I spent the day on a tour of the Westfjords. The bus left from Isafjordur and headed toward a small botanical garden near the village of Flateyri. Our guide spoke perfect English since he was a graduate student from El Paso, Texas attending school in Isafjordur.
The population of the entire peninsula is only around 15,000. So, the ship had more people than the village
in which we tendered. The people were so
warm and friendly.
The bus left and it had to go through a tunnel through the
mountain. The tunnel, Vestfjarðagöng,
is the longest tunnel in Iceland. The
tunnel includes an intersection and a section that is one-way. The one-way section requires travelers going
in a particular direction to pull over in small areas on the side of the tunnel to let the oncoming
traffic travel down the tunnel. Interest
experience: Who would love going down a
6-mile tunnel with a fork in the road and a section only navigable by one car at a time?
Here are the photos from the day with a little explanation
of the events in the ship's first stop in Iceland.
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| First stop: The oldest botanical garden in Iceland. They had plants to live and prosper in this climate! |
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| A whale bone arch. They take the two bones fromt he jaw to form this. |
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| There was light rain as our group explored the garden. |
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| A collection of edible greens were in the garden. I believe that's a collard plant! |
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| Our second stop was the oldest bookstore in Flateyri. It's the oldest orignal store in Iceland. |
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| The museum had an exhibit of the typical home in the past in this community. |
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| The Westfjords looks like a lobster with Isafjordur being the "eye" of the sea creature. |
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| The street of Flateyri. We had to move down the street to the local Lutheran church for a performance. |
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| Fishing boats in the lake at Flateyri. |
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| A small tasting of Icelandic treats. That's dried trout on toast. The other two are traditional sweets. |
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| The local Lutheran church was our final stop in Flateyri. |
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| A local girl of 13 showed off her musical ability. She played the guitar and sang an original song: An Iceland version of Taylor Swift? |
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| The entrance and exit to Iceland's longest tunnel. It had a fork inside and a section that was one-way. |
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| A view of the tunnel entrance/exit as we exited the Isafjordur harbor. |
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| When the ship set sail, the sun was shining in Isafjordur. The Iceland weather changes every few minutes. |
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| Sailboats stop here before venturing across the sea to Greenland. |
