Iceland 2 - Reykjavik and Elf School

January 17th 2020

Hallgrimskirkja

Today we explored Reykjavik. We first went to Hallgrimskirkja the beautiful church that soars into the sky and is visible from most places within the city centre. Inside it is simple in design but I find it very beautiful.

I went up the tower, the first part is a lift to the floor where the clock faces are. From there you walk a few flights of steps to a higher floor where there are three windows on each face of the tower. The views were stunning from every vantage point, but my favourite was the one towards the mountain Esja that watches over the city. She looked especially beautiful in her cloak of snow.

After this we walked down to the main shopping street Laugavegur and browsed. We then went to the concert hall, Harpa which is an amazing piece of modern architecture that looks different on the outside depending on the light. We again looked round the shops inside, I bought a warm hat and a tub of Lakrids, delicious  Danish delight of liquorice covered in chocolate. Both expensive but worth it - the hat especially useful the following day!

We decided to have lunch there and shared a large sandwich and had a cake each.

View of Esja from Tower of Hallgrimskirkja

We went back to the hotel before setting of for the Elf School (yes you read right). As it was a bit away from the city centre we got a taxi there. As we got out of the taxi the driver said, "Are you going to learn to be elves or learn about them?" This gave us a good laugh!

The school was on the first floor of a modern building, with large plastic gnomes guarding the door. We went into a rather chaotic room, we later learned some renovations were in progress. We paid our money , were given a studybook  (which was interesting to read afterwards) and then went into another room which had chairs in it. The room was small, filled with bookcases full of books and mementos, photos, elves, gnomes, lamps and pot plants that were a bit worse for wear. It was all very eccentric and I liked that!

Magnús Skarphéðinsson who runs the school is a portly man  with grey hair and beard who, quite fittingly, resembles a gnome. He studied history, anthropology and folklore at university in Iceland. He aims to put together a book of stories of elves and the hidden people of Iceland as told by people he's spoken to as no one has so far done this.

There were nine people there, Americans, Irish, Germans and us Brits.  Magnús spoke for a long time, telling stories that people had told him about elves (many types exist from tiny to about two feet high) who live alongside us but are secretive.  The hidden people are just like us but live in another dimension that humans can only occasionally enter

He quite often drifted of on tangents including asking what Marian and I thought of Brexit and that he thought it would mean the break up of the UK and the Queen would only be "Queen of England" in the end which I think is quite possible. He told us about his brother Ossur who had been Minister of Foreign Affairs in the Icelandic government and had an amusing story about Obama. He had some pretty off the wall theories about schizophrenia which some people agreed with, but not me, but I kept quiet. He is also part of the paranormal community in Reykjavik.

We learned a lot about Icelandic history, how hard life was until relatively recently and folklore. The stories he told were captivating. Sometimes roads are re-routed in Iceland so as not to upset the elves and hidden people.

We had a break when we had pancakes filled with cream and jam plus lovely homemade bread, really tasty. This was followed by chocolate wafer bars and a hot drink. As we were eating I noticed snow was starting to fall outside.

My Diploma

Magnus talked for three and a half hours, I think he could have gone on until midnight! It was a bit too long for me but I did enjoy it, certainly a unique experience! At the end we were given our course completion diplomas in  "Elfs and Hidden People research study." Luckily we didn't have to sit an exam lol!

I asked Magnús if he could call a taxi to take us back into the city centre but we were lucky, his husband (who had supplied the food and drinks and generally looked after everyone) was going into the city and was happy to give us a lift. He was a lovely, quietly spoken guy (unfortunately I didn't catch his name.)  He told us that he was originally from north west Iceland but had lived in Reykjavik for a long time and worked as an accountant.  He dropped us off right outside our hotel which was wonderful.

We nipped to the small supermarket beside our hotel and bought sandwiches and crisps to eat in our room. They were lovely and quite cheap. So ended another day in which we saw many sides of this wonderful city!

