth sitting out on the back deck for. The snow-covered mountains were truly spectacular, particularly with the late-afternoon light on them.
