Iceland, Faroes and Northern Isles Cruise
09:00–17:00 Seyðisfjörður, Iceland
Excursion Details
Essence of East Iceland
Date of Tour:
07/06/2016
Country:
Iceland
Port:
Seyðisfjörður
Excursion Code:
306001A
Excursion Duration:
5hrs
Departure Time:
09:30
Return Time:
14:30
Adult Price:
£69
Tour Description
You leave Seyðisfjörður, which boasts one of the best natural
harbours in the country, and head over the mountain pass of
Fjarðarheiði to Egilsstaðir, the centre of regional communications in
the east of Iceland. From Egilsstaðir, continue by skirting Iceland’s
third largest lake, ‘Lagarfljót’. The Lake’s bed lies 100m
(328ft) below sea level, gouged out by the mighty force of the glaciers
over thousands of years. It is well known for its ‘monster’ that
resides far below in its inky depths, and is ‘spotted’ once in a
while, attracting considerable attention. The tour continues alongside
the lake to Skriðuklaustur, an unusual structure of basalt blocks with
white cement. Formerly the site of a monastery, this building acts as a
residence for artists and writers, both Icelandic and foreign. From
here, a short walk brings you to Snæfellsstofa Visitor Centre covering
the east side of Vatnajökull National Park, offering interactive
exhibits exploring the nature of the area.
Your next stop is at Valthjófsstaður, the 13th century church estate
and manor farm in Fljótsdalur. The Church was consecrated in 1966 and
contains many valuable items including an exquisite chalice and paten.
From Valthjófsstaður you will pass Hallormsstaður, one of Iceland’s
most successful government forestry stations set in the beautiful
Hallormsstaðarskógur forest. Over forty species of tree from various
parts of the world can be found here. En route back to Seyðisfjörður,
you will make a comfort stop in Egilsstaðir at a souvenir shop where
you may choose to browse the handcrafted items made by local artists.
Important Notes
By coach/on foot. Min 40/Max 300.
Please note: This tour may operate in a different order to that
described. There is approximately 700m (2,300ft) walking on this tour
and comfortable, non-slip shoes are recommended.
“Your daily programme”
“Tender Safety Notice”
We got up ca.7am. We went down to the Waldorf Restaurant for breakfast. At home I don’t eat breakfast, but on holiday, because it’s provided and paid for, I do. This was my first opportunity effectively to do so: on
“Day
1” we joined the ship at lunch-time; on “Day
2” I felt ill, and left rather quickly; and yesterday, “Day
3”, we got the time wrong so my breakfast was cut short. Today, I had: Rice Krispies; “orange juice”; bacon, “sausages” and baked beans; a croissant; and “coffee”. I put “orange juice” in quotes because it was diluted from concentrate and never right, either fiercely strong (as today) or like water; “sausages”, because although they were sufficiently spicy their meat content tended to zero; and “coffee”, because it was dark, hot and wet, and there the resemblance to coffee ended. We went back to the cabin, then I went out to take photos. The ship was still proceeding through the fjord Seyðisfjörður, heading towards the town of the same name at its far end.
Tuesday 7 June 2016 — 08:31:24
View astern towards the mouth of the fjord Seyðisfjörður
Tuesday 7 June 2016 — 08:31:44
Zoomed-in view astern towards the mouth of the fjord Seyðisfjörður
Tuesday 7 June 2016 — 08:32:02
View to port
Tuesday 7 June 2016 — 08:32:20
View aft, somewhat to port
Tuesday 7 June 2016 — 08:33:00
View to starboard
Tuesday 7 June 2016 — 08:33:34
View to starboard
Tuesday 7 June 2016 — 08:35:02
View to port: waterfall
Tuesday 7 June 2016 — 08:36:16
The town Seyðisfjörður
Some time between the last photo above and the first photo below, the ship anchored and the lifeboats were lowered to serve as tenders to shore. We followed the instructions in
Your daily programme for people on the “Essence of East Iceland” excursion: “Meet in the Marco Polo Lounge at 08:45”. There wasn’t a “meeting” as such: there was someone at a desk on the stage, at which we queued, and she gave us each a ticket with a number on it. Ours were numbered “6”. Then we went to the Captain’s Club, and managed to find seats among the many already occupied. Our excursion was supposed to start at 9.30am, but it wasn’t till around that time that passengers with tickets numbers 1, 2 and 3 were invited by a woman with a Russian or Ukrainian accent to proceed to the gangway on Deck 5 aft. The invitation for tickets numbers 4, 5 and 6 came a little before 9.45am. We were checked out with a swipe of our “Cruisecard” and went down the rickety ladder to the tender platform. (I forgot to mention the “rickety ladder” on
Day
1 when we first boarded, and when we disembarked and re-embarked on Day
3 at Tórshavn.)
