Akureryi, Day 2

Here are some pictures from wandering around Akureryi.

This is the view from the apartment. I have some pictures without fog that I will post later!

Friendly neighbourhood kitty. This guy would come running out to see us when we walked by. So cute. Akureryi was more a cat place than dog place. We saw few dogs, but tons of cats. One house had a huge catio and we saw at least 10 cats hanging around inside.

Colourful apartments near where we stayed

A cool trailer. There are some really neat trailers in Iceland.

I loved this house. 

I'd have liked to see more of this house. It was right at the top of a cliff. 

Icelandic Jehovah's Witness

Accordion player outside the Glerartorg mall, one of the bigger malls in Iceland. Not very big by North American standards, but it had a great Netto that stocked lots of GF and other allergy friendly foods. There was also a lovely little health food store called Heilsuhusid that also stocked some wonderful GF food. I bought a lot of stuff there to take with me. I wish I had bought more to bring home!

We learned that the Icelandic word for wheat is "hvede"

Two headed sheep. This guy lived outside a very cool shop. It's a local artists' cooperative. The artists try to recycle & upcycle as much as possible. Lots of fun things. 

The view from the apartment with marginally less fog. 

If you look closely you can see there are mountains in the background. 

Our first meal cooked at "home"! Chicken stir fry, yum

Akureyri, Day 1

We liked Akureryi a lot. It is the second biggest city in Iceland at 18500 people. The apartment we rented was great. It is within walking distance to the downtown area, and is nicely designed. It's the lower part of a large house. There is a big living room, a kitchen, and a bedroom. There was a shower room, and little toilet/sink area. The toilet was technically outside the apartment itself, but still completely private. We loved having separate rooms after being in guesthouses up until Akureryi. The view was also great. The house was the last at the end of road, and right at the top of a hill. We looked out over part of the harbour and part of the city.

We appreciated being able to cook for ourselves a bit. Having said that, when we arrived we went for dinner at Mulaberg, and the food was fantastic. I had the most delicious appetizer - carrot with dried Icelandic ham. Yum! The mains were also great. I fell in love with an alcoholic drink, which is surprising as I rarely drink alcohol. It's called The Golden Gate, and contains vodka, vanilla liquer, syrup, bitters and pineapple juice. We may have to figure out the proportions and make some at home.

Downtown Akureryi is quite cute. Very touristy but in a nice way. There are lots of little shops to look at, and many restaurants. Akureryi also has its own special church, Akureyrarkirkja. We didn't get inside it, but it is beautiful from the outside. There are 100 steps that lead up to it.

Our first day we decided to take it easy. We did some sightseeing, and just hung out in the apartment. We enjoyed a quiet day, especially as we had a busy day planned for the next day. Our plan was to hit some hot spots on the Diamond Circle, which we did.

Here are some very quick pics of the apartment. 

Isafjordur to Akureyri

After the Horse Encounter we headed to Akureryi, about a 7 hour drive. This was the longest driving day. Once again we followed the coast, outlining all the fjords along the way. We did get to see seals along the coast - very cool! We didn't have space to stop so no pictures, unfortunately.

The drive was lovely, as always. The terrain around Akureyri is much different from the West Fjords area.

Cruise ship in the Isafjordur harbour

A decrepit castle

A road to nowhere?

Low clouds

 Back over the fancy bridge one last time

My lunch - quinoa & rice cakes with honey

This giant rock almost ended up on the road

 Some serious spiky bits

We saw quite a few cyclists, though cycling on the main roads is not recommended.