Serenade of the “C’s” I Mean “I’s” – Ice Bergs, Iceland, Ice Caps and Ice Cream

[SailorJack]

The Lerwick Town Hall - stone of course.  As another example of the openness of the town the Town Hall is open to all visitors.  In fact the sign outside actually invites visitors to come in to look at the building - at no cost of course. The Hall was completed in 1884 and sits on the highest point in town. It is a popular venue for marriages, concerts and wedding receptions.

 

 

 

 

The building was replete with beautiful stained glass windows.

 

 

 

The room where the town does its business. The  Hall was completely open  - there were no restrictions. Don't know what would have happened if the council had been in session, but we enjoyed the visit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Jasperdo]

Sailor Jack,

Haven't been on CC for awhile and have just now found your latest adventure. Haven't had a chance to read it yet. I'm sure it will be terrific as always!

 

(Boy, has the interface here changed since last time I was here. I'm totally lost...)

[SailorJack]

8 hours ago, Jasperdo said:

Sailor Jack,

Haven't been on CC for awhile and have just now found your latest adventure. Haven't had a chance to read it yet. I'm sure it will be terrific as always!

 

(Boy, has the interface here changed since last time I was here. I'm totally lost...)

 

 

Welcome back to CC. The interface has changed dramatically.  I am now just getting use to it but still cannot figure out how to edit a post after previewing it. I guess I will figure it out eventually.

 

Hope you like the review.

 

Jack

[SailorJack]

At the tourist kiosk near the pier, we were given a map of Lerwick which included several recommended hikes of various lengths.  We decided to take a one mile hike to see Clickimin Broch - one of the top tourist attractions in Lerwick.

 

The hiking path skirted the border and was inside the rock wall you can see in the background.  It was an easy walk and the scenery around every bend was delightful.

 

 

 

 

We have arrived at Clickimin Loch. 

 

 

Believed to have been first settled in the 7th Centrury BC, it probably started out as a farm with the rock walls keeping in the livestock.  It was built inside Clickimin Loch and probably had some form of drawbridge to the mainland.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[SailorJack]

This was the entrance to the Broch.  Either people were really small back then or the entrance was designed as a defensive measure to restrict invasions. Even bent nearly double, I whacked my head both coming and going.

 

 

 

A sign describing the inner stronghold.

 

 

The inner stronghold.  Over the years, local residents helped themselves to many of the stones that were used in building the stronghold.  It is estimated that at its height the stronghold was over 45 feet tall.

 

 

 

 

 

[SailorJack]

Some last pictures of Lerwick and the Shetlands.  This was a great port to visit.  The people here were friendly, there was a lot to see within walking distance of the port and the scenery was really quite nice. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next stop - Iceland!

 

 

[SailorJack]

Our first view of Iceland. Visiting ports in Iceland was one of the reasons we took this cruise so we are pretty excited to be here.

 

 

 

The port of Akureyri lies at the end of a fairly long fiord, so it took us a while to get there.  Here you can see us starting our entrance.

 

 

 

 

Once the sun came up, Iceland's dramatic scenery became visible.

 

 

 

 

Our first real glimpse of Akureyri.  This is our first of two ports in Iceland and Akureyri is Iceland's second largest urban area - with a population a little under 20,000 people.

 

 

 

 

 

[flamingos]

Thanks for the new photos!  I am waiting anxiously for next week when they release the 2020 cruise.  

[SailorJack]

We were not the first ship to arrive in Akureyri.  Holland America's Zuiderdam was ahead of us.

 

 

 

 

 

Actually we were not even the second ship in port.  The Princess ship, Pacific Princess was also here.

 

 

 

As it turns out, we were not even the third ship to arrive.  The AIDA Cara was already here also.  This was one popular port.  Assuming an average of 2,000 passengers ( I think the Pacific Princess held less) we added about 50% to the town's population that day.

 

 

Of course our ship made number 4.  All these ships in at the same time.  You can imagine the crowds in town.

 

 

 

[SailorJack]

19 hours ago, flamingos said:

Thanks for the new photos!  I am waiting anxiously for next week when they release the 2020 cruise.  

 

 

Hope it has your itinerary.   I just got today Viking Ocean's 2020 schedule and they are not doing the TA this year from Bergan to the USA with stops in Iceland and Greenland.  They are still visiting those ports but now they are round trips from Bergan.

Batter luck with RCI.

 

Jack

[SailorJack]

Thinking about flying into town,?  The runway runs right into the water.

 

 

 

Apparently Lasagna is very popular in Iceland.

 

 

 

 

As expected - there were crowds from the four ships in harbor everywhere. 

 

 

 

 

 

[SailorJack]

 

This is the visitor center.  It was located just outside the port area and had all sorts of maps and info.  Also, the private tours all had their busses and vans in the parking lot here.  Good place to find relatively inexpensive tours as opposed to those from the ship.

 

 

 

 

 

As opposed to the tourist part of town, there was nobody in the business district - like this bank.  Of course it was just in the processing of opening, but still..../

 

 

 

 

If we were going to be here for dinner I definitely would have eaten here just because of the name.  On second thought, I saw the posted menu and don' think I could have afforded it!

