Akranes

Places by Lois

I visited Akranes in Iceland last year in February on a rather cold and very snowy day but I just thought it was an incredible place, I’d love to visit it when the weather is better! it isn’t that far from Reykjavik now, thanks to a fantastic new tunnel beneath Hvalfjörðu, the Fjord of Whales, so it is only about thirty miles form the capital.

The maybe whaling boat
The maybe whaling boat

It’s quite a small place with just over six and a half thousand people, but as Iceland has a small population it is actually the ninth most populated settlement in the country. It has a long history as it was settled in the ninth century by two  Irish brothers,  Þormóður and Ketill. Maybe they were Vikings originally, maybe their forebears came from Scandinavia, but in Akranes the Irish connection is recognized by a festival every year. The reason I went to Iceland was that I was with my Gaelic group who were looking at the connection and links between the two countries.

http://www.irskirdagar.is/pages/vefur09/tungumal/enska/

Fishing has always been important in the town’s history and it still is today, but there is also a big cement works.

My favourite photo
My favourite photo

As with many places I’ve visited, I would love to go back. We went to see a stone with Icelandic and Gaelic inscriptions, but there are other things I would like to see.   I’d like to visit the museum of Icelandic stones, I’d like to visit the folk museum at Garðar  and Gardalundur park, I’d like to just wander about getting a feel of the place and maybe find somewhere to have a coffee and maybe lunch!

Extraordinary objects
Extraordinary objects

 

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