Isafjördur – Solitude in Iceland's Northwest

After passing Akureyri, we travel through the night, which is not dark at all, aboard the MSC Poesia and could have witnessed the sunrise at 2:12 a.m. if we had wanted to, after the sun had set at 1:01 a.m. So, the supposed night only had a brief appearance of just over an hour, during which it never got dark. Actually too short for sleeping. But thanks to the good and light-proof curtains in the cabin, sleeping on board works quite well. If it weren't for the very rough sea, which shook the Poesia vigorously tonight as well...

We are finally awoken by the ship's rudder, which it needs to dock lengthwise at the quay. Nevertheless, independently of each other, we both had the feeling during the night that the ship, contrary to the previously observed up and down movements when the waves hit the ship, was swaying sideways this time, moving along the length... like in a cradle... Thorsten afterwards thought he was waiting for the boat to do the "Eskimo roll"... but everything went well and no one was rolled out of bed...

So we enter the Isafjardardjup (which is unpronounceable and is the name of the sound we must enter to reach the small, nearly 3000-inhabitant Isafjödur).

The view from the cabin outside doesn't promise anything good... as promised, low-hanging clouds and no sunshine. At a cozy 5 degrees Celsius, we go bundled up on deck to look around and see more than just the view from the cabin window.

High rocky mountains rise to the right and left of the quay, and the mountaintop, as in Akureyri up to now, is not visible. All full of mist or low-hanging clouds.

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

With another cruise passenger from Holland America Line, we populate the small town. It's beautiful here. Small colorful houses, as one actually knows from pictures of Iceland, make up the town center.

We "climb" a hill from which you get a beautiful view over the bay. The path is lined with a sea of lupines, whose scent neutralizes the air from the fish smell in the harbor.

We naturally do not forget to fulfill our commercial mission here and buy two - well, who can, can 😉 - magnets for home.

On the way back to the ship, a tiny bit of the sun or blue sky actually emerges. And much later, after we had also dutifully finished our cake buffet plate, more sun came out of hiding.

So, before the internet connection is cut off again for 36 hours when we head to Greenland, a quick update on the blog here. We are curious how calm/rough the ride over this northern sea will be...

Maybe you'll like the pictures and want to come here too. For us, it's definitely beautiful...