Day 4 Sunday, May 14th 2023 Reykjavik to Stykkisholmur

Aboard the tender

 We slept well overnight in our terrific cabin and were ready for the  plans in place today.  We arrived at Stykkisholmur (Google it!) by about 1130.  Before this time we had breakfasted, had another safety instruction session and were given tips about what to do ashore here.  We explored the ship a bit more (I went cycling in the gym) and we had a coffee. It had stopped raining but the skies were ominous.  We read, relaxed and had a light lunch before leaving the ship at about 1400.  The 

The shoreline

temperature outside was about 5 and so we put on some layers topped with the waterproof jackets given to us as we joined the cruise.  The ship was anchored and we joined tenders to take us the short journey to the village quay.  On getting ashore we started exploring the various interesting features we had heard about.  It was snowing a bit  and we made straight to a hill on the outskirts of the town to the modern church which came highly recommended.  We used a steep, direct path which took us there and we went inside.

the church front

It was built in the 1990s and the immediate impact was made by the mural of mother and child at the front.  We spent some time admiring the well designed interior and the organ which originated in Hamburg.  

We then went back into the town and visited the "Norway House" which was imported from Norway and was the first two storey house in the settlement.  It is now used as a museum and had some interesting artifacts and photos.

It was time now to climb the slope up to the lighthouse on the island.  It was 

the lighthouse 

quite steep steps but up we 

our boat with tender

went and were able to wander up to the light which was originally lit by oil (I'm glad I  didn't have to get the oil up there) but now electricity has been laid.  We wandered on the tracks round the island, took photos looking back across the town and made our way down again.  

view from lighthouse island

We had a further walk through Stykkisholmur and went up another hill to get a panoramic view from where I took a video.

Although we were well clothed it was beginning to cool down and so we decided to return to the ship. We caught the tender and were soon having a warm drink. The rest of the day was spent having a good dinner, attending a lecture on the next day's activities and retiring fairly early - Christine having broken her record on her step counter.