The document provides details about locations in northern Iceland including Akureyri and Husavík. It describes Akureyri as Iceland's second largest city located at the head of the Eyjafjörður fjord. It notes that Icelanders have Celtic ancestry from Norse Vikings intermarrying with Celtic people. It also mentions local landmarks like the Akureyrarkirkja church designed by the same architect as Reykjavík's Hallgrímskirkja. The document then shifts to Husavík, a traditional whaling town, and describes going whale watching on the Arctic Ocean where humpback whales were spotted.
4. Akureyri – population 17,500 Iceland’s second largest city, located at the head of the Eyjafjörður. The city bus system is free!
5. Statue of Helgi the Lean and his wife Þórunn, the first settlers of the Eyjafjörður region in 890 ce. Helgiwas both Norse and Celtic. Many Icelanders have Celtic ancestry, evidenced in an abundance of red hair, as a result of Norse Vikings intermarrying with Celtic women and bringing over Celtic slaves in the early days of settlement.
16. KEA is a local economic cooperative started in 1886 by sheep farmers, which now owns shares in many local businesses, including the bookstore.
17.
18. Akureyrarkirkja Designed by the same architect as Reykjavík’sHallgrímskirkja, GuðjónSamúelsson. The design of both churches is influenced by volcanic basalt column formations. Built 1940.
19.
20.
21. Stained glass windows depict both the life of Christ and important chapters in the history of Christianity in Iceland.
22. The middle window came from Coventry Cathedral in Britain. Someone removed the window at the start of WW2, saving the stained glass from the destruction of the cathedral during the Nazi bombings of London. An Icelandic antiques dealer bought the window in London and installed it here.
23.
24. Icelanders, especially in Akureyri, are incredibly athletic and active. Numerous youth soccer teams were training around the church grounds.
25.
26.
27. Soccer match – Akureyri v. Ísafjörður Ísafjörður won 4-0
28. Local Sundhöll – Icelanders love their community geothermal swimming pool, which usually includes several hot pots. Young and old soak and socialize, several times a week.
68. Husavík’s Whale Museum Housed in a former slaughterhouse, the museum includes the biology of the world’s whales, as well as exploring Iceland’s relationship with whales, including commercial whaling. Iceland ended whaling with the 1989 worldwide ban on commercial whale hunts until 2002 when they rejoined the International Whaling Commission (IWC). Commercial whaling resumed in 2006, but was terminated after a year due to a lack of markets, only to be resumed in 2008. Strict quotas are followed, but remains controversial.
69. Iceland’s medieval law manuscript – the Jónsbók – detailed who owned the meat of beached whales, when such meat could feed an entire community in lean times. The skeletons in the museum are from beached or drowned whales, not from whale hunts.
