THE CRUISE - Longest day in Reykjavik...

Day Six - Thursday, 23rd June

The trouble with knowing you might be passing things in the night that you might want to see, is a problem and during early hours of today, we passed by the southern coast of Iceland. Lee got up at 4.00am and we could see the coastline, not far away at all. What seemed to be huge plumes of steam were coming off the coast, like geysers, and we've since discovered they are at the site of the Geothermal Power Station.

If you are wondering why it seems so light in the picture, it's because today is the longest day up here, and we expect to have about 23 hours of daylight!

It didn't really get dark overnight at all. The sun set last night about 12.30am and rose again about 4.30am. Not good for sleeping, but the curtains in the cabin are good blackout ones, which helps.

Then back to sleep until we got up and checked out the scenery coming in to Reykjavik, about 5.30 - 6.00am.

The pilot came aboard and guided the Captain into the wharf. 

Reykjavik is a beautiful city, and so clean and fresh looking, with coloured buildings and some very nice architecture. Our side (starboard) was facing the city as we approached, but then swung round to dock port side, and we then had a different look across a beautiful green island or peninsular, and the  beyond to mountains, some of which still had snow on them.

This time we had pre-booked on a Hop-on-Hop-Off bus which we were told would leave from a spot in town. They stuffed that up, and although we had a good ride into town on the shuttle bus, we later found out that the Hop On bus was leaving from the ship!!

 Not happy Jan! By the time we found the place we were supposed to get the tour bus, it arrived almost completely full, and there were about 40 of us waiting to get on.

Lee and I gave up and decided to walk around the city and do our own thing.

 First stop coffee (of course), and then wandered up the hill to the top of the city where stands the most striking Lutheran Church. So imposing, with a very austere look, but quite magnificent as well. It had a tower which you pay to go up in a lift, but it was so worth it, to get the views we did. The organ inside the church is also beautiful, and everyone was amazed how grand it was as well. 

After the church we wandered back down the hill and checked a few shops. One thing we noticed is that there is no blaring music coming out of every shop door. In fact they don't seem to "advertise" they are open and in some instances you have to actually go up to the shop and try the door. This was the same in Norway. No placards on the footpath

 Of course they are geared to a lot of tourists, and so you get quite a choice, depending on what you want, but again you have to think what you can safely carry with you, and whether or not it will get through customs.

We saw two Hop On buses when we got to the bottom of the hill, but by the time we tried to get to them, they both took off! (We later got our money back that we'd paid for the fares)

Lunch was at a large taverny type place and we settled for toasted paninis and Carlsberg beer (Danish). The girls of Iceland are very attractive, with that pure blonde viking look. Can't say as much for the men, but then we haven't been here for any length of time to evaluate properly.

Tried some more shops, but the T-shirts didn't appeal, and the sizes seemed small, so we decided to wait for the next ports and see what else we can find for the kids. It's very easy to get something for little kids like Oliver, but not so for adults.

Back to the shuttle bus and got back before a lot of the tours returned and there was a huge queue, for which the Captain later apologised.

 I really have no idea what is involved with arranging all these tours and excursions, but it can obviously be a logistical nightmare at times. Some of the tours would have been out all day, hopping on and off buses, so my hat goes off to some of the 'older' passengers, who seem to cope quite well.

We wanted to do the sailaway, whilst avoiding the dance party that came with it, as they have the music so loud, you can't hear yourself think.

The scheduled departure was 6.00pm, but was delayed as a lady passenger had taken ill, and had to go to hospital, so they had to offload her and her family, and all their luggage. Such as shame for them all to miss the rest of the cruise, but that's life.

So, down to the buffet and tonight's theme was Indian, and they had some really tasty dishes.

For the rest of this blog I will attach more shots of various bits around Reykjavik. Lovely place, and worth coming all this way to see it.

Two views from our cabin across to the mountains