Tuesday 7 June 2016 — 09:46:22
Boarding the tender
Tuesday 7 June 2016 — 09:54:30
Aboard the tender
We went ashore at a wooden jetty, at the end of which there were people to check our excursion tickets and point us to the correct coach.
Tuesday 7 June 2016 — 10:10:50
Seen from the coach: car ferry MS Norröna, from Hirtshals in Denmark and Tórshavn in the Faroe Islands, berthed at Seyðisfjörður harbour
Similarly to yesterday in the Faroe Islands — perhaps more so — visibility today at sea level was good, but the tops of the mountains were covered with thick cloud. We set out and very soon, as we proceeded upwards on the pass over the plateau of Fjarðarheiði, we entered the cloud and mostly could see barely anything out of the windows except whiteness. A waterfall did come into view somewhat below to the left, though; in fact there was more than one waterfall on that stream. The guide said we might stop on the way back, if visibility had improved.
Tuesday 7 June 2016 — 10:21:16
Seen from the coach, left side: waterfall, perhaps Gufufoss
Tuesday 7 June 2016 — 10:35:20
“Visibility was almost zero.”
There was much snow and ice beside the road. The road was raised on an embankment above the level of the surrounding terrain, presumably so that the wind would tend to blow snow off it; and there were yellow posts at intervals on the roadsides, to mark the way when
the road was covered with snow (not today!). There was a viewpoint up there, at which we were supposed to be stopping, but as visibility was almost zero, to do so would have been pointless.
Tuesday 7 June 2016 — 10:41:16
“There was much snow and ice beside the road.”
Tuesday 7 June 2016 — 10:41:50
“There was much snow and ice beside the road.”
On the far side of Fjarðarheiði was a broad valley, Fljótsdalur, with a long, narrow lake, Lagarfljót, ahead of us stretching away to the right and to the left. Before us was the lakeside town of Egilsstaðir.
Tuesday 7 June 2016 — 10:49:16
Egilsstaðir
We turned left at Egilsstaðir, going on a further 25 miles or so, with the lake to the right and hills to the left, travelling from time to time through forested areas. Despite good views of the lake, we didn’t see the “Lagarfljót Worm”, Iceland’s equivalent of the Loch Ness Monster! One thing we noticed en route was that there seemed to be lupins all over the place. The roadsides in low-lying areas were lined with them. We saw groups of swans, not the Mute Swan common back home with a black knob on an orange bill, but the yellow-and-black billed Whooper Swan. Towards the south-western end of the lake, we went over a long, low bridge across to the other side and a little farther along we stopped at a building of formed concrete with a sign on the side,
Vatnajökulsþjóđgarđur — Snæfellsstofa (“Vatnajökull National Park — Snæfellsstofa [Visitor Centre]”).
Tuesday 7 June 2016 — 11:49:38
Vatnajökulsþjóđgarđur — Snæfellsstofa
“Vatnajökull National Park — Snæfellsstofa [Visitor Centre]”
Tuesday 7 June 2016 — 11:49:38 (detail 1)
Vatnajökulsþjóđgarđur — Snæfellsstofa
“Vatnajökull National Park — Snæfellsstofa [Visitor Centre]”
Tuesday 7 June 2016 — 11:49:38 (detail 2)
Vatnajökulsþjóđgarđur — Snæfellsstofa
“Vatnajökull National Park — Snæfellsstofa [Visitor Centre]”
Tuesday 7 June 2016 — 11:50:30
View from near Snæfellsstofa Visitor Centre
We were supposed to be there for about an hour. Why “supposed”, you’ll see later. After using the toilets there
Janet and I walked a few hundred yards farther south-westwards down the valley to Skriðuklaustur, formerly the home of author Gunnar Gunnarsson, now a museum. (We’d all heard of
HIM, hadn’t we?
