Before I tell you about today’s tour, I wanted to say that Viking gave us back half of what we had paid for the tour where we weren’t given the full experience. (We might also be receiving all the money back, but it has to go through corporate and they will let us know when we are back home.)

Today we sailed into the village of Djupivogur which lies on Iceland’s east coast and has been a trading center since the 16th century as well as being rich in the fishing trade.

Around the town, several cultural sights can be explored, which we saw with our guide, after tendering over to the little village. The ride in the tender was a bit rough, but we arrived safely and we met our guide for a walking tour around the town.

It was a beautiful sunny day, but extremely windy. Our guide said that they don’t get much snow, and the temperatures do not get too extreme due to the Gulf Stream that swirls around the area and keeps the waters warm, thus keeping the temperatures reasonable. That being said, the wind is intense, which brings the temps down in the winter months.

The first stop on the tour was a monument of an arrow pointing to the sky, which honored Hans Jonatan, who escaped slavery in St. Croix, and eventually fled to Iceland. Hans became the first known person of African descent to settle in the country.

Djupivogur is home to Langabud, one of Iceland’s oldest commercial buildings, dating back to 1790. Over the years it has served many purposes, being a warehouse and slaughterhouse. Today, it is home to a café, the heritage museum, and an exhibition by an Icelandic sculptor who was native to the village.

Our next stop was to Audun’s Stone & Mineral museum. Auden is a local man who began collecting huge rocks as a hobby. He realized that if he cut these stones in half, what was inside could only be described as beautiful, so he started polishing the stones, and eventually began putting them on display. It was amazing to see the outside of a plain ordinary stone become a dazzlingly beauty after it was cut open and polished.

We then walked over to a huge tank…known as … well…”The Tank”. Once used as a storage facility for fish-liver oil, this huge tank has been cleaned and restored and all evidence of fish oil gone. We entered into the darkness and found seats along the perimeter of the tank. In the middle of the floor, some candles were flickering and once we were all inside, our guide closed the door. We were engulfed in the eerie darkness when suddenly, a soloist began to sing. The acoustics in the tank made her voice ethereal and we all were in awe. It was absolutely beautiful. You can listen to part of her solo below.

After the concert, we walked down to the harbor to admire the “Eggs of Merry Bay”. 34 granite eggs line the harbor and are replicas in large scale of the eggs from the local birds commonly seen around Djupivogur. The artist is Sigurour Guomundsson and he placed the eggs on concrete pillars that previously supported a landing pipe at the pier. It was an ingenious way to use the pillars so they didn’t have to be discarded in a garbage dump.

Our guide was very informative and we enjoyed the tour very much. Djupivogur is a quaint village. Our guide said that he never worries about where his children are because it is a safe village and the children all know each other and play together. There are only about 400 folks that live in the village and everyone works together to make the village a wonderful place to live.

When we returned to the ship, we were surprised to learn that all the afternoon tours had been canceled due to the rough waters.

We had dinner at Manfredi’s with John and Lisa, and after dinner, as promised, Executive Chef Clifford made me chocolate mousse and because I had told him we were dining with friends, he made enough for our table. It was decadent, and when he came around to see how we liked it, I gave him a big hug and thanked him!

The show tonight was wonderful. They sang songs that were made famous by top country stars, some Tina Turner, as well as a few songs from ‘Phantom of the Opera’.

And then it was off to bed.

Our first glimpse of Djupivogur

Langabud

Audun’s Stone & Mineral museum

Inside the tank

The soloist in The Tank

The eggs

The chocolate mousse.