A Few Photos of Enchanted Iceland

My friends and I took some lovely photos during our time in Iceland so I thought I'd put a few here for you to see, hope you enjoy them! All photos (c) by Dianne and Danielle Beeaff and myself.

Out and about in Reykjavik

Hallgrimskirkja at dusk

I called Reykjavik the City of Lights, there was light everywhere, this was
Skoladustigur where we stayed

Inside Harpa

A view down a street towards Mount Esja

Tjornin

Carving on a door we passed

Bright and cheerful!

Traditional House

There were some  beautifully decorated windows in the shops, here's number 1

Number 2

Number 3

Solfar (Sun Voyager) sculpture

Out in the countryside

Gulfoss partly frozen 

The Westman Islands

Selfoss 

Wall of dappled ice at Solheimajokull - it shone like glass

Solheimajokull (glacier), the dark areas are ash from the eruption in 2010 of the
nearby Ejafjallajokull volcano

Skogafoss

Black beach at Reynisfjara near Vik  

Vik beach

Sea near Selfoss

Holiday Accommodation Review - The Red House Apartment, Reykjavik - Nordic Style

Address

The Red House Apartment Upper, Reykjavik

Red House Apartment
Skolavordustigur 33
Reykjavik
Iceland

Location
Skolavordustigur has Hallgrimskirkja at one end and Laugavegur at the other, so it was impossible to to get lost on your way home, all you need is to look for the church's steeple that dominates Reykjavik! The apartment was very central for shops, restaurants and the sights of the city, yet away from the famous Reykjavik party places and was very quiet.

Description of the Accommodation
It is a first floor apartment that is reached via a spiral staircase, slightly awkward to get cases up but we did a relay which worked well. It has one double bedroom and one twin, plus a sofa bed in the living room. The large main room is an open plan living, dining and kitchen area. There is one bathroom with a bath, shower and toilet, the washing machine and dryer are in there too. There is also a hallway.  The apartment was decorated in a bright, modern Nordic style in yellow and white with real wood floors.

Facilities

Dining/Kitchen Area

All mod cons, the kitchen was newly fitted. Washer, dryer, dishwasher, plenty of cupboard space and crockery and cutlery. The apartment has a TV and Wifi. The beds were very comfortable. There was everything needed for anyone on holiday.

My View
The apartment was spacious, bright and airy, I loved the Nordic styling of the place.  When we arrived it was dark, but there were lights left on for us and it was lovely and warm which was very welcoming on a cold Icelandic evening! Throughout our stay it was always warm with piping hot geothermal water that smelled of sulphur (the norm in Iceland)It was a large apartment and there was more than enough space for all four of us.

The location was fantastic, everything was just a few minutes walk away. There was a small supermarket just across the road so it was easy to get some food supplies in. The owner, Mark, quick to respond to emails and returned the security deposit quickly after we had left the apartment.  It was a home from home and I would definitely  recommend The Red House Apartment as a place to stay in Reykjavik. You can read more about the apartment here on the Homeaway website on which we booked this accommodation.

New Year Travels 4 - Iceland, Bonfires, Elves and Talking Cows

January 6th

Danielle and I went into the city and did some shopping. Then we went to the Reykjavik 791 +- 2 Settlement Exhibition situated in the heart of the oldest part of the city.  It is a small exhibit built around a Viking longhouse that was discovered a few years ago when the area was being cleared to build a hotel. The longhouse is in the centre of a circular room and there are other exhibits  and information on the surrounding walls.  I found the Cultural Affinity exhibit especially interesting, which showed very strong links to the Celtic heritage of the British Isles, whilst male Icelanders have 80% Nordic ancestry, Icelandic women have 62%


This photo of Reykjavik 871 +/- 2 The Settlement Exhibition is courtesy of TripAdvisor

Celtic heritage. An explanation could be that after the Norse Vikings sacked northern areas of Britain they married local women and later moved on to Iceland. There are two types of mitochondrial DNA unique to Icelanders and Hebridean women, so it seems many of the females came from those British islands. Looking at maps that is not surprising as the Hebrides are nearer Iceland that the rest of the UK or Scandinavia. Something I had also noticed in Iceland is that the people are not your typical northern lands blond, a lot of them have dark hair so the heritage is an explanation of that too.

