Isafjordur, Iceland

It was a very cold and windy day here in the West Fjords. The announcements throughout the ship as we were disembarking were letting everyone know that it was only 37 degrees and very windy. We were tendered in this port which meant that we had to take small boats to get to shore as there is no dock in Isafjordur.

  
Our position on the Navigation Channel and Jim pointing to where we are on the map. You'll see the pen pointing on the far northwest side of Iceland.


The little town at the base of the mountain.

  
Can you tell we're cold?

  


The signs on trucks and buildings are just so funny. The language is very different and even when someone slowly speaks a word to you so you can repeat it you can't! Just so different.

While we were waiting for our tour bus to come we walked around the side of a building to get a picture of the mountain and found that it the building was blocking the wind and we huddled there for a few minutes. It was just so funny, four adults hiding behind a building for warmth.

   
We met out guide and started our drive to the our destination. Everything we've seen has been about a 60 minute drive from the port. The scenery here is just so pretty and different from what I've seen before.

  
Some green on the left and the right you can see a small waterfall as the snow melts on the mountain.

  
A little less than a month ago these mountains were covered with snow.


We went through a long tunnel cut through the mountain. It was a one lane tunnel and if you see a car coming there are spots where you can pull off and let the other car go by.

  
We drove up over the mountain, You can see on the picture on the right the small road near the water. We were just on that road down there.


Again you can see the road on the right half way up the mountain. Notice that there are no guardrails and we're driving on the edge of the road. No rules about that here!

  
Higher and higher we went.

  
We saw many beautiful streams rushing down the mountains.

  
We finally made it to our destination. Dynjandi Falls.... wait till you see this one.

    
Yes, is was very cold and very, very windy! Did I mention that it was cold and windy. The wind was so bad we really had to hang onto each other at times.

And it was a climb.... boy was it a climb.

  

  
Each section of the falls had a name. Don't even ask me to try to pronounce it... it's all jibberish to me.

 

  


We climbed and climbed.

  
We were very thankful for our warm, windproof coats!


You can see the trail in this picture. It was tough climbing too. There were uneven steps, fashioned from rocks. Some very tall steps to take and it was windy... very windy which made it even worse.


You see Jim holding on to me.... seriously it was that windy.

But this is what awaited us at the top.


  
It was a long climb up and a long climb back down. We were the last ones down because it took time to climb up, given our advanced age and all.

Denise taking a picture of Jim taking a picture of Bob.

Denise all bundled up.

  

I was exhausted when we finally got up there, it was a long hard climb, I'm thankful that Jim helped me and encouraged me to get to the top.

Bob taking in the view.

Another picture showing the road we were traveling on.


I love how these formations all look lined up.












  
Our next stop was the thatched houses. This is the style of house Icelanders used to live in. The grass growing on the top and sides helped keep the occupants warm.

  
They were always in threes and connected to each other at the low part of the house. This cute little church was also there.

   
There again are the symmetrical mountains and a picture of our ride for the day.


There is some window glare on this picture but it shows a beautiful valley.

We stopped for a hot dog on the road. Icelanders are known for loving hot dogs so of course we had to try them, They put crunchy onions on the hot dogs here, like the fried onion things you put on green bean casserole. It was very good.


The hot dog wrapper.

We stopped at a place called the white sand beaches. They're more salt and pepper looking.
  
Denise down on the beach. I didn't go in there though.... too darn cold.


Denise took a close up of the sand.


  
A picture of our ship tendered in the fjord, it looks so pretty with the mountains and the snow behind it.

  
There was no cruise terminal here. Just a sign and the dock where the tender boats picked us up at.

  
We received Arctic Circle Crossing certificates. We crossed the Arctic circle twice while in the northern part of Iceland. How cool is that?!?

Another exhausting, but great, day! So much beauty and vastness here. The isolation would bother me and in the winter the darkness. But right now it's the beauty that impresses me.

Reykjavik tomorrow... until then.