Saturday started off with a driving tour of Akureyri. It's the most populated city after Reykjavik but it's still home to only about 18,000 people. I think that's how many people live on my street in London!
We then set off on a very long drive to visit Siglufjörður, a small fishing town not too far away. We stopped at some scenic viewpoints, but we spent most of the time driving through various tunnels.
When we finally arrived, J and I went straight to the coffee shop.
We had gotten in the habit of having a swiss mocha (J) and a hot chocolate (me) every day, and we needed our fix. J also took the opportunity to check his Blackberry.
I wasn't happy about the Blackberry's umpteenth appearance, and I gave J the side-eye of his life. Life lesson, kids: don't be a lawyer!
We walked around the very, very small town, and checked out the sights.
The harbour first, since it is a fishing town...
I noticed that every single town we visited, no matter how big or small, always had a church. I thought it a bit odd, since Herdis mentioned that most people go to church only for Easter and Christmas.
I love turf houses, but I have no idea who can fit through that narrow ass front door!
We still had some time to kill so we thought about checking out the herring museum. Yup, a herring museum. But we quickly changed our minds when I figured out that they were charging admission. Um, no thanks, I'd rather go check out the National Gallery or the V&A Museum for free than pay to look at herring.
It was finally time to leave (not soon enough, in my opinion), and we started our drive back to Akureyri. First, we stopped at the bird sanctuary at Húsabakkar next to Dalvík, but I quickly lost interest as I didn't see a single bird while we were there. I guess the birds didn't get the memo about the sanctuary.
Anyway, I was anxious to get back to Akureyri so I could walk around and see the town on foot. It reminded me a lot of Reykjavik.
The same painted corrugated iron covered the buildings...
A sculpture hearkening back to Iceland's Viking past...
It had similar graffiti...
But it also had its own quirks, like a two-headed sheep sculpture.
And a pair of trolls hanging around downtown. J swears he wasn't responsible for the woman's hand falling off.
Downtown was small enough that we finished exploring much more quickly than I anticipated. We regrouped at the meeting point, and it wasn't long before we were saying goodbye to Herdis and boarding our plane for the short flight back to Reykjavik.
The tour was a lot of fun, but I was more than ready for it to end. Keeping in close quarters with strangers can be a bit of a strain, and the smallness of our group forced intimacy. I was looking forward to spending some alone time with J without having to socialise with others (yes, I'm an anti-social hermit), and doing things according to whatever we felt like at the moment.
We then set off on a very long drive to visit Siglufjörður, a small fishing town not too far away. We stopped at some scenic viewpoints, but we spent most of the time driving through various tunnels.
When we finally arrived, J and I went straight to the coffee shop.
We had gotten in the habit of having a swiss mocha (J) and a hot chocolate (me) every day, and we needed our fix. J also took the opportunity to check his Blackberry.
We walked around the very, very small town, and checked out the sights.
The harbour first, since it is a fishing town...
I noticed that every single town we visited, no matter how big or small, always had a church. I thought it a bit odd, since Herdis mentioned that most people go to church only for Easter and Christmas.
I love turf houses, but I have no idea who can fit through that narrow ass front door!
We still had some time to kill so we thought about checking out the herring museum. Yup, a herring museum. But we quickly changed our minds when I figured out that they were charging admission. Um, no thanks, I'd rather go check out the National Gallery or the V&A Museum for free than pay to look at herring.
It was finally time to leave (not soon enough, in my opinion), and we started our drive back to Akureyri. First, we stopped at the bird sanctuary at Húsabakkar next to Dalvík, but I quickly lost interest as I didn't see a single bird while we were there. I guess the birds didn't get the memo about the sanctuary.
Anyway, I was anxious to get back to Akureyri so I could walk around and see the town on foot. It reminded me a lot of Reykjavik.
The same painted corrugated iron covered the buildings...
A sculpture hearkening back to Iceland's Viking past...
But it also had its own quirks, like a two-headed sheep sculpture.
Downtown was small enough that we finished exploring much more quickly than I anticipated. We regrouped at the meeting point, and it wasn't long before we were saying goodbye to Herdis and boarding our plane for the short flight back to Reykjavik.
The tour was a lot of fun, but I was more than ready for it to end. Keeping in close quarters with strangers can be a bit of a strain, and the smallness of our group forced intimacy. I was looking forward to spending some alone time with J without having to socialise with others (yes, I'm an anti-social hermit), and doing things according to whatever we felt like at the moment.
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