Herring

Today we headed for Iceland's second largest city, Akureyri, though to be honest the word 'city' should be used with some care as the place only has a population of 17,000 and hence almost any where else would be a "large town". Along the way we passed through the small town of Siglufjordur and to our surprise ended up spending a couple of hours there.

This little town not only had a really dramatic setting, on the sea front at the base of some really dramatic mountains, with a helicopter working up in the mountains repairing the avalanche fences, but also had one of the best museums we have had the pleasure of visiting. The museum is called "The Herring Era Museum". To put this in its historical setting one needs to know that this little town was once the mecca of the herring fishing industry with a summer population of 15,000+ working in the salting and processing of herring and producing vast quantities of salted herring, herring oil and "herring meal"(a fertilizer). But with the demise of the herring industry in the second half of the 20th century the town reverted to a sleepy little hamlet.

The museum, which took locals 16 years to assemble, consists of three buildings packed with artifacts and relics from the herring hey-day. Those buildings are an office-dormitory still furnished with period items even down to the paper files of the plant administrator, a machine shop still equipped with diesel and steam generators, a myriads of hand and power tools. And the most stunning of all, the boat house, inside of which a small dock has been recreated with full size fishing boats. The entire experience was well set-off with a 1936 black and white film about Iceland and the herring fishing industry.