{"id":12343,"date":"2017-08-30T18:43:55","date_gmt":"2017-08-30T22:43:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gallivantinggrandma.com\/?p=12343"},"modified":"2018-03-10T09:26:01","modified_gmt":"2018-03-10T14:26:01","slug":"isafjordur-iceland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gallivantinggrandma.com\/?p=12343","title":{"rendered":"Isafjordur, Iceland"},"content":{"rendered":"

Wednesday – August 30, 2017<\/p>\n

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The Rotterdam left Akureyri yesterday evening and cruised north along the Eyjafjordur fjord. \u00a0The ship crossed the Arctic Circle during the night and cruise director Jan announced that Holland America will give us certificates to mark our crossing. \u00a0Amazing! \u00a0I never thought I would ever travel this far north.<\/p>\n

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A thin beam of gray light through the curtains woke me up this morning and I looked out to see the side of a mountain. \u00a0Very close. \u00a0The ship had traveled up the Isafjardardjup fjord on its way to the tiny fishing village of Isafjordur. \u00a0Jeff and I watched as the Rotterdam turned around 180 degrees in the narrow fjord then very very slowly moved sideways and tied up alongside the pier. \u00a0It was a painstaking but successful maneuver accomplished by the people on the bridge.<\/p>\n

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We looked out at the commercial dock where we had tied up. \u00a0Container ships are the only way people in Isafjordur get any supplies.<\/p>\n

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From our balcony, we could see large fishing boats docked across the waterfront and fish processing buildings on the other side of the harbor. \u00a0The weather was cool (9 degrees C) – 45 degrees F – and cloudy, but not raining.<\/p>\n

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The main part of Isafjordur lies at the base of a very tall mountain and along the deep fjord. The commercial port and the older part of town jut out into the water in an L-shaped peninsula. \u00a0It looks like the village expanded along the road. \u00a0Isafjordur\u00a0<\/em>(population 2,600) means “fjord of ice” in Icelandic. \u00a0The region has a subarctic climate of cold high winds and very few clear days.<\/p>\n

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The town grew in the 16th century as a trading post for foreign merchants. \u00a0We discovered the Westfjord Heritage Museum which is a maritime museum housed in an 18th century house. \u00a0Built in 1734, it is the oldest house in Iceland.<\/p>\n

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We walked out to explore the town and see what the fishing village was like during the summer. \u00a0There were a few small hotels and guest houses on the main road. \u00a0It looked like there was one road that ran along the water and out of town.<\/p>\n

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Looking back toward our ship, the Rotterdam was dwarfed by the tall mountains surrounding it on both sides of the fjord. \u00a0Isafjordur was a very well protected harbor. \u00a0Fishing is the main industry in town and it has one of the largest fisheries in Iceland.<\/p>\n

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We walked along the narrow streets of Old Town and saw brightly painted 19th century homes. \u00a0The sides and roofs of the buildings were covered in corrugated metal.<\/p>\n

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We explored the supermarket and I bought a couple of postcards and stamps in the postoffice. \u00a0It\u2019s a neat and clean town, of course overrun today with tourists from our ship. \u00a0We didn\u2019t see many local people, except shopkeepers.<\/p>\n

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Jeff had coffee and a large slice of blueberry cake in the warm and toasty\u00a0Gamla Bakariid<\/em>\u00a0(bakery) while I wrote postcards. \u00a0The sky darkened and the wind picked up. \u00a0It was difficult to believe it was August. \u00a0We walked back to the ship to warm up and relax.<\/p>\n

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We talked about what Isafjordur must be like to live in, especially during the winter. \u00a0I wondered if the only road into town was closed during snow storms and whether the fishing boats operate in the cold dark months of December, January, and February.<\/p>\n

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It is just amazing to be in Isafjordur, Iceland\u2026..<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Wednesday – August 30, 2017 The Rotterdam left Akureyri yesterday evening and cruised north along the Eyjafjordur fjord. \u00a0The ship crossed the Arctic Circle during the night and cruise director Jan announced that Holland America will give us certificates to mark our crossing. \u00a0Amazing! \u00a0I never thought I would ever travel this far north. A […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31,39],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12343","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cruising","category-iceland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gallivantinggrandma.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12343","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gallivantinggrandma.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gallivantinggrandma.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gallivantinggrandma.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gallivantinggrandma.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12343"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/gallivantinggrandma.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12343\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13916,"href":"https:\/\/gallivantinggrandma.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12343\/revisions\/13916"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gallivantinggrandma.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12343"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gallivantinggrandma.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12343"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gallivantinggrandma.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12343"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}