Isafjördur – Solitude in the Northwest of Iceland

After Akureyri, we traverse the night, which is not dark at all, aboard the MSC Poesia, and if we had wanted to, we could have experienced the sunrise at 2:12 AM, after the sun had set at 1:01 AM. The so-called night therefore only had a short guest appearance of just over an hour, during which it did not really get dark. Too short for sleeping, really. But thanks to the good and lightproof curtains in the cabin, sleeping on board works quite well. If it weren’t for the very rough seas, which shook the Poesia quite a bit tonight…

We are finally awakened by the ship's side rudder, which is needed to dock alongside the quay. Nevertheless, we independently had the feeling during the night that the ship, contrary to the previously noted up-and-down movements when the waves roll against it, was this time swaying sideways, moving over its length… like in a cradle… Thorsten later said he was waiting for the boat to do the 'Eskimo roll'... but everything went well, and no one rolled out of bed...

So we are sailing into the Isafjardardjup (which is unpronounceable and is the name of the fjord we need to enter to reach the small town of Isafjördur, with just under 3000 inhabitants).

The view from the cabin outside does not promise anything good... as promised, low-hanging clouds and no sunshine. At a cozy 5 degrees Celsius, we go outside all bundled up to look around and get more than just the view from the cabin window.

High rocky mountains tower on both sides of the quay, and the mountain peaks, like so far in Akureyri, are not recognizable. Everything is full of fog or low-hanging clouds.

Nevertheless, we are drawn outside after breakfast and off the ship.

With another cruise ship from Holland America Line, we populate the small town. It is beautiful here. Small colorful houses, as one would expect from pictures of Iceland, form the town center.

We 'climb' a hill from which we get a beautiful view over the bay. The path is lined with a sea of lupines, whose scent somewhat neutralizes the fishy smell in the harbor.

Of course, we do not miss fulfilling our commercial duty here and buy two – well, if you can, you can 😉 – magnets for home.

On the way back to the ship, a little bit of sunshine or blue sky actually appears. And much later, after we had dutifully finished our cake buffet plate, even more sunshine came out of hiding.

So, before the internet connection is cut off again for 36 hours as we head to Greenland, here’s a quick blog post. We are curious how calm/unsettled the ride over this northern sea will be…

Maybe you will like the pictures and want to come here as well. For us, it is beautiful in any case…