On Friday 13 March a group of 13 Mensans – good thing we are not superstitious! – flew to Iceland for the weekend. We had booked a bargain break via the web on www.icelandair.co.uk costing from £199 per person including return scheduled flights from either Manchester or Heathrow and three nights accommodation at the Cabin Hotel in Reykjavik.
Despite arriving at the hotel around 2.00am on the Saturday morning, we were all up bright and early to explore the capital. The 20 minute walk into the city centre from our hotel passed the Hofoi House where Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev held their nuclear summit in 1986. As the building is now used for government receptions, it is closed to the public. We purchased 24 hour Reykjavik tourist cards from the helpful staff at the visitor information centre, which entitled us to entry to several museums and public baths as well as free public transport. The card cost around £10 which, at Icelandic prices, we felt was a bargain.
First stop was the Hallgrimskirkja which is Reykjavik’s landmark church with its 240 ft high steeple, but unfortunately closed for refurbishment and surrounded by scaffolding at the time of our visit. We did see the statue of Leifur Eriksson outside; Iceland’s greatest explorer, who is said to have reached America long before Colombus and whose statue gazes towards the American continent.
We then began our tour of museums and were delighted to find free cloakrooms where we could store our coats, hats, scarves and gloves whilst visiting. At the Settlement Museum we saw the oldest man-made structure in Reykjavik; a low turf wall that would have been used to enclose an animal pen. Displays around the museum walls told the story of the first Icelanders and how they used to live and work. The National Museum covers several floors and depicts Icelandic history and culture from the first settlers to the present day. We particularly enjoyed the dressing up room where we tried on traditional costumes and Viking armour!
We then walked around Lake Tjornin which lies in the centre of the city. The lake is home to many species of bird and panels around the lake give details. After a bite of lunch – Subway and a nearby pizza restaurant were the most reasonably priced eateries we could find – we headed to the Culture House. Although one floor was closed, the main attraction of the world famous Sagas was still open. These manuscripts from the 12th and 13th centuries relate Icelandic stories and are displayed in temperature-controlled dimly lit rooms to preserve them. The Culture House also contains the table and chess board where Bobby Fischer (USA) and Boris Spassky (USSR) played their infamous chess match in 1972. The pieces are set out in the final winning position.
Some of us then hurried to the Volcano Show where we found ourselves to be the only customers and were given a discount of 400 kronurs on the ticket price. The attraction is a small old-fashioned cinema in what looked to be someone’s garage and is a film show about the seismic activity in Iceland shot by a father and son team since 1947. The son, Villi Knudsen, was there to take our money and give us a short talk prior to the film. Some of our group then went shopping - although I suspect only the window variety – and some of us walked back to the hotel along the waterfront viewing the Solfar Suncraft en route. This is a sculpture of a Viking longboat made from stainless steel and across the bay we could see snowcapped Mount Esja. Late afternoon was spent at Laugardalur which is the largest thermal pool in the city and a short walk from our hotel. We sat in the heated water whilst snowflakes fell on our head!
On the Sunday we had arranged car hire to drive around the ‘Golden Circle’. During the day we had a mix of heavy snow, rain, hail, wind and brilliant sunshine but with studded tyres and good maps coped well. The National Park at Þingvellir is the location of the original parliament. Established in 930 AD it is reputed to be the oldest parliament in the world (though the Isle of Man dispute this!) Entrance is free, there’s a viewing platform and information panels. Although not many buildings exist, you can see the flagpole marking the spot where the speaker stood and, behind it, the rift wall where the two continental plates of North America and Europe meet. 12½ miles to the north east lies the geothermal area of Geysir; home to the original geysir from which all other spurting blowholes derive their name. Geysir now only erupts every 4-8 months but luckily nearby Strokkur erupts every few minutes delighting tourists with spurts of water up to 66 ft high. The whole area is once again free to enter and covered with bubbling mud pools, steaming vents and boiling pools of brilliant blue water. We ate lunch in the café before returning to view Strokkur again. About four miles along the road, we reached Gulfoss. These spectacular waterfalls are 1¼ miles long and drop 105 ft into the canyon below. In winter visitors have a completely white vista of snow, ice and water. And once again this natural phenomenon is free to view. Unlike the coach tours that cost four times as much as we paid per person for car hire, we were able to stop at Kerid to walk around this volcanic crater and descend into the frozen lake at the bottom. We were also able to slightly detour on the way back to see the village of Hverageri with its geothermally heated greenhouses where Icelanders are trying to cultivate their own fruit and vegetables, mainly mushrooms.
In the evening we drove the short distance to the Perlan. The complex, on a hill overlooking the capital, consists of six huge tanks that store the geothermally heated water that supplies the city. One of the tanks has now been emptied and converted into a museum and a glass dome has been added over the tanks to house shops, a café and a revolving restaurant. One revolution takes two hours giving us ample time to enjoy a four course meal. Menus can be found at www.perlan.is and I’d thoroughly recommend the set menu as this works out much cheaper (around £30) than selecting from the a la carte (where a dessert can cost £10). On a Sunday it was very quiet though reservations are necessary on a Saturday evening.
You can’t visit Iceland without taking a dip in the waters of the famous Blue Lagoon. This is a geothermally heated seawater pool in a lava field. You can feel the mud on the bottom oozing between your toes and slap therapeutic mud on your body or alternatively just sit on benches in the 36-39 C water all year round. There is also a sauna, steam room and cascading waterfall. The water really is blue – though turning gradually greener due to the algae – and makes a stunning setting against the snow covered mountains. As the Blue Lagoon is a 20 minute drive from Keflavik airport Reykjavik Excursions (www.re.is) offer airport transfers from your hotel that include a couple of hours at this top tourist attraction and will store luggage on their coach. Departures from the city centre are around 11.00 am, arriving at the Blue Lagoon before midday and departing again at 2.15pm in order to meet the check-in times for Icelandair flights.
Although Iceland is hideously expensive, following their banking crisis it is a cheaper destination than previously. Be warned that local currency is suspended so UK bureaux de change and banks can no longer obtain it once their stocks have depleted. We all thoroughly enjoyed our packed weekend in colder climes and would recommend Iceland for a winter break.
First published in VISA 85 (Jun 2009)
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