Friday - day 8 - Seyðisfjörður, Iceland

We arrived at our first port in Iceland, Seyðisfjörður (pronounced "say-this-fyur-thur"), on Friday morning. We came in during a low tide period, and had been cautioned that the number of tenders available to transport passengers from the ship to the pier would be limited because only one tender could discharge passengers to the pier at a time until the tide rose. We decided to stay onboard until after lunch and enjoy the town a little later in the day.

Quite a pretty town as seen from the ship

Just to the right of town was this large wall going down the mountain as well as some smaller mounds nearby -- we heard (from another passenger) that these were to help in case of landslides.

A view of our ship as we were heading into town on the tender

A map of the town provided in the area where we got off the tenders

Near the tender drop-off area was a Technical Museum -- we didn't go into the museum proper, but visited an exhibit outside actually in the area where part of the Technical Museum used to be, but was destroyed by a landslide in December, 2020. 

There were a number of signboards... 

This one gave information about landslides since 1880...

I thought that it was ironic that the two houses that were destroyed in the 1958 landslide were named "Disaster" and "Debt" -- I don't know whether they had those names before the landslide or whether it was just the names they were given after their destruction.

The December 2020 landslide was, by far, the most damaging the town had experienced.

The pinkish-brown areas were where the landslide passed through the town.

One of the items that was damaged during the 2020 landslide was a tractor that had been in the Technical Museum...

A picture of it in the museum

It was severely damaged, along with the part of the Technical Museum, in the landslide.

As we left the Technical Museum grounds and continued into town...

... we saw Búðareyrarfoss, a waterfall up beyond the Technical Museum

We weren't the only ship in town on Friday -- there was also a Viking ship in town.

I had read that there were a number of houses in the town that were Norwegian "kit houses" (think Ikea houses!) from the early 19th century... we took a number of pictures of what we thought were examples of these houses...

I had read about the Seyðisfjarðarkirkja - "Seydisfjardur church" -- 

It was quite a pretty church down a street with a rainbow pattern...

Up a little closer...

Inside

More of the "kit" houses:

A view of houses across a lake in town

More kit houses:

I thought the exterior metal on this house and the yellow one below was special.

Another view of those odd mounds just outside of town that we heard had something to do with landslide amelioration.

When we got back to the tendering area, the fellows from the ship (who are always there on the pier with water) also had hot chocolate - since the temperature was about 50F and it was sprinkling a little bit, that was very appreciated!

Back on the ship - we took this picture through the window in the buffet dining area so there is a bit of a glare at the top, but this appeared to be a grain elevator in town. I did not see a lot of agriculture on our way in through the fjord, but maybe there is enough in the surrounding area.

The evening performance was by flutist, Simeon Wood.

He played a number of flute or whistle type instruments...

... and was a good entertainer.

Back in our room, as we were leaving through the fjord, I noticed these three houses that looked almost identical -- like houses in a housing development built by the same builder, but they were a distance apart from each other.

As we went further along, I saw these fields where hay had been harvested. This part was on the "other" side of the ship as we had come into the fjord so I had not seen it.

We appreciated visiting this little town (about 700 residents, I think). Although it was damp and chilly, we enjoyed the first place we've been in Iceland!