 

 

 

Maybe just coffee al fresco at " Kaffi Ummmm"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[SailorJack]

This is the church that overlooks the town.  It had amazing windows and is noted for the model ship that hangs from the ceiling.  It is one of the main stops on the city tour. There is no entrée fee which is pretty much standard in Iceland.

 

 

 

 

The steps looking down into town with some of the ships in the harbor.  There really were great views from up here.  From this point the steps do not look that daunting, but.....

 

 

 

 

Looking up they are quite intimidating.  And there was no wheelchair access.  There were roads leading up the hill, but they also were very steep.

 

 

 

 

 

[SailorJack]

On ‎12‎/‎4‎/‎2018 at 12:05 PM, Baatman said:

Great review...again.  When do you sail again.

Glad you like it. 

 

We are off to Hawaii for a 15 day roundtrip out of LA in early February.  Looking forward to getting out of the cold!

[BigNance]

Looking forward to THAT review!!! 

I'm guessing there will be hula skirts and coconuts in the 'screen saver'???

[SailorJack]

The houses on the island were immaculate.  These houses were on the road up to the JC and most had the year of construction proximately displayed on them. This one dates to 1928.

 

 

 

 

An even earlier one - 1926.

 

 

I couldn't find a date on this house, but it was quite nice.

 

 

 

[SailorJack]

Just a short walk from the pier is the Junior College.

 

 

 

 

The signage tells of the history of the JC, but what we found most interesting was that the college was pre-fabricated in Denmark and then shipped to Iceland for assembly. 

 

 

 

The path to the left of the sign was known as the "Road to Destruction."  The path went from the college down to a dancehall that "respectable" students would never visit - hence the name.  As part of the college's tradition, upper classmen would take new students on a tour of the town and at the end of the tour they would use this path to go back up the college. They then called this the "Path to Education." So, going down led to destruction and going led to education. The sign also noted that if you were going up the path you could not look back down as it could lead to failure on exams.

 

 

 

[h20skibum]

On 12/13/2018 at 2:00 PM, SailorJack said:

 

We are off to Hawaii for a 15 day roundtrip out of LA in early February.  Looking forward to getting out of the cold!

 

We did that trip last year, except we left from San Francisco.  Be prepared for the first couple sea days to be cool, and seas a little rough.  Most people don’t realize that, thinking warm in CA, warm in HI, and they forget cool weather clothes. 

 

It willbe the same on the return trip. 

[SailorJack]

Clearly, the biggest surprise we had at this port was the botanical garden.  We just did not expect this.

 

 

 

 

Beautiful shaded pathways. Notice the lights strung along the trees.  It must have been very nice walking at night.

 

 

 

Grassy fields for kids to play and gazebos to get out of the weather.

 

 

 

And small fountains surrounded by benches where one can stop and rest.  Even though we were in late fall, thee were still blooming flowers.

 

 

 

 

 

[SailorJack]

On ‎12‎/‎13‎/‎2018 at 1:39 PM, BigNance said:

Looking forward to THAT review!!! 

I'm guessing there will be hula skirts and coconuts in the 'screen saver'???

LOL  I forgot about that one.  I'll have to go back and see if I still have it!

 

Jack

[SailorJack]

Some last photos of the Botanical Gardens.  We were just so pleasantly surprised to find this park and garden. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[stevea36]

RCI Just released the 2020 version of this trip.   It will be on Brilliance of the Seas, 15 nights, from Amsterdam to Boston, Leaving on September 2, 2020.

 

Itinerary is:

Amsterdam

Sea

Bergen, Norway

Geiranger, Norway, Sea

Akureyri, Iceland

Reykjavik, Iceland (overnight)

Sea

Cruise Prins Christian Sound

Qaqortoq, Greenland

Nuuk, Greenland

Sea

Sea

Sea

Boston.

 

I was able to book a 2B Hump balcony this morning, with a refundable deposit, for 3852 pp (less any C&A Discount you may have).   This compares to over $8000 pp for the lone remaining balcony on the 2019 version.

 

Sailor, how does this itinerary compare to yours?   Dropping canada is no biggie for me as I will be doing a canada/ne cruise in October 2019.

 

My biggest issue is that I will need 16 nights to get to Diamond and their changing this to 15 is "forcing" me to take another cruise.  (maybe I can talk the DW into doing an 8 night in a JS to get us Diamond before this sailing 🙂 )

 

Steve

[stevea36]

3 hours ago, SailorJack said:

Some last photos of the Botanical Gardens.  We were just so pleasantly surprised to find this park and garden. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Great Pix !

 

[flamingos]

BOOKED for 2020!!!!    Brilliance of the Seas, sailing September 2.

 

AMSTERDAM, NETHERLANDS

CRUISING

BERGEN, NORWAY

GEIRANGER, NORWAY

CRUISING

AKUREYRI, ICELAND

REYKJAVIK, ICELAND

REYKJAVIK, ICELAND

CRUISING PRINS

CHRISTIAN SUND(CRUISE)

QAQORTOQ, GREENLAND

NUUK, GREENLAND

CRUISING

CRUISING

CRUISING

BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 

[SailorJack]

I don't know what it is about Scandinavian countries and trolls, but they were on big display here in Iceland as well!

 

 

 

 

A last look at our port as we sail to our next one.  This is sort of what my preconceived idea was about Iceland.  I guess travel is broadening.