Another fascinating thing was that Old English and Icelandic were very, very similar in the 900s and people of both lands would have understood each other.  Icelanders now can still understand their old language as it has not changed a lot, whilst English speakers cannot understand their language from that  time.  Icelanders fiercely protect their language which is good

There was an equally interesting look at the settlement of Reykjavik and restoration of the longhouse as it would have been. There was a small but good shop there too and we ended up spending a lot longer in the exhibition than we thought we would, it was a great little place.

Yule Lad Kertasnikir

We went home and had a snack before heading out for the Þrettándinn, our Twelfth Night, celebrations. It is considered to be a supernatural night in Iceland, when strange things can happen. you could bump into an elf, especially at crossroads, cows are said to talk and seals take on human form. It is also the day the last of the Yule Lads, Kertasnikir (the candle stealer, they all have amazing names lol) goes back into the mountains to join the other twelve lads. The Icelanders celebrate this with parades, bonfires and fireworks. 

We had been told the best place to go for this was Aegisida in the west of Reykjavik. We took a taxi there and arrived a bit early, few people were there and the marshals were just arriving. We got talking to one lady who told us that they ask locally for volunteers to marshal the event and she decided to do it.  She also told us that they call bonfires "brenna" which means to burn, so we learned another Icelandic word! We asked if people would be dressed as elves as we'd heard, she said that she thought this didn't happen anymore in Reykjavik, but in the country areas and places like Keflavik they still continued that tradition. Like all the Icelanders we'd met she was very friendly and spoke excellent English.

At half past six the parade arrived carrying torches an

At the Bonfire in Aegisida

d the torches were used to set the huge bonfire alight. I don't know what they put on it but it caught alight very quickly and suddenly the cold was gone, the heat was amazing.  there had been Christmas trees on the bonfire and people kept coming along with more, a good way to dispose of your trees! Like in the UK January 6th is supposed to be when Christmas decorations and lights are taken down. the lady we talked to said many people keep them up in Iceland now and we found that to be true.

In the Buddha Restaurant

At around seven the fireworks started and it was a wonderful display, the Icelanders love their fireworks! Once the display was over everyone started to leave.  We walked down to a petrol station and asked if they would call a taxi for us which they did.  Danielle saw a chocolate bar called Duett - the same name as her dog and just had to buy it! It was weird because her cat is called Brenna the same as the Icelandic word for the bonfire.

We got the taxi straight to the restaurant we had chosen to eat that night, the Buddha Restaurant. Unfortunately we did not see any elves at crossroads.on the journey. The Buddha Restaurant serves Asian food and we all went for Chinese. I had the Wok Fried Beef in Buddha Sauce (the sauce was fruity) and it was delicious, the others all enjoyed their choices too, we didn't leave a scrap. The young man who served us was lovely, he told us that the premises used to be a bank and there was still a safe downstairs near the toilets which we saw when we went down there. The price of the meal was also reasonable by Reykjavik standards, the restaurant had a lovely ambiance and we could watch life pass by on Laugavegur outside.  I will do a full review of this restaurant separately from this post. 

Afterwards we walked the short brightly lit distance to our apartment, Hallgrimskirkja looking glorious all lit up at the top of the street. I remember thinking just how I loved Reykjavik with all its lights at this time of year. The dark January days are anything but dismal there, it is bright and lively, it is something we should do more of here in the UK in the dark winter times. 

