Peter And Evie - Travel blog: July 31, 2023 - Isafjordur, Thingeyri Viking Museum, & Dynjandi Waterfall-NorthWest Iceland peninsula

July 31, 2023

The ship docked at Isafjordur, on the beautiful Isafjord Fjord. This peninsula in the North West of Iceland, has lots of Fjords or inlets, creating a beautiful coastline, many with small fishing villages in them.

We did a Road Scholar bus tour of the peninsula. First stop was into the town of Thingeyri. This town hosts a Viking museum. Vikings were in Iceland from about 800 to 1500 AD. We learned their history, tried on their clothing, got to eat their Viking bread. We walked through town over to an old Viking meeting place. Since this town was on one side of a Fjord, we needed to drive all the way around the Fjord to get to it, and then back again. No bridge across the Fjord.

Next stop was at the INCREDIBLE Dynjandi Waterfalls. These falls had 4 or 5 levels of falls, each different and each with their own name. It starts by cascading over the mountain top, and ends flowing into the Fjord. Of course, you had to climb up to each level of waterfalls, with the last one being the most challenging, but also being the most impressive once you got there. I made it to the top, Peter declined. These are the highest waterfalls in the Westfjords (northwest peninsula).

Driving back to the ship, following the coastline of the many Fjords, has striking views. Each Fjord was created by the glaciers carving out steep valleys down the mountainsides and into the ocean. The mountains were topped by fog, so the view was fog, mountain, steep greenery, cliffs, then water in the Fjord.

The winters are very long, and dark (2-3 hours of daylight per day), and the snow makes traveling the roads difficult. To facilitate travel, they built a 5 mile long tunnel under the mountain, to connect with the next town.

Day 5 photos: