Wednesday, August 21
Given the constant changes that travel brings, it is comforting that some things are totally reliable. One of the most reliable is the ability of United Airlines to deliver a devastatingly awful experience. Having booked seats across the aisle from one another, we discovered at the airport that we had been separated and placed at opposite ends of the last row of the plane: seats that don’t recline, seats right next to the washrooms. With my sleep superpower I still got in a couple of hours, but Sue only dozed on and off.
Things picked up immediately on landing in Reykjavik. I had been through the airport 51 years ago (gulp) with Paul Chandler on our way to Europe, back when Icelandair had the formal name Icelandic and the well-earned nickname Hippy Airlines. I still remember feeling the ribs of the seat back as I tried to recline. And Sue, on her first trip to Europe in 1976, had bought me an Icelandic sweater that I had for more than 30 years. Our memory of the terminal, perhaps distorted, is of a kind of large shed with piles of sweaters. Today’s airport is modern and, if a bit generic, rather attractive. It also included a wonderful advertisement for one of Iceland’s great treasures: its water! The best we’ve ever tasted…take that, you provincialNew Yorkers!
Our vaccination certificates were barely examined, and we were soon on a bus into Reykjavik.
After a bit of extra hiking as we searched for our hotel, and finding, of course, that no rooms were ready at 9:30 AM, we set out to have a look around. After a coffee and pastry at a wonderful bakery, we walked down Laugavegur, the main shopping street. This picture gives a very good sense of visiting Reykjavik at the (hopefully) tail end of the pandemic.
The capital feels very much like a provincial small town: relaxed, unfussy, unhurried. The effect is clearly enhanced by the pandemic: almost two million tourists visited Iceland in 2019; so far this year, the number is 75,000.
The downtown area is compact and it didn’t take us long to have a look. The nicest parts of town are the area around the City Hall and Parliament Square. The contrast between the City Hall and Parliament Square is remarkable: on the square, the neoclassical Reykjavik Cathedral dates from the eighteenth century and the Parliament dates from the mid-nineteenth century. Both are charmingly modest by almost any measure. We were still pretty knackered from lack of sleep, so we sat in some very comfortable chairs on the lawn and did some people watching. A group of young people in front of us took advantage of the bright sunshine and did some sunbathing…in 63 degree weather!
The City Hall screams out century twenty one; but in a good way.
The City Hall sits at the edge of a lovely lake with views across to the University of Iceland (founded only in 1911) and the city airport. And it contains a cool relief model of the whole country. That’s the Westfjords you’re looking at: one of our goals for our next trip.
For reasons I don’t fully understand, there is a statue of a Princeton University administrator at the edge of the lake.
We then walked down to the seashore. The new Reykjavik concert hall, called the Harpa, sits right on the water.
Nature is never far away, even in Reykjavik. The harbor has views across to tow after row of mountains.
We have no idea of real estate prices here, but these waterfront apartments can’t be cheap.
One last thing on the shore:
After a very restorative siesta, we walked up to Reykavik’s highest point and perhaps its best know landmark, the Hallgrimmskirkja. Designed by Iceland’s most famous architect, Guðjón Samúelsson (who also designed about half the major buildings in Reykjavik), it was started in 1945 but only completed in the 1980’s.
The inspiration for the church is supposedly one of the great waterfalls on the East Coast: what appear to be supporting pillars on each side of the tower represent the basalt columns found alongside the waterfall.
The church is visible from everywhere in central Reykjavik.
We continued our private Samúelsson festival by having a drink at another building he designed, the Apotek Hotel, an Art Deco addition to the center of town.
We had an excellent dinner at The Fish Market. Note that this photo was taken at about 8:30 PM. Sue had terrific sashimi and I had an excellent piece of cod.
We finished the evening with a walk to the Old Harbor, full of yachts, boats for whale viewing, and the odd Icelandic warship.
