Iceland: Reykjavík
Leif Erikson at Hallgrimskirkja.
Our apartment was situated on Laugavegur (one of the main roads into the center city) and therefore was well-suited for a city walking tour. The edge of the downtown was about 15 minutes away and we ventured into the city on Sunday morning. In his 1914 book on the country, W.S.C Russell* notes: “The route is along the Laugavegur, a street with many houses of comfortable design and good construction.” Indeed, colorful apartments, many with beautiful murals painted on the sides, lined the street. The sun was high in the sky as we set out in search of breakfast. It being early June, the sun rises at about 3:30 in the morning and sets at 12:30 at night. There is no darkness as the sun ducks below the horizon, leaving a dusky twilight until it swings back a few hours later. We had a lovely little breakfast at the Kaktus Cafe a few blocks from the Hallgrimskirkja. Our bellies full of delicious Icelandic skyr and coffee, we headed up the hill. The city was strangely quiet with little to no traffic and few people about. We had noticed the same thing the night before. The entire country of Iceland only has a population of about 400,000 people. For comparison, Wichita in Kansas also has a population of 400,000 people and is the 50th largest city in the US. Reykjavík and its suburbs account for almost 65% of the country at 250,000 people. Little old Reno, Nevada has 275,000. We learned that we had entered the city on Whit Sunday, a Lutheran holiday. This meant that more people were likely at home and businesses were closed.
The Rainbow Road.
The downtown is very nice, but very touristy. Every shop had the same collection of souvenirs and tchotchkes. The Icelandic photographer Iurie Belegurschi has several galleries downtown and I could not resist going in. In our chat with the gallery attendant as we purchased two prints, we learned that she was dating a guy in Gettysburg. Small world. We did manage to run into several of the cats of Reykjavík as they lounged around in the stores.
Cat!
We pushed further westward into the city, extending as far as the center of the downtown for lunch before retreating. A large naval ship in the bay caught our attention, but we got distracted and ended up in the Reykjavík flea market, a weekend event that I had wanted to check out. We purchased some black lava salt and some jewelry and made our way back up the rainbow road towards Hallgrimskirkja (Hallgrims-keerkya, or Hallgrim’s church).
Reykjavík Flea Market
The church is named after Hallgrímur Pétursson, a 17th century poet, and sits atop a hill on the flanks of the downtown. It is one of the tallest structures in the country at 244 feet high and was recently named by Time Out magazine as the second most beautiful building in the world after the Taj Mahal. The architecture reflects the basaltic columns prevalent in the landscape. Inside, huge vaulted ceilings are supported on wide hexagonal columns. A massive silver pipe organ covers the entrance wall. In the courtyard outside, a statue of Leif Erikson looks over the city.
* If you follow along on this journey, you’ll see references to this book along the way. I acquired a copy of it from a local bookstore after the trip while writing these blogs. I found it highly interesting as the places that we we went to have changed little in the past century.