Skolarvodustigur at Night

New Year Travels 3 - Iceland, Exploring Reykjavik, the City of Lights

3rd January

We were up at 03:30, grunted at each other, skipped breakfast and then caught a taxi to the airport for our flight to Manchester at 06:30.  We had to fly to Reykjavik via Manchester as there were no flights there from Dublin.  The weather was awful, very cold and windy and it was disconcerting to sit in the plane on the runway feeling it getting buffeted by the wind!  But we soon flew up out of the bad weather heading for the land of ice and fire - Iceland.

Hallgrímskirkja at Dusk

If was dusk at 15:30 when we landed in Keflavik, and we soon got our Flybus tickets and were on the road for the 45 km journey through the lava fields to Reykjavik.  The dusk was still there when we arrived, twilight lasts a long time at this time of year in Iceland.

We were dropped off beside Hallgrímskirkja which looked stunning silhouetted against the deep blue dusk sky. We walked the short distance to our apartment in The Red House on Skolavordustigur.  The street was all lit up with Christmas lights as were the houses, it looked wonderful, Icelanders love their lights and candles at any time but at Christmas they have them everywhere.

The apartment was lovely, large, airy, very Nordic with lots of decor from IKEA :) The owner had left some lights on so it was very welcoming and we immediately felt at home.  The first thing we did was to go to the nearby supermarket to get some basic supplies in. We'd bought wine at Manchester Airport though as we knew how expensive alcohol was in Iceland!

After this we went out for a meal as it was Dan's birthday. I suggested we go to the Italia restaurant on nearby Laugavegur as I'd been there before and found it to be very good and reasonably priced. It turned out to be a good choice, everyone thoroughly enjoyed their meals.  I'm going to do a separate full review of the restaurant soon.

January 4th

Mount Esja

I woke up and it was still dark, checked my watch, it was 10:00! It doesn't really get light until around 11:00 this time of year in Iceland, yet darkness falls a similar time to here in the UK in the afternoon, I didn't expect that. Also they have a very long dusk.

We walked down to the ocean front and took photos with the beautiful Mount Esja in the background, it looked especially beautiful covered in snow. It was a cold and very windy day and we didn't linger too long, we took refuge from the elements in the nearby Harpa concert and conference centre, an amazing building made of glass panes. One night we were returning to our apartment and there were blue lights rippling over the glass so it looked like waves, a very beautiful effect.

We pottered around the shop for a while, you could taste some of the sweets on sale and fell in love with some cocoa coated chocolate with liquorice centres.  They were very expensive, but hey, we were on holiday so we got a jar each. Now I'm home I'm rationing them to one a day lol!

We went into the city centre and bought tickets for the South Shore Tour before heading Volcano House. We'd forgotten to bring a map and though the centre of Reykjavik is very small we couldn't find it. After asking three people we eventually found it and again were relieved to get out of that icy wind.

Icelandic Lamb Stew

Volcano House is four things in one, a geology exhibition, cinema, shop and cafe. We were ready for something to eat so we tried the cafe out first.  It was a cosy place with comfy chairs and there was even a man playing a piano, very relaxing.

We had the Icelandic lamb soup, feeding and warming, just what we needed. We also had Icelandic sandwiches of Smoked lamb, smoked salmon and lamb pate. Brave Dan ordered some fermented shark, which came in a tiny portion 1cm cubes accompanied by a tot of Icelandic Schnapps.  I had a smell of the shark and it was like ammonia, not as awful as I expected. There was so little I didn't try it (that was my excuse anyway lol!) and those who did try it said it wasn't as bad as they expected. We got a mini Lava Bar with our coffees, that started an obsession with them during our stay, they were so lovely we bought a boxful lol!

We then pottered around the geology exhibition which gave a lot of information about volcanos etc. You could even buy pieces of lava, I was surprised at how many different types there were. We went into the little cinema and watched two films. The first was about the eruption on Vestmannaeyjar (Westman Islands) in 1973 and the other was about the imfamous Eyjafjallajökull eruption. Both films were informative and had brilliant footage.

All Kitted Up for the Northern Lights lol!

