We started the day drinking lattes a the bar in our hotel.
A quaint coastal fishing village and the capital of the North and 2nd biggest city in Iceland. Those were the two stops of the day. Who are we kidding… there was also another waterfall to see.
Húsavík, overlooking the Norwegian Sea, is a town of just over two thousand people. We needed some more rye bread for lunches so we stopped at the town bakery. The least friendly, crabbiest person was working! People in front of us tried to order a cappuccino. She glanced at the espresso machine and told them it was broken. They had a beautiful display of bread on the wall so Jon asked for a loaf of rye bread. Crabby lady says, “What?!” So Jon repeats it. (It is the bread of Iceland, everyone makes it!) She says the name back to Jon, only apparently the way it’s said in Icelandic and rudely tells him they do not have any. It was shortly after they opened and it looked like there were plenty of loaves behind the counter but… we left empty-handed.
Husavik is considered to be one of the best places in Europe for whale watching in the summer. Not sure it can beat whale watching in Maui especially since they were all wearing what looked like snowmobile suits. We explored the town instead. They have a cool whale museum which displayed full skeletons of whales.
Geosea Thermal Spa… similar to the Blue Lagoon except a much better view. We thought about going here until the hotel last night had a free thermal spa. The cost for this one 3390 ISK/person. And for some reason whenever they tell you the cost, they always say the entire thing – three thousand three hundred and ninety. Never thirty three hundred ninety.
Looking out over the Norwegian Sea, this might be as close as we’ve been to the Arctic Circle. It’s either this or Healy in Alaska. They had the perfect picnic spot and the weather was the warmest it has been on this trip. It was long sleeve t-shirt weather and the sun was hot. Only problem… no lunch! We debated about eating at a few places in town but we really wanted to sit on the bench, eat lunch and over look the mountains. Again after much discussion we headed back to the bakery (it’s the only one in town). Crabby pants was behind the counter when we got there but left before it was our turn to order. Funny thing… the espresso machine that was broken just a few hours earlier was magically working and cranking out espresso! And what do you know… when Jon asked for rye bread the new friendly lady told us we could buy 1/2 loaf and she’d slice it for us. So we enjoyed lunch overlooking the bay.
GÓÐAFOSS is one of the most famous waterfalls in Iceland! I think they might say that about all of them. It’s a 100 ft wide horseshoe shape, 40 ft tall, broken into multiple falls.
The name means “Waterfall of the Gods”
While we were there when a bunch of kayakers decided to be crazy and go over the waterfall.
AKUREYRI is where we are staying for the night. There were two huge cruise ships in port. I had no idea cruise ships came to this part of Iceland. Luckily there was a friendly and super helpful guy working at the desk so we asked him for dinner and bar recommendations that were places the locals went, not the cruise ship tourists.
Halfway Round the Planet, Part 2 