Thread: Akureyri, Iceland (with pictures)

Our ship, Jewel of the Seas, made a stop in Akureyri, Iceland on Sept. 10, 2010. The town is located at the end of a long and beautiful fjord, the Eyjafjordur which is 37 miles long. As we sailed into the fjord at sunrise, we saw beautiful mountains with glacier ice at their tops.

Akureyi is known as the “capital of the North.” It’s a bustling commercial center and college town.

After we docked in Akureyri, we took a tour out into the countryside with Auðun Benediktsson (www.taxi-no17.com). This was a 7 hour tour and our first stop as we drove through the countryside, took us to the Goôafoss Waterfall (also known as the waterfall of the gods).

We traveled through a geothermal area where you can see steam coming out of the mountains.

The town of Akureyri is heated by the hot water found in these geothermal fields. We drove to Lake Myvatn which is a protected nesting area to thousands of birds.

As we drove through the area, we saw pipes that transferred the hot water to Akureyri. Our guide said the pipes were so well insulated that the in the winter the snow doesn’t melt on them.


Continued below....

Garry

Amazing photos, Garry. Thank you for posting.

I have never been to Iceland but after seen these pictures I need to go.

Garry!

I've so been looking forward to your report on Iceland! The pictures are amazing!

We then drove on to Dimmuborgir, a lava landscape with strange formations, columns and arches.

We also drove to Lake Myvatn geothermal baths.

At the geothermal field next to Namafjall Mountain we saw mud pots, steam vents, sulphur deposits, boiling springs and fumaroles.


We then drove by the north side of the lake before heading back to Akureyri. The scenery was breathtaking.

Our guide gave us a real treat and instead of going on the conventional roads, took us on the original road that went over the mountains instead of around it. It was so much fun, and the views were spectacular.



The town of Akureyri is across the bay.

Garry

Continued below ....

We left Akureyri during the daylight hours and the views as we sailed out of the fjord are not to be missed.






We leave the fjord and are now on our way to Reykjavik. I'd love to come back for another visit!

Garry

Notice, everyone, the lack of trees! Iceland is in the tundra region of the world so trees are very sparse. Garry, did you have the opportunity to go in any of the mud baths they have up there? One of my coworkers just got back from Iceland and she said it was totally decadent.

No I didn't and wouldn't! The Blue Lagoon (and baths) are in Reykjavik, not Akureyri. The baths that we saw in Akureyri had a high sulfur content and really smelled bad!

There's a running joke in Akureyri that if someone gets lost in the woods, to be found all they have to do is stand up.

I'll work on my review of Reykjavik this week.

Garry

We almost signed up for that cruise and ended up on Azamara Journey's July 12, 2010 cruise to Iceland. It has fabulous scenery and people. I posted photos at FaceBook at: http://www.facebook.com/photos.php?id=212460610227 . I hope to have more on Flikr later. Thanks for the post. Arvid

Garry, thank you so much for posting. The pictures are absolutely stunning. the picture of the waterfall is amazing. The landscape there is so spectacular it almost looks like it is miniature model rather than the real thing. Just amazing.

Suzanne- We almost booked the TA that Celebrity had a few years back that went to Iceland. Sorry that we didn't since they no longer do that route.