We sailed for two days, headed for Greenland. Sort of. We never got to Greenland at all and ended up on the very north end of Iceland, in a town called Akyreyri. A little ways out of town is a beautiful waterfall called Godefuss, meaning Gods Falls. Story is that when the island turned from "heathen" to "christian", the town fathers threw all the statues of the heathen gods into the falls.
Then, a visit to the local botanical garden. This was a place where we could have spent hours, but only had a limited time. Such a variety of plants, all imported.
On to Reykjavik! We had taken the Great Circle Tour before, but went again because it was so neat. First to the Gullfoss Falls:
Then, we went to see...guess what?
Actually, it's a whole field of geysers, hot pools, and bubbling cauldrons. One of them spouts off fairly regularly:
Next stop was Eskifjordur, Iceland. The wind the howling. Captain Aris tried very hard to get the ship on the dock, but the wind was having none of it. This being missed port stop number five (hence the term Mystery Cruise. We never know where we'll end up), we set off for the Faroe Islands, and oh boy did we get a ride. It looked like "victory at sea" outside. Huge waves, screaming winds, lots of strange bumps and bangs. It turned out that one of those bangs was a huge, thick window in the main dining room being broken in by the water. Everything and everyone got soaked. What a mess! Seawater everywhere.
We made it to Torshavn (pronounced Tor-shawn) in the Faroe Islands. They have their own government but are under the protection of Denmark for military and security purposes. Took a scenic ride, mostly through dense fog, around the island. The fog cleared on the western end of the island enough to enjoy the views.
So, now we're heading for Kirkwall in the Scottish Orkney Islands, and hoping for better weather.
