Good morning! It’s a beautiful, sunny morning in Isafjordur, Iceland. O wait, it’s going to be sunny all day. Our morning paper is showing no sunrise or sunset but “Midnight sun: All Day”! Today is our 32nd anniversary. What a place to spend it together ♥️

Our morning tour has been cancelled by the provider so we decided to have a nice breakfast onboard, explore a bit and then catch an afternoon tour. Our ship is impressive with all those public spaces. Our stateroom was just down the hall from ‘the living room’.

We went on the aft deck for a delightful breakfast outside. The infinity pool and hot tub are also located there. Isafjordur is nestled at the foot of dramatic mountain slopes and it’s the largest settlement on the Westfjords. We’re only 30 nautical miles south of the arctic circle, thus the Midnight Sun.

We joined our tour and drove through Isafjordur (population 2,700). The town is historically a fishing town, though its economy is shifting towards tourism. The Old Town is the city’s crown-jewel featuring well-preserved area of historic buildings dating back to the 18th century. The locals say it has the best seafood that Iceland has to offer. People are drawn here for its natural beauty. Both cross country and downhill skiing are popular in the winter. A good place to come view the northern lights in the winter (September through March). Many kinds of activities are popular in the summer (kayaking, hiking & whale watching are just a few). Whale and seals are very common to this area and also a bird lover’s paradise (guillemots, Arctic terns, Edier ducks and Atlantic Puffins). It’s also home to the Arctic fox, Iceland’s only native mammal.

We drove into a tunnel that went through a mountain and came out the other side to a fishing village named Bolungarvík. Fishing has been an occupation of this area since the early days of settlement of Iceland due to the easy access to excellent fishing grounds. Several fisherman huts were situated by the seashore, only inhabited seasonally. We visited Osvor, which is a reconstructed fishing station, recreated as a memorial of almost forgotten Icelandic industrial activity. Some of the buildings included, a fisherman’s hut, a salting house and a hut to dry fish. The atmosphere represented everyday life during the era of the rowboats. I can’t even imagine. The village was quite beautiful.

Have I mentioned how much I like Lupine? Maybe an obsession!

Our next stop was their community center to hear a young girl sing. She obviously was the pride of their town. She was just 16 and let us know that she has several songs on Spotify. She sang a few original songs. One in English and the other in her native Icelandic. We talked to her afterwards and told her that her voice reminded us of Jewel. She did not know who Jewel was so we told her to look her up. Her name was Undur.

We left the small town, drove back through the tunnel and off to a waterfall called Skutulsfjordur. YES! A waterfall with Lupine in the foreground. Lol. We did see a golf course on the way and thought, what a cool day to be playing in the midnight sun. As we arrived at the falls, we walked on a path to get some shots of this fall and then we heard someone cry out. O no, apparently one of the ladies in our tour accidentally stepped off the trail wrong and broke her ankle. Immediately, our guide went to her and called for assistance. There was definitely no getting up to walk. The ambulance would be taking her to the hospital. I wonder what ever happened to this poor woman?

We did see some lovely places at this port, but if we had more time, I would have liked to explore some of the areas known for their striking turquoise-blue waters. Iceland is a very self-drive friendly country.

We went back to our ship and had a lovely anniversary dinner. Viking helped us celebrate in style. We thoroughly enjoyed our day together and look forward to many more anniversary’s together.♥️

Guess what! We cross the Arctic Circle tonight. We both received a certificate from Viking.

NOTE: a very interesting fact that Bob just reminded me to include in our story. There are 3 smelter’s located in Iceland. We saw one in Reykjavik that was a massive 1-mile long building. Ships from the US, Brazil and Australia bring aluminum ore to these facilities to be processed. Think about how cheap the energy must be in Iceland for ships to sail around the world to use these facilities.