Akureyri - more sunshine

Sorry for the gap folks. They keep us busy on the ship and then the shore excursions take up the rest of the time, even if we just wander on our own. 

With the afternoon plan for golf firmly in place, we simply wandered around Akureyri in the morning. We really do have to walk much of the time to at least make an attempt to work off the wonderful meals. Even breakfast has different options every day. You can order a custom omelet but the scrambled eggs, some sort of vegetable, bacon, sausage, beans, pancake or crepe or breakfast burrito, porridge, yogurt, fruit, dry cereal, etc. offer more than enough options. And NO, I don't eat all of that. I top off my eggs and bacon with some fruit and sometimes one of their tiny croissants. Oh yes - I forgot the potatoes. They are so delicious that most days I give in and try a couple. Coffee in Iceland is like coffee in Seattle - everyone drinks it all the time. And I can assure you that it's high octane. Even the thought of decaf is pretty foreign and it's very hard to find. On the ship they use instant but do make it in a pot to provide the illusion of brewed coffee. 

Off we headed into town. By that time you'd think we'd have realized that it's all uphill baby. Emphasis on the up. The main shopping street is near sea level. Apparently it allows vehicular traffic when there aren't enough pedestrians to warrant keeping cars out. This is being rather late in the heavy tourist season, cars were allowed.

There is little lacking here by way of consumer goods. The country is self-sufficient in dairy products, lamb, fish and, dare I say, chocolate. The numerous geo-thermal-warmed greenhouses must provide enough tomatoes for all. There was no sign of them growing but potatoes are also available and consumed in large quantities.

Our destination was the botanical garden - yes, this far north. Some of the ladies of the town of 18,000 decided that they needed a showcase for local flora and over time a magical botanical garden came to life. It is beautifully laid out and the numerous paths and different little areas make it absolutely charming - even in the rain. There was a sprinkling while we were there but it lasted only a few minutes.

From there we found a path downhill to sea level again and had to pass the famous ice cream shop. Luckily it was not yet open. We drifted along the path to the port in time for lunch.

Lunch - it is more than amply taken care of with sandwiches, water, fruit, cheese and sometimes brownies or biscuits for those on excursions. For those on the ship, they should have to go via the gym. There is always a delicious soup, fresh vegetables, salads, meat, fish and vegetarian options. In fact half of the main course options are vegetarian. 100% of the options are delicious.

At one PM we were picked up by taxi and taken to Akureyri golf course. We had booked a power cart - one of two they have. The seat was carefully mended with duct tape. The pro (?) sort of dusted it off, pointed us to the first tee and said it would be easy to find each successive hole. Well - sometimes it was.

Driving off from our first shots we realized that it would be a bouncy journey. The "fairways" were like riding over railway ties or speed bumps - all the time. And it was very hilly. There were lots of blind shots, requiring us to drive up to peer over the hill to see where we should aim. The fairways were almost always tilted to one side or the other. The ground was very firm and we got quite a lot of roll - not always, or even often, in the desired direction. The quality of the fairways was nowhere near what we expected, having read that this course was the site of the Arctic Open and among the top 100 courses in Europe. Perhaps the author of that rating was thinking of mini-golf courses. 

BUT - the views were spectacular. The sun shone all afternoon and we had a lot of fun. The greens probably had a few flat spots but we couldn't find them. My putting was the best part of my game in spite of that. The clubs we had were, um, serviceable, if we took what was needed from whichever golf bag had the right club. 

At the end of the round it was a different chap in the pro shop and he knew nothing - not even prices. The voucher for our return taxi had been given to the first pro and he couldn't be raised even on his mobile phone. Luckily there is only one taxi company in town and the driver who was summoned called dispatch and got everything sorted out. 

Each evening we get a presentation on what to expect in the next port, along with the weather report. Every day it seems, we are told to expect sunshine in the morning. We almost always got sun. There was the odd sprinkle but nothing significant. Comments about how fortunate we were and how this was the only cruise with such good weather, could be heard from the whole crew.