August 27, 2016

Isafjordur, Iceland

After a really good night’s sleep we were up early to prepare for our arrival today in Isafjordur, 2,500 hardy souls that reside in this village. 48 degrees for a high today.   Our ship was able to anchor in the fjord and we used the lifeboats to tender the passengers to the small dock in the village.  A brisk, cold, windy (20 mph) walk to the Information Center had us about to cancel our tour today but fortunately we warmed up after being inside a few minutes.  Sylvia met us, our group today was six people including us and it was billed as a “walking tour” and sure enough we struck out in the cold and wind.  Sylvia had us to imagine that we were seeing Isafjordur in 1893 and she was a resident of the town.  Interesting concept especially as most of the buildings were already there, most have changed purposes since then and a few new ones have appeared but we were encouraged to ignore them.  

Because of the snow and ice melt coming down from the mountain the town has built a huge dam to channel the water away from the town into the sea.  This is a walking path above the town that provides a view of all the town and the water.  We had some nice photo stops here to see our ship at anchor.

The town’s reason for existence is the fishing industry from the earliest time.  Fish was dried in the open air, salted for curing and packed for shipment all over the world.  The smell of the fish drying mixed with the cow and sheep manure in the streets along with the smell of wet sheep must have been terrible.  Sylvia graphically described how it must have been.

We had a stop for a sandwich and hot chocolate at the old bakery in town before making our way back to the dock for our tender trip back to the ship.