"Isafjordur, Akureyri" North Iceland by fred98115

We visited Isafjordur, a small town on the northwestern coast, via the cruise ship, Prinsendam. We made a wise choice when we decided to simply stroll about the town and take in the ambiance. It has interesting homes, churches, shops and green space. The visitor's bureau was open and helpful. Take time and enjoy a marvelous fishing community. Also, if you are on a cruise, be on deck when you come and go through the fjord, Skutulsfjordur.

Godafoss overview

Outside Akureyri. This is the place where Iceland became Christian, and you can walk about visualizing how and where it happened. Plus these are very photogenic falls. There is a story associated with the falls. The country, a pagan land, had decided to live under a parliamentary government style in the tenth century. The strongest political personality lived near the falls, and he decided that the country would become Christian. He carried two symbols of his pagan gods to the waterfall and tossed them in, dispatching pagan religion from his life and his country.

Left foot in America, right in Europe

An hour or so from Akureyri and you can walk about looking at geological formations from Iceland's geothermal past. Included are lava flows, mud pots, steaming pools of water, all a part of geothermal Iceland. Special bonus: the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates are a meter apart in the lava grotto, meaning you can have one foot in America and one in Europe. Cool.