Not!) Away in that direction were supposed to be Snæfell, Iceland’s highest mountain, and Vatnajökull, Iceland’s largest and most voluminous ice cap, but not a hint could be seen, for all the hilltops were still shrouded in thick cloud.
Tuesday 7 June 2016 — 11:50:50
The direction of Snæfell, Iceland’s highest mountain, and Vatnajökull, Iceland’s largest and most voluminous ice cap
Just before the house was a grove of trees which struck me as rather “Lord of the Rings”-like.
Tuesday 7 June 2016 — 11:54:12
Walking down the valley to Skriðuklaustur
Tuesday 7 June 2016 — 11:54:12 (detail)
Walking down the valley to Skriðuklaustur
Tuesday 7 June 2016 — 11:56:04
Home of Gunnar Gunnarsson, Skriðuklaustur
“Klaustur” is Icelandic for monastery, and indeed there was a gravel path just down in a south-easterly direction from there to an archaeological site of monastic ruins.
Tuesday 7 June 2016 — 11:58:06
Home of Gunnar Gunnarsson, Skriðuklaustur, south-eastern side
Tuesday 7 June 2016 — 11:59:10
“Minjasvæði — monastic ruins”
Tuesday 7 June 2016 — 12:01:44
“Minjasvæði — monastic ruins”
Tuesday 7 June 2016 — 12:01:58
Another view in the direction of Snæfell and Vatnajökull
Tuesday 7 June 2016 — 12:02:18
View in the opposite direction: Lagarfljót, and the long, low bridge across it by which we came
Tuesday 7 June 2016 — 12:02:34
View back up to Gunnar Gunnarsson’s home and the hillside beyond
Tuesday 7 June 2016 — 12:03:14
View in the opposite direction across Lagarfljót River: Icelandic horses grazing
Inside the arcaded corner of the house was a café so we dipped into our supply of krónur for the first time and had a drink there, before going upstairs in the house/museum to use the loos. The coach had come from Snæfellsstofa Visitor Centre to Skriðuklaustur, and we boarded. But two people were missing. We waited for them, and after some time went back to the Visitor Centre, the guide entering the centre to look for them. We went back to Skriðuklaustur, and eventually they joined us.
Janet wrote: “We were delayed by over half an hour by a couple who kept us waiting and offered no apology or reason why when they boarded the coach. Bastards!” From there we went a little farther down the valley to the nearby estate of Valthjófsstaður, birthplace of the aforesaid Gunnar Gunnarsson, with a modern parish church. It was strange to see a church seemingly in the middle of nowhere, but I guess it’s within travelling distance of the farmsteads all around. It had an ornate wooden door, a replica of an original in the National Museum, Reykjavík.
Tuesday 7 June 2016 — 13:12:44
Valthjófsstaður church
Tuesday 7 June 2016 — 13:14:34
Valthjófsstaður church: ornate wooden door
Tuesday 7 June 2016 — 13:16:22
Valthjófsstaður church: ornate wooden door
Tuesday 7 June 2016 — 13:16:22 (edited)
Valthjófsstaður church: ornate wooden door
Tuesday 7 June 2016 — 13:16:34
Valthjófsstaður church: ornate wooden door
Tuesday 7 June 2016 — 13:16:34 (edited)
Valthjófsstaður church: ornate wooden door
Tuesday 7 June 2016 — 13:17:50
Valthjófsstaður church
Tuesday 7 June 2016 — 13:18:00
Valthjófsstaður church
Tuesday 7 June 2016 — 13:18:18
Valthjófsstaður church
Tuesday 7 June 2016 — 13:18:30
Valthjófsstaður church
Tuesday 7 June 2016 — 13:18:48
Valthjófsstaður church
Tuesday 7 June 2016 — 13:19:18
Valthjófsstaður church
We retraced our route back to Egilsstaðir. On the way, visibility had improved to allow us to stop and look across Lagarfljót at an impressive waterfall: Hengifoss, I think.