We spent about three hours in Volcano House in all, a brilliant place to relax and also get a bit of education. I'd recommend it to any visitor to Reykjavik.

We went home for a while and got all our layers of clothes on ready for our Northern Lights trip.  The bus picked us up and we headed south to where the sky would be clear.  Our destination turned out to be a restaurant, lit only by candles, this was our base.  I was pleasantly surprised as last time we ended up in the middle of nowhere, here we had toilets, drinks and food!  We decided to avail ourselves of the facilities and had a drink and an Icelandic pastry much like a doughnut called kleina, delicious!

Outside it was cold and very windy, there were quite a few people there but not as many as on our last northern lights trip which was good, it was quieter.  The sky was crystal clear, perfect conditions, but the Aurora was stayed away, there was not a flicker.  At midnight we headed back to Reykjavik, it was disappointing, not seeing the lights, but you can't make nature play game and I know one day I'll see a full blown display!

The Sun Voyager

January 5th

The other three went on The Golden Circle tour today, I stayed home for a lazy day as I had already been on that trip on a previous visit. I got up late and after breakfast walked the short distance to the beautiful Sun Voyager sculpture on Saebraut.  In the 1980s there was a competition for a sculpture to commemorate Reykjavik's 200th anniversary, Jón Gunnar Árnason's design won. It was unveiled 
on 18th August 1990,  sadly Arnason  never saw his creation in place as he died in 1989.  It is an incredibly stunning sculpture, and on this bright, clear day I could see it at its best

Tjornin

There was no icy wind so I walked along Saebraut towards the city. I enjoyed wandering around and ended up at Tjornin, a small lake in the city centre. Lots of people were feeding the birds, there were lots of very noisy whooper swans making their presence known. Most of the lake was iced over and people were skating on it or using it as a short cut.  The sun was setting it was lovely, how wonderful to have something like this so close to a city centre.  I sat on a seat admiring the beautiful sunset that bathed everything in that milky white wintery hue. Eventually, I started to get a bit cold so I headed home.  

I had dinner ready for the others when they arrived home, they had thoroughly enjoyed the tour, I''d lit the numerous candles in the apartment and along with the fairylights the place looked lovely. What we thought was quiche (we couldn't read the label) turned out to be a kind of potato flan with vegetables, but it was very good.  The rest of that evening we just stayed in and drank wine, chilled and chatted.

Iceland Part 1 - No Snow, But We Find a Pearl and a Smokey Bay

Glenys picked me up from home in the morning and we drove up to Glasgow, it was a nice morning so the drive was pleasant and there were no delays.  We parked the car, got the shuttle bus to the terminal and before long we were on the plane heading to Iceland.  The trip lasted just over two hours, my first view of the country was seeing the Blue Lagoon shimmering amongst the brown-black volcanic landscape, as I looked out that familiar excitement of arriving in a place I had never been before grew. 

The terminal at Keflavik was very smart, lots of wood, slate and granite, obviously quite new.  We got our ticket for the Flybus to Reykjavik and headed towards the city approximately 40 kilometers away.  We were travelling through the Reykjanes Peninsula, a flat area in south western Iceland.  The land was desolate, the dark volcanic lava fields and wildly scattered rocks barren except for grey brown lichen that grew over some of them.  Often there were little cairns of rock built by people.  The road was very good and we passed many new roads that seemed to just disappear into nowhere.  I was surprised there was no snow - though we could see snow on the mountains that surrounded the perimeter of the plain.  It was a lovely afternoon, sunshine and blue skies, what a wonderful welcome Iceland was giving us!

We reached our hotel, the Loftleiðir, after a 50 minute journey.  From the outside the hotel was not inviting, it was like a 60s/70s building, not the most aesthetically pleasing to look at!  But it was completely modernised inside and was really lovely.  We had separate rooms and instead of small singles we both got a normal sized room which was great.  Mine looked out over the car park of the hotel, to the right, on a forested hill, was the famous Perlan (the Pearl).  I could see Reykjavik city centre with high snow capped mountains behind.

