We Heart Akureyi

I bet you are wondering how the seas are and how well we slept last night. The seas were much calmer, and they rocked us to sleep last night, and we slept very soundly and woke up energized for the day ahead in Akureyi, Iceland. Akureyi is referred to as the ‘Capital of the North’ as it is the 4^th largest city in Iceland. It is located at the end of Iceland’s longest fjord surrounded by beautiful mountains. It is 62 miles from the Artic circle but has a somewhat mild climate. Our first excursion took us out of the port and our first encounter with Akureyri’s heart shaped stop lights.

In 2008 Iceland suffered a financial crash and the city of Akureyri decided to try to keep peoples spirits up and as a reminder to the town of what really mattered and a reason to smile at crosswalks and interactions. We think they are a good idea. 

Our first stop on the morning excursion was to the Akureyri Botanical Gardens.

 

It is the northernmost botanical garden in the world, and it was started in 1910 by 3 housewives in Akureyri. It is beautiful and very well laid out. Enjoy the pictures…

 

Next, we stopped at the Akureyri Church. We could not go in because it is Sunday, but we walked around it and enjoyed the unique architecture.

It is a Lutheran church and Lutheran is the state religion in Iceland. 

They are very proud of their stained-glass windows as one of the windows is said to be from the Coventry Cathedral in England. The panels of stained glass were removed to protect them from damage during the Nazi bombings.  Passing through several hands one panel ended up on this church and the Icelanders have felt a little guilty having stolen goods but not guilty enough to give it back.

You might be able to see our Viking Cruise ship beyond in this partial view of the city in the distance.

We got back to the ship and had a quick lunch before time for our afternoon excursion. This excursion started with a ride through the beautiful landscape of this part of Iceland and then we arrived at The Laufas outdoor museum highlighting an Icelandic turf house and church. 

We walked through the small church and cemetery.

 

Beautifully carved and painted pulpit dating back to 1698.

We then visited the stone and turf house consisting of a maze of interconnecting rooms. 

We were amazed at what they could do with turf buildings – including a second story. Twenty to thirty people lived in this structure at one time. The large interconnecting house had furniture and utensils of the time.

Here is a kitchen.

Next, we traveled 45-min to the Godafoss Falls which are like Niagara Falls. The legend goes that a pagan priest and chieftain decided that Christianity should be the religion of the area, so he took the statues of the pagan gods and threw them into the waterfall as a symbolic gesture, thus the name Godafoss.

As you can see, we were blessed with a beautiful, mostly sunny day, although the temperature was only 43 degrees with a few clouds once in awhile.

 After a long day with two tours, we say goodbye to Akureyi on a calm sea - yea!