BETTER TO SEE SOMETHING ONCE THAN HEAR ABOUT IT A THOUSAND TIMES. – ASIAN PROVERB

This leg of my trip, 22 days in Scandinavia, will be shared with friends Bruce and Katherine Willey and Lynn Brooks. Three other couples will join us for 13 of those days, meeting up with us in Copenhagen.

We arrived in Iceland at 7 in the morning, the day was grey and misty, in the high 40’s. Our hotel room was not available until noon, so Lynn and I had a tasty breakfast at a small bakery called Baka Baka and walked around the city of Reykjavik . The city is home to about two thirds of the country’s population of 380,000 so not large. The area was filled with coffee houses, restaurants, galleries, boutiques, souvenir shops and stores selling cold weather wear- lots of sweaters, parkas, mittens, hats, blankets and fur throws. I broke my rule about not buying anything and purchased a white stocking hat which I used quite often.

Reykjavik is a pretty and clean city, situated on a bay in southwest Iceland. The houses are boxy either made out of concrete or wood covered in corrugated iron but most have frills and flourishes adding to their quaintness. For a long time buildings were only 4 stories, but with better building techniques to protect against earthquakes, they are now building taller, sleeker high rises. The city is very walkable though there are hills in almost every direction.

At the top of one hill is an imposing Lutheran church designed by G. Samuelson, the first state architect. The shape suggests a geyser which are found in Iceland as well as basalt columns, another common element of the land. There is another imposing church across town more reminiscent of the Gothic style. Scattered through the city and countryside are other simple Lutheran churches the earliest dating to 1873.

Our first afternoon was spent at the Sky Lagoon. What a great way to recover after traveling through multiple time zones and before settling down for the night. I highly recommend it! The lagoon is a big irregularly shaped pool surrounded by lava rock walls and heated by a geothermal power station fed by volcanic energy. This one overlooks the ocean. The water is warm and relaxing. There is a bar to buy drinks but you’re limited to only three! After luxuriating a while we move on to the seven step ritual. First plunging into a cold tub of water, then enjoying a sauna in a room with a floor to ceiling picture window to enjoy the view, then a cool mist shower, followed by a body scrub, a shower and the steam room. We were all like wet noodles when we left. Another day we went to the Blue Lagoon for a similar experience though this time we experienced a series of masks for our faces, cleansing and softening our skin. I know I look 10 years younger.

The first night, we hit a food hall across the street from the hotel, which has seven or eight restaurants in one building- sushi, fish and chips, pizza, burgers, tacos, pasta, etc. Not fast food like you find in American malls but moderately priced good meals. These are fairly common here.

The breakfast buffet at our hotel, the Apotek, included the usual meats and cheeses, pancakes and waffles, pastries and bread, scrambled eggs and bacon, a yogurt bar, a porridge station, and the sweet desserts you find in most European hotels but also cod liver oil, two kinds of salmon and hot dogs. The bread is especially good, warm from the oven.

We spent two days touring parts of the countryside and natural wonders of Iceland. One day we take a jeep on a private tour of the Golden Circle, on the west side heading north and two days later we’re on a small bus with 10-12 other people from various hotels exploring the south side heading east. One of the first things you notice along the highway are the lupine, they are everywhere, purple fields as far as the eye can see. There are lots of buttercups too as well as other spring blooms. There are plethora of waterfalls everywhere we go, some tall, some wide – all amazing examples of the power of water. And possibly dangerous if you’re with the right people. We check out two glaciers, the third largest geyser in the world, and a black sand beach with incredible caves along the shore.

The west side has fields of lava rocks covered in green gold moss that takes 70 years to grow and just seconds to destroy. The south, massive cliffs and bright green fields. You can see great distances as Iceland has very few trees, though they are trying to plant more. Along with the wildflowers, the fields are dotted with sheep and sturdy little horses- just don’t call them ponies. Because it’s spring, lambs and foals are frolicking near their mothers. There are some small towns and a scattering of farms, churches and houses along the way as well.

After the first day, the weather gods smiled down on us with sunny days in the mid-50’s. Everyone was enjoying the weather the summer solstice brought, filling outdoor dining tables, sunning on open balconies, and idling on park benches. And of course once they knew we were leaving it began to rain again.

We tried a little of the local food. One night we had smorrebrod- open faced sandwiches. There were pages of options most laden with meat. Lynn liked hers a lot, me not so much. We had fish and chips, several of us had Atlantic char – a fish similar to salmon, and a traditional fish stew that really good, Soups abounded- mushroom, cauliflower, seafood, lobster, lamb and turnip. Lamb is very popular here though none of us tried it. And the bread was wonderful especially when with served with skyr. Their cows don’t produce a lot of milk but what they give is very rich, skyr is the result used to make butter, yogurt and ice cream. We also tried the local cumin flavored schnapps that we thought was good but the waiter said not so much. A favorite flavor of chocolate here is licorice – some people are just different.

Although they grow some of their food here, but only in greenhouses heated with geothermal energy, most is imported. That, along with high taxes makes food very pricey. We were told housing was very expensive as well, so many young Icelanders live with their parents until they are married. And the average age for getting married is later than ever, often in their 30’s.

Fishing was the main industry here for many years which is why there is so much good fresh fish on all the menus. But tourism took over as number one in 2010, followed by energy. Iceland does not use any fossil fuels except in their cars, instead getting their power from geothermal energy. They plan to be fully fossil fuel free very soon, transitioning the cars to electric as soon as the infrastructure is in place. Aluminum is a big industry here because of their clean energy even though all the raw ingredients are imported. Powering BitCoin servers uses more of their power than the people who live there do.

Icelanders are a very literal people. The names of places describe the place – Reykjavik means smoky bay named obviously from the bay and the smoke that rises from the geothermal waters. If your name is John and your father is Magnus, your name is John Magnusson. And John’s son Thor is Thor Johnsson. A woman doesn’t take her husband’s name otherwise people would think she had married her brother. And the general rule is you need to be five generations removed before you can marry another Icelander. There are only 1 million people in the world who can trace their ancestry back to the first Icelander and they have a register of everyone of them, dating back to 893. When you think about going out with someone, you need to check the register first.

The number of tourists coming to Iceland grows ever year, well over two million are projected to visit this year, so come soon.