Once on board and after meeting the cruise staff and after many briefings, we hit our pillows with heads spinning; the map indicates where the ship would be visiting. We of course were hopeful of getting out in the zodiacs to cruise close to the coastline and visit islands; that was all yet to come.
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| Yellow pins mark the places we would visit |
Early the next morning, we arrived at Snaefellsnes Peninsula, one of our favourite places, and dropped anchor at the port of Stykkisholmur on the southern shores of the immense Breidafjordur Bay; this is the delightful little town from where we began our road trip around the Westjords just 2 weeks ago. Today we were heading for Snæfellsjokull National Park by bus, but there were other things in store for us before we got there. The first treat was breakfast. Man oh man! The choices were wonderful and plentiful – note to self “you don’t have to try everything Heather”.
After breakfast we loaded into zodiacs which would take us into port. I have to say that boarding the zodiacs in this new bigger ship is far easier than on the Polar Pioneer, however it lacked the sense of adventure we love. The ship ‘leans over’ (like a kneeling bus) to bring the exit portals closer to the zodiacs. We were quite regimented in terms of which zodiac and bus we were allowed on and even which table we sat out for all our meals - the same one for the entire voyage! This impacted the sociable mingling we have enjoyed in the past – it was all about Covid protection; that system didn't work so well. Hmmmm However ……
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| It was an excellent little museum at Bjarnarhofn |
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| This is a tasting with an interesting twist - fermented meat from sharks 100s of years old. |
Once aboard our buses, we headed off passing by mountains and around rocky coastline and past great stretches of lava flows to reach our first stop Bjarnarhofn. Here we piled out of the buses to visit the shark museum and to taste cured shark. This was not any old shark but Greenland Shark. What an amazing creature. It is the world’s longest living vertebrate with a life expectancy of around 300 years and can live to 400 years or more; these slow-growing creatures don’t reach reproductive age until around 150 years old. Growing up to a length of 7m or more, it is also one of the largest cartilaginous fishes in the world. We were not about to taste your local Flake, this was the flesh of the Greenland Shark which is poisonous when fresh. The cleansing and preparation necessary to reduce toxicity involves cutting up the flesh and leaving it for 6 weeks to encourage the toxins to leach out of the flesh. It is then hung outside to dry in the air. Not all the toxins are destroyed however so they say you can only eat very small amounts at a time. They have a festival week around Christmas when they feast on the fermented shark washed down with plenty of Schnapps. We of course tried it – you dip it in Schnapps for a little while then pop it into your mouth and wash it down with the Schnapps (some people ate bread instead!).
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| Air drying is an age-old technique: we saw many across Iceland and Norway. |
Back in the buses we drove to and around the end of this world-famous peninsula under the watchful and, I like to think, benign gaze of the magnificent, ice-capped Snæfellsjokull volcano of Jules Verne fame - ‘Journey to the Centre of the Earth’. It is quite awe inspiring. The rocks of the peninsula and the Westfjords along with eastern Iceland are the oldest on the island - all to do with the widening rift between the tectonic plates. One has to keep remembering that all the while this land still being formed - it is quite mind boggling.
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| Snæfellsjokull |
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| Snaefellsnes Peninsula |
Iceland is home to some very special land formations and they include the oddly shaped Kirkjufell which is one of the most photographed mountains in Iceland. Opposite Kirkjufell is Kirkjufellsfoss, a series of waterfalls. Everywhere you look the scenery is stunning and I took many photos, here I am posting just a tiny handful.
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| Kirkjufell |
We wended our way back across the peninsula past strange rock formations and fields of lichen-covered lava making relatively brief visits to some pretty spectacular coastline.
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| This is Bardur - the Mythical Protector of the Snæfellsnes Peninsula |
Perched on a cliff top is this monument to Bardur. According to saga, Bardur came to Iceland as a settler in the 9th century and gave this peninsula its name. His father King Dumbur was half titan/troll, but his mother was human. According to legend Titans are said to be kinder and larger than other people - they are like giants. Unlike the Icelandic trolls, they are kind, strong people. Scary and delightful.
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