A Look Around Reykjavik

Iceland…what a place! There is so much to see and do here – you could spend a month as a tourist here easily – but it wouldn’t be cheap.😁 Fortunately, the Husband and I had already done our research and were fully aware of just how expensive Iceland is. The Icelandic krona is a very strong currency, so its value is far greater than the dollar (or Euro, or UK pound…). That means that even a loaf of bread is pricey! Ugh. We limited this stop to four weeks due to that little factoid. And because we work during the week we can’t really go anywhere except on weekends – which limits how far we can go – so, no driving the Ring Road for us (Highway 1 fully encircles Iceland, mostly along the coast). Total bummer, but- oh yeah, we still get to spend four weeks in Iceland. Stop whining, right?

Every weekday morning we get out and walk. I think we have covered most of the main roads in the central core of Reykjavik – plus some of the outer ones too. We have walked to the City Airport several times, we have walked along the water, we have walked and walked. It’s been a pleasure getting to really see this city. Biggest challenge is not getting run over by the electric scooters. Some European cities have car sharing programs – Reykjavik has an electric scooter sharing program. And the batteries run out in some interesting locations.

The Icelandic people are warm and friendly – they seem genuinely happy to have tourists back. At least for now 😉 As the driver who picked us up at the airport said, “a plane full of vaccinated Americans. I am a happy man”!

A very short walk from our apartment is an historic cemetery. The land was, in ancient times, a Viking burial ground. In the 1830s it was made into the main cemetery for Reykjavik. Icelandic tradition states that the first person buried in a graveyard becomes its guardian spirit. This makes Guðrún Oddsdóttir, a lady buried in 1838, the guardian of Holavallagarour cemetery. The cemetery feels almost forest-like with all the trees, which is quite unusual. Another unusual bit – many of the graves are surrounded by an iron fence. Apparently this used to be quite common in European graveyards but they were removed and melted down for use in WWI and WWII!

Up on top of the highest hill in Reykjavik sits a quite unusual looking building. I was quite curious about it! Turns out it is Perlan, the Wonders of Iceland exhibit. Iceland uses the hot water in the ground for heating buildings (most homes in Iceland are heated with geothermal heat) and other uses. These six large tanks are for storing the hot ground water. In 1991 the tanks became the base of the building (quite cleverly I might add!), with a beautiful glass dome top. The exhibits were fascinating. They were about glaciers, volcanos, geothermal heat and wildlife, plus there was a fabulous video about the legends of the Aurora Borealis (northern lights). I think that’s the one thing I am sad to not see – we are too late in the year to see the Aurora. There’s only about four hours of dark right now and it is not even totally dark then.

And now for some scenery around Reykjavik…

And a final thought…