The travels of Tim and Megan: Iceland

Friday

On Friday night we endured a very cramped and unpleasant tube ride out to Heathrow to catch a flight to Reykjavik, Iceland. It had been a long time since we flew in or out of Heathrow - we used to whinge about it all the time, but now we love it. It is so much better than Stansted! The flight from London to Reykjavik took less than three hours. We arrived around 11.30pm and then caught a bus into the city.

Iceland is a European island country, which lies just below the Arctic Circle in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. With a total population of around 320,000 on the 103,000 km² island, it is one of the world's most sparsely populated countries. Its capital and largest city is Reykjavik, whose surrounding area is home to about two-thirds of the national population. Iceland sits on the meeting point of two tectonic plates (the Mid-Atlantic Range), which makes it very volcanically and geologically active. As a result only 20% of the island is inhabitable (including grassland). The rest is made up of 54% barren waste, 12% glacier, 11% lava and 3% inland water. Warmed by the Gulf Stream, Iceland has a temperate climate relative to its latitude and provides a habitable environment and nature.

Saturday

After a late night, we were pretty tired so we started slowly on Saturday morning. Our hotel put on a brilliant cooked buffet breakfast as well as croissants, fruit, cereal and yogurt. It was awesome, although Tim was obviously very tired and had some issues with the juice machine...

Reykjavik is a really cool city. It actually reminded us a lot of Wanaka/Central Otago - the wide open spaces, very few people around, massive 4WDs/jeeps on the roads, the crisp fresh air. It is just so different to anywhere else in Europe. We had a look through some of the shops on the main shopping street, Austurstraeti. Reykjavik has some really cool clothes and art/craft shops - actual one-off shops rather than chain stores. Bonus!

Our walk along Austurstraeti took us towards the main landmark in Reykjavik, the Hallgrimskirkja Church. Construction of the modern concrete church, which dominates the Reykjavik skyline, began shortly after World War II, but was only completed in 1986. The main religion in Iceland is the National Church of Iceland, which is a Lutheran body. The 73 metre high steeple has a viewing platform at the top, which is accessed by a lift. So after we checked out the inside of the church and listened to the choir for a while, we went up to the platform to take in the views of the city. Even though it was cloudy, the views over the city and out across the harbour were breath-taking (photos below).

Back on the ground, we made our way down to the harbour to visit another of Reykjavik's landmarks, the Solfar Suncraft, a modern work of art made of stainless steel in 1986. It looks like the skeleton of a viking ship. The wind was whipping in off the harbour and it was absolutely freezing down by the water, so we got a few photos and then retreated to the more sheltered city centre. The weather was actually very good for the whole time we were there, considering it is almost winter. It was cold (highs of between 1 degree and 5 degrees in Reykjavik, much colder inland) but it did not rain while we were there, which was amazing really.

After our big breakfast we did not feel like much for lunch, but we had heard about the world famous hot dog stall down near the harbour, called Baejarins Beztu. In 2006, a British newspaper rated it the best hot dog stand in Europe! It cranks out over a thousand tasty dogs a day, all from a little shack in a car park on a street corner. Former US president Bill Clinton and Metallica vocalist James Hetfield have both eaten there. We each got a hot dog with the "works" (dog, ketchup, mustard, fried onion, raw onion and a special sauce). Easily the best dog we have had, and there are some damn tasty dogs in Europe!

With bellies satisfied, we headed for the National Museum. We were pleasantly surprised, as the National Museum was brilliant. It was really well laid out, separated into distinct time periods, since settlement in the 9th century right up through the birth of the Republic in 1944 and beyond. There were some fantastic exhibits, including a tiny human figure made of bronze (over 1,000 years old) thought to be of either the Norse god Thor or Christ, and an equally spectacular carved wooden church door, dating from around 1200, depicting the medieval tale of Le Chevalier au Lion (it features an ancient warrior on horseback slaying an unruly dragon).

The settlement of Iceland began in 874 when the Norwegian chieftain Ingolfur Arnarson became the first permanent Norwegian settler on the island. Others had visited the island earlier and stayed over winter before leaving when food supplies ran out. Over the next centuries, people of Nordic and Celtic origin settled in Iceland. Until the 20th century, the Icelandic population relied largely on fisheries and agriculture, and was from 1262 to 1918 a part of the Norwegian, and later the Danish, monarchies. In the 20th century, Iceland's economy and welfare system developed quickly, and in recent decades the nation has implemented free trade in the European Economic Area, diversifying from fishing to new economic fields in services, finance and various industries.

After the museum visit we stopped in at the popular Cafe Paris for a snack and a drink. It was busy and noisy, but a very fun cafe. With the sun starting to set (sunrise was around 10am and sunset 4.30pm while we were there, but apparently in late December/early January, they get just three hours of daylight!), we got changed at the hotel and caught a bus across town to the city's main swimming pool complex, Sundlaugavegur.

The geothermal activity in Iceland means that there is an abundance of natural hot water across the capital (the name Reykjavik loosely translates to "smokey bay" or "steamy bay", a name the settlers gave to the spot due to the steam rising off natural hot water pools in the area). Swimming is extremely popular with the Icelandic people. There are several swimming pools in Reykjavik and they tend to be cheap and largely used by locals (in contrast with the expensive and touristy Blue Lagoon hot pools). The Sundlaugavegur complex is almost entirely outdoors. There are two large swimming pools at around 29 degrees, one for lane swimming and one for leisure with its very own hydro slide) as well as several "hot pots" around the sides at 39 - 43 degrees. We stuck to the hot pots. It was 1 degree outside when we arrived at about 4.30pm and -2 degrees by the time we left at around 5.45pm. So switching hot pots was tricky business, as our feet froze within seconds as we scampered across the cold, wet concrete. But once inside the hot pots, it was magic.

We got a bus back to our hotel and enjoyed a couple of Happy Hour drinks in the hotel's bar before going to dinner at Laekjarbrekka, one of Reykjavik's finest restaurants. The restaurants and bars in Reykjavik are amazing too - in fact, there is not really anything we did not like about the place. Iceland has a reputation for being expensive, but following the recession, which hit the country hard last year, and the subsequent collapse of the Icelandic kronur, prices were about on a par with London. The food was superb, we would definitely recommend it! We were exhausted after a busy day of exploring Reykjavik, so we hit the sack pretty early. We had a huge day on the cards on Sunday too!