Photos: Lyle Such
Writing: Thu Buu
Camera: Canon 5d Mkiii
Reykjavik is the northernmost capital city of the world, so we thought staying in different areas of the city center would be a great idea. It would make exploring the local scenes more accessible. As it turns out, Reykjavik is quite a small capital city. Three of the four hotels we booked were literally within a minute’s walking distance away from each other, and the fourth one was just a couple of blocks away from the rest. Perhaps we had neglected the scale on the city map during our research. Oops!
Many homes in Reykjavik have pipes built under the floor where natural thermal water runs through to warm up the house. We saw pipes being laid on one street in the center plaza but unfortunately didn’t get a chance to take a picture. Iceland is ahead of the world in using its natural resources to produce green energy.
Iceland is known as The Land of Ice and Fire, and I would include, waterfalls. Everywhere we went, we were surrounded by bodies of water fed by countless waterfalls endlessly tumbling over the edges of craggy cliffs.
The abundance of water was a luxury for us, being that California is in its third year of a serious drought. Little things can cause the biggest excitement. Every bathroom had a rainfall showerhead system, and the hot water poured out generously, never threatening to turn cold (like in Peru and Chile). But best of all was the mental hospitality it afforded us; we were able to enjoy long showers without that nagging feeling of guilt about wasting precious water.
The Harpa Concert Hall is the most modern and unique looking structure in Reykjavik. Sitting on the waterfront, its glass windows reflect so brilliantly the skies above, seas below and everything else in between.
Elves live in the rocks, according to locals.
This iconic Viking ship statue along the bay harkens back to the days of Iceland’s beginning. Scandinavian Norsemen discovered this island around 860 A.D.
In 874 A.D., Ingolfur Arnarson, a chieftain from Norway became the first to settle in Reykjavik. Within less than a century, its population would number between 30,000-40,000 settlers.
After a short nap, we went out to explore a little more of the city. Atop a hill in the center of the city sits the tallest structure in Reykjavik, the Church. Hallgrimskirkja is the largest church in all of Iceland and can be seen from just about anywhere in Reykjavik. Slender, sleek square columns rising in succession toward the heavens play upon the spectator’s visual affinity, elongating this already striking structure to even loftier heights. The inside of the church is just as impressive. Simple yet grand arches frame large windows along both sides of the room, letting in gentle, natural light. The décor is tastefully minimal. A few white statues of biblical scenes remind the onlooker that one is indeed in a house of worship.
Where better to head off to after a spiritual revival at the Church than a straight walk down to the opposite end of the road wherein lies the Phallological Museum. They were literally at opposite ends of one main road. Icelanders do have a sense of humor.
The museum was full of every type of penis you could possibly imagine...not that anyone is trying to imagine any of this! They were stacked in jars on the walls, hung from the ceiling, mounted like trophies, and best of all, in upright glass cases sometimes taller than both of us right in the middle of the floor.
The interesting thing was that, despite the content and seemingly silly nature of the museum, it really was presented as completely serious, with no sense of irony, humor or wit. Just straight up penises. Most potential visitors timidly stood outside and took pictures of the sign, they really missed out on something unique!
Icelandair’s Marina Hotel is newly built and parts of it are still under construction. It’s situated right at the harbor and has huge balconies with which to enjoy the view. As there was scattered rain for most of our stay, we found our balcony more useful for repairing the lens filter that Lyle broke by dropping his camera on the ground moments after stepping off the bus on the first day of our backpacking trip.
We had read before traveling to Iceland that personal safety is often left in your own hands, and the government doesn’t try and protect you from every little danger. This playground is a perfect example. Creatively built from old local shipyard materials, kids are allowed to navigate and climb a series of mazes, ships, and other contraptions which wouldn’t even come close to passing American safety standards. It looked like something we would have built back in our childhood without our parent’s permission.
A big screen was set up in the city center plaza for people to gather and watch the World Cup. We saw only one game in that plaza on our first day in Reykjavik. It was quite windy and cold out there.
The first stop on the Golden Circle tour was Þingvellir (or Thingvellir) National Park. In the past, this Law Rock was deemed a perfect site for the Icelandic general assembly to convene and make laws for the commonwealth. Today, this place is also an inspiration for The Wall in Game of Thrones.
