THE CRUISE - Akureryi (Iceland) to Alesund (Norway)

Day Eight - Saturday, 25th June

Another quite cold day, and we are at sea all day on the way to Alesund. The sea was incredibly calm as there was very little wind, and we were sailing across the Norwegian Sea, which is part of the North Atlantic, and having expected to get some rougher seas in this area, it was almost as still as one of the Scottish lochs!

There were reports of people having seen whales yesterday and today, but we didn't see any. That would have been special.

We tried the lunch on offer in the Glass House, for a change, and there is a surcharge, in that you pay a small amount and choose from a list of six things. We had some hummus and bread, and salmon fishcakes and also some huge tempura prawns. All very nice and a just enough for lunch.

Spent the rest of the day relaxing and watching the sea, and later our usual drinks in the Glass House with our favourite waiter, Mukesh. He and many others are from Mumbai in India, and they are often away for many months, and so he was looking forward to the end of this contract. He is such a lively and friendly character, and very good at his job, but also willing to chat and find out about his passengers.
(How about that smile!)

The theme in the buffet is Italian tonight, but we tried for the Trattoria again and got in before the crowd, but this wasn't going to happen again, as word had got out and there would be vast queues every night from now on! We both had some really nice calamari, and then had chicken (G) and lasagne (L)

THE CRUISE - Akureryi (Iceland)

Day Seven - Friday, 24th June

Today we are due to get to Akureryi about noon, and only have half the day there. Lee woke up at 4.00am, and saw that we were sailing quite close to shore and there were rugged cliffs of snow and ice, and spectacular scenery including one rock mass that was almost a perfect pyramid.

As we sailed down the fjord, there was more scenery with cliffs, mountains and snow and ice. The most spectacular scenery is actually at the entrance, and as you get further in there are settlements and villages and areas under cultivation, and we thought the areas in here might be a little more sheltered and lend themselves to 'farming'.

At the end of the fjord, there is actually a small airport, with a causeway across from town to other areas. Lee thought she'd heard that the Azura was the largest ship to have visited Iceland, and it did take a while to dock. It was moored starboard side in, and because it was later in the day, we could actually watch the docking procedure.

The ship was just about "in" the town, and so we didn't need shuttle buses, just those for the people going touring. It is a small town, and with Reykjavik being only 180,000 people, and the rest of Iceland about the same, this town was small by comparison. Fairly cool at about 8 deg, and threatening rain, so we walked into town and had a look around and found some shops which had some interesting things, but particular T-shirts with rune alphabets on them, we thought Jeremy would like, but they didn't have the correct size. Got a couple of other small things with the Euros we had left.

Akureryi also has a very striking church, in a similar style to the one in Reykjavik, but not so grand, and with a long stairway leading up to it so we just took photos.

Again, ,many of the buildings are coloured and some seemed to be clad in corrugated iron, which seems a little thin for the climate, but maybe they have special insulation? However the overall effect of the building colours, roofs and styles is quite pleasing. 


Not really wanting to have lunch ashore we headed back to the ship for a quiet lunch and then a nap.
Tonight's sailaway is at 6.30pm, and there were still passengers coming back from tours at 6.00, and because we weren't going to the set meal time, we lined up again at the Trattoria, and were third in line and so got a very nice table for two at the window, and enjoyed a very pleasant dinner, watching the other side of the fjord pass by on our way out towards Norway.

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

THE CRUISE - all at sea...

Day Five - Wednesday, 22nd June

Today is to be a full day of cruising, and we are to get to Reykjavik tomorrow morning about 6.00am. We have also got our first taste of swell in the ocean. Not enough to be unpleasant, but it gets a little hard to sleep when you are rolling around and the ship gets the shakes.

Today was catch up day with Lee writing in her journal, and me drafting the posts for this blog. I have said before that I much prefer doing them direct, but the expense of the internet plans they have on board and the small amount of megabyte usage you get makes it very expensive. So I draft stuff into Word and will transfer it when I get better access.

We did the Name that Tune quiz again and word has spread around the ship and you have to get there early to secure a seat. By the time they started today, there was standing room only. I later suggested to the girl running it that they need a bigger venue, but that didn't happen in subsequent quizzes. We id reasonably well again, but this time had a bit of help from nearby passengers.

Tonight is another 'straight jacket' night, e.g. "smart jacket required for men". The women get it much easier, as all they have to do is have slacks and a top or a dress.

However there was a plus, as because we couldn't go to our designated restaurant, we tried another one called The Trattoria, which is obviously Italian themed. There is no booking of tables, so you have to get there pretty early, and we did. This was very pleasant, and the food is a lot more up the scale than the buffet.

It also wasn't included in the dress code, so no problem there. We wouldn't want to upset anyone by failing "to maintain the ambience of the evening"  What a load of crap!

This was also a good choice, because the theme down in the buffet tonight was English Traditional, and we've certainly had enough of that over the past two months.

Really nice dinner. I had minestrone , and then a tuna steak, and Lee had a really nice mushroom dish, and then a tart with chicken and mushrooms. Finished with tiramisu. Yum!