Thought for the Month
I have just been lucky enough to have a holiday on the Queen Anne joining her at Southampton going to Southern Ireland stopping at Cobh where we went on a coach trip to a very popular seaside place called Kinsdale. We were surprised to find that property prices are extremely high and rarely come on the open market. The countryside was very tranquil and the farmers seemed to grow a lot of barley and run dairy cows with sheep in the same field, something we don’t see in Southern England.
We then spent 2 days at sea before arriving in Reykjavík, Iceland. Today we had a coach take us around the town with a guide pointing out various interesting buildings. We were taken to a newly built Observation Tower which gave us fantastic views across Reykjavik
Our Ship stayed overnight so again we elected to go on a coach trip to see more of the area and we passed the volcano which erupted recently and was still steaming. The volcanic rock had crossed several parts of the road we travelled on but had been quickly cleared. We learnt that the volcano had gone 850 years without erupting and then 4 years ago as I am sure many of you will remember, it stopped all air traffic because of the enormous amount of dust that it spewed into the air. Our guide explained to us that villages have great walls of volcanic rock piled up around them to prevent the lava engulfing the village.
Our coach then took us to a deserted village which had been badly damaged by one of the many mini earthquakes that happen in that area because it is on the tectonic plate. The whole village had suffered damage so badly that the government bought all the houses from the people and it is now a ghost village and a tourist attraction.
From there we drove to see geezers from which the hot water is piped around Reykjavík and used to heat the houses. There was also an aluminum factory nearby also using the hot water from the geezers. Our coach then took us to a huge Viking Museum where they had all sorts of relics from their time under Viking Rule including a life size replica of a Viking Boat which Michael my husband was very interested in.
Our ship then moved on to Isafjordur a small fishing village. Today we elected to go to the top of the highest mountain in that area where we were told we would be able to see Greenland if it was a clear day. Unfortunately when we got to the top, after a terrifying ride along little more than a single track road that wound up the side of the mountain, the top was in the clouds and we could see absolutely nothing. When we got back down we went to see a little village called Skalavik where an avalanche had completely engulfed the village and many people lost their lives so it is now only used in the summer. A very kind Icelandic lady invited us to join her in her house and she told us that when they have daylight 24 hours she can stand on the beach and watch the sun go down to the horizon and then start climbing back up again, it is also a great place to see the Northern Lights.
We left Isafjordur late afternoon and moved round the coast to Akureyri we had a wander round the town in the morning. We visited a newly constructed Church which was quite magnificent with beautiful stained glass windows and seating for about 200 people.
In the afternoon we had a guided coach tour and visited Nonni’s Museum, the Botanical Gardens where they have over 7,000 different plants and visited The Christmas Tree House which is full of very expensive Christmas Decorations. I was amazed to see so many different toys and Christmas things.The house covers 2 floors and is built to look like a liquorish ’Allsort.’ A children’s dream house.
Back onboard to start making our way back to Southampton stopping off at Greenwich, Scotland where had a trip to look over Stirling Castle which is very well preserved and sees thousands of visitors every year.
Our next port of call was Liverpool where we spent time in the Cathedral which is the largest in the UK and the 5th largest in the world. It’s organ has 5 keyboards and 11,001 pipes which go all round the Cathedral, I haven’t been able to work out how this works. There are video’s of the organ and Cathedral on You Tube which are well worth a look.
The Cathedral was completed 25th October 1978 and Arch Bishop Welby was its Dean before he became Bishop of Durham and then Arch Bishop of Canterbury.
We arrived back in Southampton 2 days later and my holiday was over. I had just spent 14 days without looking at my emails, texting anybody or making any telephone calls! I came back into the real world and within a couple of days my holiday was a distant memory.
Fay