Iceland’s Beauty Extends Far Beyond Its Stunning Waterfalls

Days 42 and 43, 2023 North Atlantic Adventure

Thursday and Friday, June 22 and 23, 2023; Seydisfjordur and Akureyri, Iceland.

Perhaps there is something about the weather in Iceland that makes the flowers look stunning. I spent much of today with the blooms at the Akureyri Botanical Garden. The garden is just the right size to explore in a couple of hours (or less if you prefer). The winding paths lead through forested areas into formal gardens. Turn here and you discover a fountain surrounded by blue phlox. Over there a wooden footbridge is tucked back. Here is a small clearing with a stunning yellow Laburnum. Another section highlights native plants.

I really appreciate the small signs that identify the plants, both the scientific name and frequently more detail in English and Icelandic.

I imagine in a few weeks the garden will fill with different blooms as the season progresses. Perhaps when I am back in two weeks I will return to follow up.

The first time I was in Akureyri, the largest town on the north coast, I did the standard all-day tour, with the highlight being the huge Godafoss waterfall. Iceland is an amazing country, and while much of it is volcanic, you see different elements in various regions. But I do recall at the time of my first visit that I wished I had time to explore the of Akureyri. So that was today’s plan, starting with taking a photograph of the town’s distinctive traffic lights.

The Nieuw Statendam joined us in port today, the first time the Zuiderdam has shared a port with another Holland America ship since early January in Panama City. It was fun to see crew members greet friends on the other ship. Town was just a short walk from the pier, and those who weren’t out on tours were flooding the streets.

I ran into friends at the bottom of the long series of stairs leading up to the church and asked them if they had climbed up to see it. “Hell, no,” was the response. I should have replied, “hold my beer.” I impressed even myself by climbing the eight flights to the top without stopping.

I’ll admit I then took a break to catch my breath while sketching the two ships in the harbor. Even after telling myself to avoid my usual mistake of making them too short and thus looking more like tug boats – I did that very thing.

Now that I was halfway to the botanical garden, I had to press on, even though it was another steep climb. But the effort made the trip worthwhile.

Back down in town, I rewarded myself with a cup of sorbet, probably negating all the benefits of the exercise. Oh well.

Yesterday I seemed to avoid all exercise. I didn’t even get off the ship, even though we spent the day anchored at Seyðisfjörður, an eastern Iceland town I have not previously visited. It was at the end of a short fjord, and thin waterfalls surrounded us on all sides. Flowers similar to our Texas bluebonnets covered the hillsides.

I admired it all from the Crow’s Nest while I spend hours researching the tour options for the 2024 World Cruise. My travel agent is opening signups next week for its private excursions, and I needed to see where I want to spend the bulk of my tour budget. Already some of Holland America’s shore excursions are fully booked. I took advantage of relatively fast internet service (via my Skyroam hotspot device) to do some serious planning.

Our weather luck held out during the two sea days between Norway and Iceland, with the seas calm and even flat at times. We celebrated the summer solstice with a “polar plunge” into the Lido Pool while still north of the Arctic Circle. I use the term “we” liberally, because I just took photographs. The crew pulled out the “glamping” decorations from the world cruise – campfires and the canoe – and added blocks of ice to the edge of the pool

After many days, we finally saw a sunset last night, for about eight minutes until the sun rose again. I slept through the whole thing. Tonight we will have 33 minutes between sunset and sunrise.