It was gorgeous but Iceland left me cold
Vik is an Icelandic word you learn soon after you land in Iceland. It means a ‘bay’. Reykjavík then means ‘the bay of smoke’. One of the Danes who first landed on the bay noticed smoke rising on the horizon. Hundreds of years later, our taxi driver pointed out smoke in the distance as we made our way to the city of Reykjavík.
Driving to the city from the airport, I was underwhelmed. We passed lava fields, which looked unlike anything I had seen, but not very fetching. Covered with green moss, it appeared monotonous. The jet lag made me fall asleep. I woke up just as we entered Reykjavík and was pleasantly surprised to see trees (there were none on the lava fields). The streets of downtown Reykjavík are lined with pretty little houses; brightly coloured roofs sloping down to the waterfront. Visiting from Dubai, the landscape is refreshing — for one, it’s horizontal. The streets are made of a rock which shines. It has crystals that are formed by cooled lava. The turbulent volcanic origin of this island always makes its presence felt. It’s an opportunity to make geography lessons come alive for the kids.
For a place that feels almost rural, Reykjavík is shockingly expensive. The taxi ride from the airport cost us an equivalent of Dh500. We mentally kicked ourselves for not having taken the shuttle bus. Throughout our stay (10 days in Iceland, three in Reykjavík), we were appalled at the prices, especially compared to our trips to countries near Dubai such as Georgia and Azerbaijan. We had to keep reminding ourselves that this is a remote island; everything has to be flown in therefore expensive, but it still pinched.
Our Airbnb apartment was in downtown, a good location, a short walk to the waterfront and minutes away from the towering parish church, Hallgrímskirkja. That’s another thing in Iceland that we were not fans of — what tongue-twister names! I hate mispronouncing names of foreign locations. So I pick up brochures and point to the names and ask the locals how they are correctly pronounced. It is my ritual and a good way to break the ice with strangers. They’re invariably delighted when you pick up the correct pronunciation. There’s no language barrier in Iceland. Nearly everyone we encountered spoke English.
A walk through downtown Reykjavík reveals a town with a definite personality, expressed in the street art and installations on street corners. Iceland has all the design ethos of the Scandinavian countries. The most prominent example is the Hallgrímskirkja. It soars skywards like a giant stone eagle with its wings spread out. The church has clean, spare lines, devoid of ornamentation. There is a huge church organ made up of thousands of gleaming steel pipes. We were lucky to visit at a time when there was a trio of musicians playing classical music. So we attended a mini concert in a striking setting for free! I thought of my friends slaving at their office desks in office, and if I had data on my phone, I’d have sent a video of the concert saying, this is how I’m spending my morning. How is your day going?
The church design, we found out, was inspired by formations of basalt columns. We saw a lot of these (basalt columns) around Iceland on our day trips to sightsee — to Borgarnes for the waterfalls of Hraunfossar and Barnafoss; to the Háafell Goat Farm; to the 700,000-year-old glacier Snaefellsjökull; to Vik, to explore the black volcanic sand beach and see up close the basalt formations at Reynisdrangar.
In Reykjavík, one day, we walked down to the waterfront to The Sun Voyager. This is an installation of a metal boat that pays homage to Vikings. Iceland is proud of its Viking history. There are statues of Vikings in museums, as well as images in popular culture. We walked by the water and ended up at Harpa, the giant concert hall. Unfortunately, we visited in summer, when there is virtually no night, so we missed the sight of Harpa lit up at night, but judging from the images, it is a spectacle.
One day for lunch, we picked a family-owned joint that served a really good lentil soup with a taste of Indian spices like turmeric. Icelanders though eat primarily fish. Atlantic char and cod are common, also lamb and beef. Reykjavík has a lively dining scene. Many restaurants serve cuisines such as Thai, Indian and Italian. In the interiors of Iceland, the variety is much less.
Like everything else in Iceland, restaurants are not cheap. There is always the option of visiting grocery stores. I enjoyed skyr — a mild Icelandic yogurt, in blueberry and chocolate flavours. The bakeries sell something called ‘wedding cake’ — a lemon sponge encased in white elderflower buttercream — which was nice too. And I loved the sourdough bread everywhere.
A popular excursion from Reykjavík is the whale-watching boat tour. When you walk down to the pier to buy a ticket, they kindly offer you an anti-emetic tablet to combat motion sickness. Even if you normally don’t feel seasick, it’s advisable to take these. The North Atlantic Ocean can get rough.
The boats are huge, like mini-ships. They give you protective overalls before they allow you on the deck. These are a pain to wear, and restrict mobility, but they keep you warm, a boon with the chilly winds buffeting the deck. The guides keep an eye out and tell you where to look and which part of the deck will offer you the best sighting. We saw one whale and one lone puffin. But it was from afar, and a short sighting, so it wasn’t very exciting. Perhaps my benchmark of Khasab, Oman where you get to see loads of dolphins, and for much longer durations and at much closer range, has spoiled me. I couldn’t help think we should have gone to the zoo to see reindeer at close quarters instead.
Another thing we were not fans of in Reykjavík: what tongue-twister names! I hate mispronouncing names of foreign locations. So I pick up brochures and ask locals the correct pronunciation. It’s a good way to break the ice with strangers, and they’re delighted