Day 86 6th July
Today was one of those days were it could have started better but ended up well because of the kindness of others. I had been procrastinating as to whether to go back to Oz for family reasons. I had decided that today was the day. Mel stayed with me while Liz and Gerd went sightseeing. After thinking it over at length I decided to keep going.
When Gerd and Liz returned they insisted that we shouldn’t miss out to where they had been in the morning. After a drive along the fjord, passing through several lengthy tunnels, we arrived at Sigulfjordur, which had once been a thriving fishing, port .We were lucky to find that there was wooden boat building exhibition going on as well as a folk festival.
However the highlight was the Herring factory, which was in fact a museum that recorded the linkage and success of the village with Herring fishing.
The living quarters for the factory employees had been renovated and artefacts had been assembled which made it look as though people had just left. When the Herring were running Sigulfjordur had attracted an international population and the story of that impact was lovingly recreated. When the Herring stopped the village nearly stopped as well. Tourism seems to be seen as the answer to preserving the village and the cultural activities along with the setting would appear to provide a viable solution.
After a dinner of fresh fish and chips we headed back to our cottage. After dinner we went to a Beer Spa where a large number of blokes were cavorting around large hot tubs drinking beer. I need to point out that there is beer in the tubs as well as in the customers. We sat inside drinking beer highly entertained by the Friday Night festivities before heading off to the cottage.