Another interesting aspect of Þngvellir is that it sits right on top of a hot spot that is in the middle of two plate tectonics, the North American and the Eurasian Plate. These two plates are moving away from each other at the average rate of one inch a year. As they move apart, new lava is spilled into the fissures creating a flat meadow between the two plates. Standing on one side of the meadow, we were able to see across the expanse to another natural rock wall signaling the beginning of the Eurasian Plate. How cool was that?
Gullfoss, the Golden Waterfall, is the first of many, many waterfalls we would encounter throughout Iceland. It is not the largest, the most beautiful, nor the most powerful. However, it does have a noble history behind it. A farmer’s daughter threatened to throw herself into the waterfall if her father, who owned the rights to the water, went forward with a deal to build a hydroelectric power station on the site, which would destroy its natural beauty.
Our next stop, Langjökull, is Iceland’s second largest glacier. Our guide told us that he and other Icelanders don’t need any further scientific evidence for global warming. They see their glaciers receding at an alarming pace yearly. Between last year and this year, they’ve had to drive an extra half-mile on dirt before getting onto the glacier itself.
We explored the glacier on a snowmobile, driving on snow, blue ice and water. Droplets of rain began to fall as our tour ended. What good luck.
Heading back to Reykjavik, we stopped at the Geysir hot spring area. Geysir is the name of one of the hot pools of bubbling water in this area. In Icelandic, it is pronounced “geezer” as in “old geezer.” Interestingly, this Geysir is the origin of the universal name for all hot pools of naturally heated water that spew forth fountains of scalding liquid into the air.
One thing that stood out to us about Iceland was the smell of sulfur. The only times we encountered the rotten egg-like smell was near the hot springs. The Geysir area gave us a taste of what would come during our backpacking trip when we would be surrounded by volcanic activity and hot springs. The smell never became a problem, and any time you felt like it was becoming too strong you could just walk for a few minutes and you would be out of it’s range. We never smelled it near the city, and didn’t encounter it within the drinking water which we had read was a problem for some.
On our way back to Reykjavik from our Golden Circle tour, our guide decided to drive us to his family’s favorite campsite. What’s that beside the waterfall? What looks like a man-made miniature waterfall actually turned out to be a staircase constructed to help salmon bypass the waterfall and continue maneuvering up-stream until they reach their spawning waters. It would have been fun to see a salmon propel itself up those stairs.
After the salmon staircase we were treated to a drink of Icelandic river water. Our guide along with most of the people in Iceland are extremely proud of the water quality. .
The Blue Lagoon is a man-made hot pool built in the middle of a lava field about forty minute’s drive from Reykjavik. Its milky turquoise color comes from the mineral silica, which is found in abundance in the pool’s seawater. Locals believe that the minerals in the geothermal waters of the lagoon have healing powers. So even though I was feeling under the weather, we decided a trip to the spa might help.
As evening was approaching by the time we reached the pool, the wind had started whipping up cold air around us. It took a great deal of effort to disrobe and enter. I expected the water to be scalding hot, but it was just lukewarm. We kept moving around to find a warmer spot. The hottest area was near the new water coming out of a spout that looked like a volcano. The whole content of the pool is renewed every 48 hours. That’s impressive.
On the bus ride back, my symptoms increased exponentially. Between the piercing earache and shivering from the chills, I prayed to get back to the hotel where my very last painkiller was waiting for me as fast as we can. As my luck would have it, two teenagers, probably around sixteen, sitting in the row right behind us were obnoxiously arguing with their mother on the cell phone. When the call ended, they broadcasted their disgust for their mom, loudly laughing and referring to her in the most “respectful” terms. These girls had hopped on the wrong bus and didn’t know where they were headed. Five minutes away from the Lagoon, our bus pulled over to the side of the freeway. We had to stop and wait for the girls’ parents to come get them. The bus driver reprimanded the girls, telling them that their foolishness had resulted in everyone else’s inconvenience. They didn’t seem to be embarrassed or care. Even worse, when the mom came, she cussed out the driver for driving away with miners on the bus. With much commotion and without an apology, the girls trampled off the bus.
We only stayed in the pool for about thirty minutes. I’m sure that our experience at the Blue Lagoon would have been much more enjoyable had I not been sick. I’m sad to report that I only felt worse after my dip. No magical waters found.
