The North

 Godafoss Waterfalls.

 The old part of Akureyri.

 One of the fjords.

 Entrance to one of the tunnels.

 The harbour of Siglufjordur.

 Hofsos.

 The emigration museum.

 Another view of Hofsos.

A small herd of horses following a couple of riders.

Sunday, August 20^th.

Again the morning was overcast and a bit drizzly. At 9:00 am we were off to see another waterfall. This country has more beautiful waterfalls per capita than any other country in the world. Godafoss Falls is reminiscent of Niagara in that it is horseshoe shaped. There were lots of tourists there as a cruise ship had landed at a town not far away and they were being bused here.

We drove to the fjords of the north coast and the town of Akureyri, which is the second largest town in Iceland and is the port where the cruise ship was. We had three hours of free time here to explore. I wandered up to the cathedral which is built by the same architect as the one in Reykavik, but unfortunately, being Sunday, I couldn't get in as there was a service going on. I walked from there along the upper road to the botanical gardens, which was a lovely place and had an amazing variety of native plants. It seemed so lush and foreign compared to the rest of the island which is basically treeless. Then I continued to the old part of the town to see the original two hundred year old houses. I walked down to the lower road and wandered back to the port through the main street shopping area to where we had parked. Again the sun came out for the afternoon and it warmed up to about 12.

We left Akureyri and drove out the other side of the fjord and followed the coast to the town of Siglufjordur. En route we had to drive through four tunnels through the mountains. One of them was seven kilometres long! And it was single laned with pull over spots every so often to let oncoming traffic by. Siglufjordur is a very picturesque fishing village. The town has become a very popular tourist area because of that plus whale watching and downhill skiing, including heli-skiing where they fly you up and you ski down.

Then we continued around the fjord to the small fishing village of Hofsos. This too, is a beautiful little fishing village. Johann took us to a little restaurant (the only one in town) where the two woman who worked there were lounging around outside and literally leaped to their feet to make us a crepe and a coffee. This town has a museum that relates the history of the Icelandic migration to Gimli, Manitoba and North Dakota, in the US. Apparently, Iceland was going through hard economic times partly as a result of volcanic eruptions and between 1875 and 1930 25% of the population emigrated because of the offer of free land and a new start.

After that we drove through the beautiful countryside, around other fjords to the small town of Blonduos and then for another hour to our hotel for the night. This time was are staying at a horse farm. The Icelandic horses are a breed unto themselves and are a little shorter in the leg than European horses. This hotel is new and probably the nicest thus far. It has a horse track and a small grandstand for watching shows. It also has a great eating area overlooking the track and they serve a buffet with lots of vegetables, and a variety of meats, including horse! Not sure how that works on a horse farm, but I had to try it. It was cooked rare and I found it a bit chewy, but I liked the taste (sorry Paul!)