2022 Canada, Greenland and Iceland: Isafjordur, Iceland

Destinations/Ports Series: 2022 Canada Greenland Iceland Cruise

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Isafjordur is a beautiful remote town in the Northwestern part of Iceland. It is really a pretty tiny village, and we took a boat from the village over to Hesteyri across the West Fjords area of Iceland. Here is the description of the area from the tour boat company’s website.

“In Hesteyri you’ll find well maintained traditional houses from around the 1900’s that are regularly used by the owners in the summer. A Norwegian whaling station was built in Stekkeyri close to the main village in 1894 and was in operation until 1915. Then it was turned into a herring plant that ran until late 1930’s. The factory still stands and the walk there is easy.

There were about 80 inhabitants in Hesteyri at the high peak of the village in 1941 but declined fast in the next few years. In the early 1950’s all the remaining inhabitants made the decision to move away.
Hesteyri is the main gateway for hikers heading into the nature reserve of Hornstrandir. The most popular walk is over to Aðalvík and over to Kjaransvík Bay in the North.”

We boarded a little boat in Isafjordur and then took the 40 minute boat ride over to the abandoned town that is now part of the national park. One of the first things we did was to ring the bell to let the elves know that we were coming and meant no harm. Then we went over to the cemetery where we saw that most of the people in this village were such hardy folk, they lived well into their 90’s. We also walked to a beautiful waterfall and across fields of blooming wild flowers. The old doctor’s house now serves as a little cafe where the visitors are served coffee and some local baked goods.

After our return to the the main port of Isafjordur, we enjoy a local mean of burges and fish chowder chased down by Viking beer.

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Suzanne Klasen

Suzanne Klasen is the Owner / Travel Advisor of CruiseOne Suzanne Klasen. We have combined our love of cruising with computer skills to bring you a very informative and entertaining site that follows my cruising travels and thoughts. I hope that you will let me help plan your next vacation.