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Hafnarstræti
Hafnarstræti, shopping street of Akureyri.
IMG_6076Akureyri is the fifth largest city in Iceland and the largest outside the southwest capital region. It has regular domestic air service from Reykjavik and is considered teh capital of North Iceland. Hotel Kea was located right in the center of downtown. Diner was our first formal taste of Icelandic lamb.
After dinner, Susan and I took a walk along the main street. Above the hotel was the Akureyrikirkja, the Lutheran church. Built in 1940, it is in the Functionalism style popular in Iceland at that time. Across the street was the Eymundsson bookstore. Icelanders love to read. (Our guide was well versed in Icelandic poetry and the sagas.) The bookstore had a large stock of titles in Icelandic, including children's books, may of which were translations of popular English-language children's books. There was a large section of books in English, both translations of Icelandic literature and titles published in English. I spotted the Penguin book
The Sagas of Iceland. Tempting, but it was a very thick paperback. I would wait until I was home. We came upon a delightful looking pink ice cream shop. A miniature castle. We each had a cup of caramel licorice ice cream. Really different!
Turninn
Turninn ice cream stand.
IMG_6077 The next morning our guide took us on a drive through Akureyri's older residential neighborhood. Houses here had been built in the first half of the 20th century. She was knowledgeable about the different styles of houses, especially the original vs. new window styles. We passed the oldest house in Akureyri, built in 1795. A stop was made at the Akureyri Botanical Gardens. Established in 1912, it are the northernmost botanic garden, only 30 miles (50 km) from the Arctic Circle. Groundskeepers were busy preparing the garden for summer. Part of the display is Eyralandsstofa, the 1848 farmhouse that was once home to the farm that existed on the property. Both Eyralandsstofa and the oldest house in Akureyri are wooden houses. They were not the sod buildings we would see later. I have to say Akureyri with its preponderance of older Nordic style wooden buildings looked just like I imagined an Icelandic town would appear.
Leaving the botanical gardens, we drove past Swan Lake. Aptly named, for there were Whooper Swans swimming in it. It was now time to head further east to the Mýtvan region. We left Akureyri via a long causeway across Eyjafjörður and then headed
Bautinn Restaurant
Bautinn Restaurant. Buit in 1902. Hafnarstræti 92.
IMG_6075 up the other side of the fjord. Another cruise ship was docking at Akureyri, M/S Spitsbergen of Hurtigruten. Akureyri is definitely a cruise port of call.
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