By Jacque Lynn Foltyn
I have been planning a trip to Iceland since I was 5 years old and my neighbors, the flaxen-haired daughters of an airline pilot and an Icelandic woman, charmed me with tales of woodland elves dancing on the plumes of lava flows and long-maned horses prancing in the light of the Aurora Borealis.
Decades later I made it to this land of contradictions — fire and ice, light and dark, new and old, culture and nature — and found an island nation where tourists outnumber the locals. Iceland has a population of 337,780, and 2 million overnight travelers visit each year. Iceland is trending: Tourism has overtaken fishing as Iceland's economic driver and grown sixfold since 2010.
My trip was also inspired by childhood tales and Iceland's reputation for otherworldly beauty, unspoiled nature, green living, and egalitarianism. Readers of the "Icelandic Sagas" venture to the island, and pilgrimlike devotees of "Game of Thrones" arrive in backpacking droves to see the dramatic landscapes where parts of the series are filmed. An enticing feature of Iceland is its reputation as one of the safest places in the world for women traveling alone.
I made Old Reykjavik, the heart of the nation's capital, my base. Easily navigable by foot, Reykjavik is a happening city with a hip vibe where 60 percent of Icelanders make their home. Founded around 870, Reykjavik means "bay of smokes," a name given by the Vikings who observed steam spewing from the surrounding hills. I visited in early September, when the high tourist season was over, the daytime temperature was in the low 50s and the Northern Lights were beginning to appear.
While there are more than 5,000 hotel rooms in Reykjavik, I rented a high-Scandinavian-style condo and shopped for food like a local at the reasonably priced Bonus grocery store. Accustomed to wresting a living from a challenging environment, Icelanders grow 50 percent of their fruits and vegetables in greenhouses heated by geothermal steam. When I turned on the hot water at the condo, I smelled sulfur, which quickly dissipated. My host told me not to worry about the odor; the hot water comes from constantly renewing geothermal fields. Like electricity, which comes from hydroelectric and thermal sources, hot water is so plentiful it is virtually free.
I set out on Laugavegur, the city's main shopping street. Here one finds bars, craft beer breweries and restaurants. At the elegant Sandholt bakery, I ordered a salmon sandwich on artisan bread baked from a traditional Icelandic recipe. I visited boutiques specializing in Icelandic woolen designs fashioned from the wool of descendants of sheep brought by the Vikings. At Gull and Silfur (gold and silver), a family-owned jewelry store, I bought a lava "pearl" pendant, harvested after the 2014 eruption of the Bardarbunga volcano. In Bad Taste Records, founded in the 1980s by young artists and musicians, I noted a quirky shrine to the Icelandic singer-actor Bjork. On lower Laugavegur I saw the Icelandic Phallological Museum, the world's only museum dedicated to mammal penises, including, according to Icelanders, those of elves!
From that unforgettable sight, I walked the hill to Reykjavik's most recognizable landmark, Hallgrimskirkja, named for a poet and built between1945 and 1986. Architect Gudjon Samuelsson took his inspiration for this imposing church from the basalt cliffs that form along Iceland's shores when lava reaches the ocean. A statue of Leif Erikson, the first European to travel to the New World, stands before the church, a gift from the United States in 1930. I listened to a choir singing Icelandic hymns and climbed the steeple, where I had a 360-degree view of the city, ocean and mountains.
As I strolled along the harbor, I came upon a dazzling building with a facade that resembled a moving glacier or stacked ice cubes. It was the Harpa Concert and Exhibition Center, which opened in 2011 and was designed by the Icelandic-Danish architect Olafur Eliasson.
Whimsical, brightly colored street art that evokes mythology, popular culture and a time when the United States had a military presence on the island (1941 to 2006) is abundant, and this "wall poetry" has put Reykjavik on a global top-10 list. Traditional Icelandic buildings are painted vibrantly with flowers and witty motifs. Throughout the city, sculptures celebrate the Viking past, the founding of the Republic of Iceland in 1944, and writing and reading, major pastimes of Icelanders. Reykjavik has been designated a UNESCO City of Literature, one of only five cities in the world to be accorded the honor.
The National Museum of Iceland, which celebrates the nation's history with artifacts dating from the settlement years, is worth a visit, as is a stop at Reykjavik City Hall, yet another building inspired by Iceland's geology. Designed to attract bird life, it "floats" on Lake Tjornin, a centrally located pond. Inside, there's an impressive 3-D map of Iceland constructed to scale with mountain ranges, glaciers, geyser fields, lava flats, huge waterfalls, and the island's 130 active and inactive volcanoes.
To see such spectacular scenery, rent a car and drive south or book one of the Golden Circle day tours that originate in Reykjavik. The Blue Lagoon Geothermal Spa and Icelandic horse trek tours and shows are just outside the city.
The trip just kept getting better. On my last night , after a week of watching daily Aurora broadcasts, I finally saw the elusive Northern Lights snake across the sky.
WHEN YOU GO
For more information: www.visitreykjavik.is/city-reykjavik
Street art of Reykjavik: www.thesanetravel.com/travels/Iceland/street-art-reykjavik
Jacque Lynn Foltyn is a freelance writer. To read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.
Reykjavik, Iceland, is rich in unusual architecture, such as the Harpa Concert and Exhibition Center, designed by Olafur Eliasson. Photo courtesy of Jacque Lynn Foltyn.
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