Tuesday 7 June 2016 — 13:34:14
Perhaps Hengifoss
Tuesday 7 June 2016 — 13:35:06
Perhaps Hengifoss
Tuesday 7 June 2016 — 13:53:50
View from the coach: mountaintops still cloud-covered
There was a stop in Egilsstaðir. We availed ourselves of the toilets upstairs in the visitor centre-cum-souvenir shop, but didn’t do any
shopping. Near the end of the Fjarðarheiði pass, we stopped at the waterfall mentioned earlier, perhaps Gufufoss.
Tuesday 7 June 2016 — 15:05:50
Perhaps Gufufoss
Tuesday 7 June 2016 — 15:07:02
Perhaps Gufufoss
Tuesday 7 June 2016 — 15:07:10
Perhaps Gufufoss
Tuesday 7 June 2016 — 15:08:02
Perhaps Gufufoss
Tuesday 7 June 2016 — 15:09:20
Perhaps Gufufoss
It was cold outside when we got back to Seyðisfjörður, and we joined the queue waiting for a tender-boat. The crew of the first boat to arrive were unable to get close it to the landing-pier to moor up; there were three or four attempts, when the boat approached and kept drifting away. There were failed attempts to catch a line thrown from the pier, then after the man caught
it he didn’t seem able to haul the boat to the pier.
Tuesday 7 June 2016 — 15:20:52
MS Marco Polo and lifeboats being used as tenders
Tuesday 7 June 2016 — 15:21:42
Waterfall down the hillside overlooking the fjord
Tuesday 7 June 2016 — 15:29:30
One of the attempts to moor the tender-boat
Tuesday 7 June 2016 — 15:29:36
One of the attempts to moor the tender-boat
Tuesday 7 June 2016 — 15:38:20
Another of the attempts to moor the tender-boat
Eventually the boat was tied up and we boarded, only to the told then that we had to get off and board a second boat now tied up on the other side of the pier. This meant pushing in front of the now-long line of people already starting to board the second boat. Someone had got a line caught in the propeller of the first boat, and they couldn’t get it loose.
Tuesday 7 June 2016 — 15:41:20
Boarding the tender-boat
Tuesday 7 June 2016 — 15:46:04
Aboard the tender-boat
Tuesday 7 June 2016 — 15:52:14
Boarding the second tender-boat—
Tuesday 7 June 2016 — 15:52:36
—because a line was caught in the propeller of the first boat
Tuesday 7 June 2016 — 15:58:48
Aboard the second tender-boat
Tuesday 7 June 2016 — 16:10:54
Boarding the Marco Polo
So it was a very chilly hour that elapsed between arriving at Seyðisfjörður and boarding the Marco Polo. It certainly didn’t inspire any confidence in the competence of the crew! “It was darn cold and there was an absolute fiasco getting us back to the
Marco Polo,”
Janet wrote. “It was disgraceful, really.” We deposited our stuff in the cabin, then went to the Captain’s Club and sat on two of the bar stools.
Janet had two Coca Cola Light in succession and I a 40cl glass of Bitburger draught beer (16:19). We returned to the cabin, then
Janet went to the hairdresser’s.… Transferred 57 photos and two videos from the camera to the
WD Elements HDD (17:01–17:04). “I arrived back at the cabin with ‘big hair’!”
Janet wrote. “It looked good though.” We went to the Captain’s Club, sat again on the bar stools, and I had a
Campari and soda as “aperativo” and
Janet a Coca Cola Light (17:40), before we went for dinner to Marco’s Restaurant. I had minestrone soup, then veal in perhaps a red wine sauce, then some slices of cheese, red beef and salami with sesame-seeded bread. I had a 40cl glass of draught
Bitburger beer and
Janet a Coca Cola Light (18:11). It was cold outside, so we didn’t do a turn of Deck 10; we went two or three times around internally on Deck 8, stopping briefly before going back to the cabin to look in the Library. We were both in bed
ca.9pm. I woke up towards midnight, and seeing daylight out of the cabin window I took a photo. We were perhaps heading in a north-westerly direction, and our cabin was on the port side, so the sun wasn’t visible from there; it would be in the north, and I guessed it would be visible from the other side, but I didn’t get dressed to find out.
Tuesday 7 June 2016 — 23:57:42
View through the cabin window: daylight at midnight
