The second day of adventure, Eddie and I decided to drive up one side of the Akureyri Fjord and around the Peninsula.
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| The north coast (yes, that is the Arctic Ocean) |
The big news was the Herring Museum in Siglufjordu (it's the name of the town). But before getting there we spotted this amazing waterfall to the sea. We didn't get too close (I later proved to fall when trying to get close, so it was a smart idea).
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| The Waterfall (pic of Ed and I wit it are at the bottom) |
Now as we were driving up, we hadn't planned on stopping at the Herring Museum, but having lunah at the town. But lunch didn't open until noon, and we arrived too early, so we visited the only thing in town, the Museum.
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| Two f the Five Herring Museum buildings (the round one held Herring Oil once) |
Surprisingly, it was interesting. Apparently in 1904 the village was catching some herring. And then Herring took off. Herring oil was used in addition to whale oil to light lamps. Herring meal was used to animal food. And, of course, slated Herring was shipped and eaten.
Siglufjordu Docks were expanding, the population grew to a large town, mainly from experiences Herring workers from Norway - many of them very pretty women, according to the images from the time. We could not image the smells of the city.
The Museum consisted of a building about catching them - complete with two full boats.
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| Yep, an actual old herring boat. |
A building where the fish were decapitated (for animal food), drained (for the herring oil) and then packed into giant tubs for shipping.
Lunch consisted of Pizza (sans herring). The city fell on hard times after the herring was overfishing and stocks plummeted. A brief renaissance came during WWII, when allied ships used it as a base to patrol the Arctic / very North Atlantic. But soon back into disrepair.
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| The Womenfolk a Herring-ing |
Until the museum. It gave tour groups a reason to visit the peninsula, which is gorgeous in its own right.
Now, as promised, Eddie and I ...
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