Thursday 4 September 2014

Day 13, 02.09, Flateyri

Fram arrived Flateyri as most of us ate breakfast. The village is situated in Iceland’s Westfjords. With a population of approximately 237, it is the largest settlement in Önundarfjördur. The town has been trading post since 1792, and temporarily became a major whaling center in the 19th century. In 1995 an avalanche hit the village, destroying 29 homes and killing 20 people. Since then a deflecting dam has been built to protect the village from any further avalanches. In the 1990s, Flateyri prospered as a fishing village and after recession hit its main fishing companies shut down and many people left.
Some left for an excursion, Fjords and Flowers, already in the morning, while the rest of the guests used there day on hiking or enjoying the town. As the weather got better more and more people strolled around town to go to the coffee shop, Non Sense museum, an peculiar old bookshop/museum, an small expedition about the town and finally an outlook point on the deflecting dam.
Steffen and Tessa also offered great lectures about Volcanos (German) and Expeditions (English).

We finished of the night with a bar quiz up at deck 7, with Steffen playing the piano. It was an even thigh between the teams, but we finally managed to find the evenings winner =)