June 7 - Heimaey, Iceland

I’ve been a lazy writer for several days but I truly haven’t had much to write about.  After stopping at Orkney we had a sea day on our way to Iceland and then three stops on that island at places named Vopnafjörður,Akureyri, and Isafjödur.  I didn’t get off at any of them.  I’d been to the last two and done the tours that sounded most interesting to me.  The first place, when I googled it, said it had a population of 629 and that the points of interest were a post office and a church.  So I hung out on the ship and did some writing and chilled out.

Just thought I'd add this photo of me with Ann Cleeves after we'd had dinner.

These and the next few are photos of the areas around Akureyri and Isafjördur just to show the terrain on the north coast of Iceland

Land of snow and ice

Yesterday we stopped in Reykjavik and Katie had given me a mission to find a particular kind of seasoning which she had bought when she, Stan and Alfred had made a land trip to Iceland a while back.  I got off the ship and went to the taxi line and once again lucked out in my choice.  The driver was a very nice man named Abdel, a transplanted Moroccan who has been here for 17 years, is an Icelandic citizen with a family with four kids.  I asked him if he could take me to a grocery store to find this stuff, which he did, and then I asked him to give me a little tour of Reykjavik.  It was a lovely tour!  We went to the Harpa Concert Hall which houses the Icelandic Symphony Orchestra and the Icelandic Opera Company.  It’s a steel and glass structure which is inspired by the basaltic landscape of Iceland.  It’s a very dramatic building overlooking a portion of the harbor.  We went in and walked around to see the different venues for performances.

The Harpa Concert Hall

The interior of this dramatic building

'The Musician, a sculpture of a famous Danish cellist outside the Harpa

Next we drove by the Hallgrimskirkja, the very dramatic Lutheran church.  I had gone in it during a previous visit so we didn’t stop. We also drove by the “Sun Voyager,” a stainless-steel sculpture representing a Viking longboat.  We went in another building whose name I didn’t get that has a huge 3-D table map showing all the volcanoes, lava fields, and glaciers on this island nation. Iceland has around 130 volcanoes!  On the map were representations of the communities around the island and many of them looked perilously close to active ones.  I don’t think I’d like that very much.  There was also an exhibit showing how all this geothermal activity is used to provide Iceland’s energy needs.  Because it does Abdel told me the cost of electricity and heating is very inexpensive here.

The Hallgrimskirkja

The Sun Voyager

The relief map showing Icelandic topography

We next went up to the Perlan, an interactive museum where people can explore many of Iceland’s natural forces.  We didn’t go in  because I had gotten moving kind of late and didn’t have lots of time to spend inside.  (I’ll be back here in just over two months so I’ll try to do better next time.)  From the Perlan there is a great view of the city and the surrounding mountains so I took some photos.

The Perlan Museum

Sculpture of four musicians at the front of the museum

View of the city and mountains beyond

Our next stop, and my favorite, was Laugardalur, the botanic garden.  Abdel and I strolled the lovely grounds which included beautiful rock formations around ponds, some of which had choi in them, and lots of plants from countries all over the world.  They were all marked with little cards telling their botanical name and origin.  This is still early in the Icelandic summer season so many of the plants were not in bloom yet.  When I come back in late August I’m going to try to come back here again and it should be even more beautiful.

These next several are all of the Laugardalur

That's Abdel.  Notice he's got short sleeves on.  Icelanders are used to these temperatures.

Abdel was a very nice man. As I wrote earlier he is a Moroccan who has a degree in engineering. Apparently during the economic downturn in 2008 he came to Iceland looking for work.  When he first arrived he wasn’t proficient enough in English, which I gather is the language used in the technical field here, so he couldn’t get a job as an engineer right away.  As his English improved he did find employment in that field and drives a taxi on the side because the cost of living is very high here in Iceland where nearly everything has to be imported.  He took good care of me and when I return if he’s available I will try to engage him again.

When I got back to the ship some good friends from previous cruises had arrived and it was so nice to reunite with them.  They’ll be on for the next 21 days and I’ll be leaving in 7 but we’ll have plenty of time to catch up.

That was yesterday, the 6th (82nd anniversary of D Day by the way), and today we’re at Heimaey in the Westman Islands off the coast of Iceland.  I stopped here last August 17th and took a tour and truthfully there’s not a lot to see here.  I wrote a pretty long entry about some of the unusual history including a raid by Barbary pirates back in 1627 and about the near catastrophic volcanic eruption in 1973 during which the island was saved by the heroic efforts of 300 men from the island who volunteered to stay behind after the rest of the population was evacuated.  The men had some help from the US Navy.  It is a rather dramatic story and if you’re interested you can read about it in my entry for that date in August 2025.  If anybody reading this ever comes to Heimaey it is worth going one time to see the excellent museum here.

Anyway, that’s it for now.  I’m trying to catch up on some reading and writing I’ve neglected.  I hope all is well at home.