We decided to walk up to Perlan which was close to our hotel on a hill called Qskjuhlid .  The Pearl consists of six metal tanks around a central dome.  It is where the geo-thermal water from beneath the earth is stored and then pumped out to heat the Reykjavik buildings.  The dome changed colour with the sky and time of day, it was an impressive building.  We walked up wooded hill and into the building.  It was very modern, on the ground floor is the Saga Museum which at this hour unfortunately was closed.  There is a geyser that regularly soared up almost to the top of the building. 

On the 4th floor there is a viewing balcony that surrounds the dome, the 360 views from there are breathtaking.   It was a lovely evening, sunshine and lots of blue sky that made the calm water of the bay a deep blue.  Below Reykjavik spread out looking very pretty with it's white and bright coloured buildings and church spires, all flanked by dramtic mountains.

Also on the 4th floor of Perlan was a cafe (unfortunately we could not afford to eat at the plush restaurant on the 5th floor!) and by now we were really hungry.  We had a lovely meal that was not too expensive.  We sat by the window looking out over Reykjavik - this cafe must have one of the best views in Iceland. 

The darkness comes very slowly at this latitude, and it was still light as we walked down  Qskjuhlid.  We passed close to one of the many "hot holes" of Iceland from which steam was rising into the air.  In shady corners small areas of snow still lingered and as the sun got lower it got decidedly cooler.

Next day we had a couple of tours, the first, in the morning, being a tour of Reykjavik.  The city centre is compact and I was surprised to learn that the city is not that old - by European standards.   The first settlement in the area was around 870 when Norseman Ingólfur Arnarson arrived.  However there was no urban development until 1786 which is recognised as the date of the founding of the city of Reykjavik (which translates to Bay of the Smokes, referring to the geothermal geysers in the area).

The houses tended to be either white or greens, blues, yellows and most had a outer cover of painted corrugated steel.  Our guide, Steiner, said that rooves and walls are covered in this as other materials do not cope well with Icelandic weather and they found this material serves the purpose well.

The city was much more open than I expected, it is very spread out with a lot of new building going on, it's still developing.  We saw the Parliament building and drove through the oldest part of the city which was very pretty.

Then we went on to the Hallgrimskirkja, which is the building you see from all over Reykjavik and beyond, situated on a hill and soars 244 feet into the air.  It was begun in 1945 and finished in 1986.  It is one of those few examples of a 20th century building that is stunningly beautiful and unique, that will be treasured for a very long time.  The architect, Guðjón Samúelsson, is said to have designed it to resemble the basalt lava flows of Iceland so much part of Iceland's landscape.  It is the Lutheran parish church of Reykjavik.  Inside it is very simple, almost bare, this made the one stained glass window really stand out as the sun shone through it, it was gorgeous.  I think it is one of the most beautiful churches I've seen.

We visted Perlan again and were told more about Iceland's unique geothermal heating system.  Nearly all the country's heating and hot water is via the hot water that is under the land's surface.  This natural resource was first harnessed in 1930 and gradually developed throughout the country.  The one thing that is cheap in Iceland is heating and hot water.

We drove a little outside of the city to Bessastaðir, the residence  of Iceland's President.  It was situated on a flat area of land close to the sea.  What I noticed most was the silence there, so, so quiet and peaceful - except for the calls of the geese that were flying in for the summer and landed close by.   I can imagine the weather can get wild there as it is very open, but on this sunny day it looked a lovely place to live.

After that we drove back into Reykjavik and our tour ended.  We had an hour and a half for lunch before we went on our next trip.  We sat in a lovely little square in the oldest part of the city for a while enjoying the sunshine before going to look round a few shops and then had a delicious coffee in a place called Sufistinn.  Then it was back to the bus for our afternoon trip.

Next instalment to follow soon.