Our drive took us on from Varmahlid to Akureyri. It was beautiful, no rain, just cloud. The scenes were so vast that the camera can not do them justice. So
much of Iceland is so beautiful but tricky to photograph.
Once in town we visited the botanic gardens. It was nice to be in an environment with trees. The general absence of trees in Iceland is notable (and was caused mostly by Viking settlement back in the 1000s). The trees in the botanic gardens prove that trees can grow in Iceland and they rang with the sound of birds.
Our journey allowed us to observe flocks of geece, swans and ducks feeding and preparing for migration. It is weird to see geese just flocking about, eating, the cold is obviously prompting their movement as we see v shaped groups of birds in flight. They fly very, very fast, almost keeping up with the car sometimes.
A highlight of the Akueyri area is the whale watching so we took a tour. It was so amazing, as it always is to see whales. I think we saw maybe three different humpback whales. They were feeding and diving. Two showed their flukes as they dove.
At one point we were close enough to see their fins, white in the water. They are such majestic animals, large and graceful, strong and scary. Seeing them inspires awe.
The whale watching trip also included angling for fifteen minutes at the end. Eric was one of the few who caught a fish - a Turbot(?). Both its eyes were on one side of its body. But apparently it is not tasty so while it was large, it was thrown back. One lady, a woman from Perth, caught a large cod. We ended up seeing it filleted and then ate it from the BBQ with salt and butter. It was only an hour after it was caught. I’ve never had such fresh fish. It flaked beautifully and tasted so wonderful.
We were lucky to have a nice day for it, with some cloud but no rain. It was still brittlely cold. My hands hurt without gloves and I was wearing many layers under the overalls they gave us. It took my feet some time to warm up afterwards.
Our return trip in the car took us on a diversion into a beautiful valley. Again it was impossible to take pictures which did it justice, but we tried nonetheless.
To round out our experiences in Akureyri, we took in some of the culture in the town, including the lovely wall art.
Once in town we visited the botanic gardens. It was nice to be in an environment with trees. The general absence of trees in Iceland is notable (and was caused mostly by Viking settlement back in the 1000s). The trees in the botanic gardens prove that trees can grow in Iceland and they rang with the sound of birds.
Our journey allowed us to observe flocks of geece, swans and ducks feeding and preparing for migration. It is weird to see geese just flocking about, eating, the cold is obviously prompting their movement as we see v shaped groups of birds in flight. They fly very, very fast, almost keeping up with the car sometimes.
A highlight of the Akueyri area is the whale watching so we took a tour. It was so amazing, as it always is to see whales. I think we saw maybe three different humpback whales. They were feeding and diving. Two showed their flukes as they dove.
At one point we were close enough to see their fins, white in the water. They are such majestic animals, large and graceful, strong and scary. Seeing them inspires awe.
The whale watching trip also included angling for fifteen minutes at the end. Eric was one of the few who caught a fish - a Turbot(?). Both its eyes were on one side of its body. But apparently it is not tasty so while it was large, it was thrown back. One lady, a woman from Perth, caught a large cod. We ended up seeing it filleted and then ate it from the BBQ with salt and butter. It was only an hour after it was caught. I’ve never had such fresh fish. It flaked beautifully and tasted so wonderful.
We were lucky to have a nice day for it, with some cloud but no rain. It was still brittlely cold. My hands hurt without gloves and I was wearing many layers under the overalls they gave us. It took my feet some time to warm up afterwards.
Our return trip in the car took us on a diversion into a beautiful valley. Again it was impossible to take pictures which did it justice, but we tried nonetheless.
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