Slept until 6:30am, which was about 6 straight hours. You’d think that that, combined with the “sleep” I got on the plane, plus the 4 hour nap I had taken when I arrived would be plenty of sleep for 3 people! Apparently not, because I ate some breakfast, video chatted with Brian, and fell promptly back asleep about 7:30 and woke up to my alarm at 9:30. Why an alarm? Because I had an adventure to attend to at 10!
One of the best ways to get orientated when you land in a new city is to seek out the “free” walking tours. Pretty much every city has them, some have multiple organizations that do it. Now, let me start by clarifying “free”. It doesn’t mean you should be a total cheap ass and suck up the guide’s time and energy and pay nothing. It means you should donate whatever amount you think the tour is worth at the end. Tours are generally about 1.5-2 hours long, and depending on how many stops we make (more stops = more information), the personality of the guide, how much I learned, and the size of the group, I pay anywhere from $10-$20. There were two free walking tours in Reykjavik that I found, and I decided to go with City Walk Reykjavik, mainly because I like the idea of starting at 10am AND they offered the ability to pay online with a credit card. I hate exchanging currency and try to avoid it at all costs! FYI, if you want to do this tour, you MUST book in advance.
The group was about 25 people, which was quite large. People from all over the world, which was cool. We started at a little park called Austurvöllur that is just a couple of blocks from my housesit in front of a statue of this dude, Jón Sigurðsson. Don’t ask me to pronounce any of these names or places. Like the guide said- just try to get the first syllable right and mumble the rest….
I learned that Iceland used to be a colony of Denmark, and that the Danes weren’t very nice to the Icelanders… they wouldn’t allow them to have their own businesses or anything. Denmark had a complete monopoly on the island. Well, it was good old Jón Sigurðsson, who was a native Icelander living in Denmark, who plead the cause of independence for his people in the mid-1800s. However, Iceland didn’t receive independence until 1944 (spoiler alert: Denmark was kinda getting crushed by WW2, so Iceland said, “Yo, Denmark, we’re going to be independent now. Toodles, and good luck with that Nazi thing.” Denmark wasn’t really in a position to argue…). But because Jón had fought the good fight and kinda sparked the whole idea, he is known as their father of independence.
Directly across the street from Jón’s statue is the parliament building. It was built in 1881 out of a type of volcanic rock (I forgot the name), the only natural building material on the island! It isn’t very big, and here’s the crazy thing- it took 1/3 of the entire budget of Iceland to build it!!! Iceland was a super poor country, being under the thumb of Denmark… That crown on top of the building represents Christian IX, king of Denmark at the time. And over each of the four sets of windows, there is an animal. A dragon, an eagle, a bull, and a giant. Each are the spirits that watch over the 4 regions of Iceland. Now, without getting too much into politics, when Icelanders get pissed off at their government, they literally come to this park across from Parliament with pots, pans, and spoons- banging them to make noise that they are unhappy!! This isn’t some protest from generations ago- it still happens today! I couldn’t help but envision millions of Americans on the White House lawn with pots and pans and spoons…
A short walk took us to another statue, that of Skúli Magnússon. He was the first entrepreneur in Iceland. He started out as a young man working for a Danish owned (because there wasn’t any other kind) business. His boss would tell him to charge the poor people more, and Skúli hated this treatment of his people. He became a sheriff, and as sheriff he had connections to the King of Denmark. He was allowed to open a wool factory in this little area of homes that was barely even a settlement. People flocked (god, I crack me up!) to the wool factory for jobs and opportunity- things that were severely lacking in this Danish colony. Over time, the area around the factory grew and grew. That little settlement was Reykjavik, and Skúli is known as the father of Iceland’s capital. Interestingly enough, the little area where his statue is is on one of Iceland’s oldest graveyards. Construction on the hotel next door has to constantly be stopped because they keep finding bones. Remind me not to book lodging there if it ever opens…
Speaking of supernatural construction issues, next on the stop was something I was really excited to see! The Elf Stone! The story goes that the city was building a road in a suburb of Reykjavik. There was a large boulder, and every time a machine was in place to move it, the machine would break down. This happened to FIVE different machines!! So the construction company did the logical thing- called in a woman who can speak to elves. She struck up a conversation, and learned that the elves would be willing to move if they were given one week’s notice and moved to a more central location in the city (even elves hate commutes!). The construction company complied, and the stone was moved to its present location without further problems. Fun fact, polls show that over half of Icelanders believe in elves. 🙂 If you like this story, stay tuned- I have more elvish enlightenment coming next week!! #believer
Next we walked into the oldest part of Reykjavik, a neighborhood called Grjótaþorp. Here you can find the oldest homes in the city, back to the mid 1800s. Yes, by European standards those houses are infants, but Iceland is a different kind of Europe, having been colonized rather than its own country. This is the neighborhood where Skúli set up his wool factory, and people came to live. The houses are built out of timber that was imported from England and Norway (rumor has it that those pesky Vikings cut down every tree practically in Iceland to build ships!). The timber is covered with corrugated sheet metal (also imported) to protect the wood from the elements. The home owners are not allowed to change anything about the houses except for the paint- so many of them paint the homes in bright colors!
We now walked to a park surrounded by a lot of little restaurants. It’s called Ingólfstorg Square, and is a place where locals hang out. In the winter, they turn it into a skating rink! Notice those two pillars toward the back with steam rising out of them? Interesting story… The early history of Iceland (800’s forward) is written in sagas. Of course, these sagas weren’t written until the 1200’s, so take them for what you will. However, here’s what’s really cool. The modern Icelandic language is still EXTREMELY close to the ancient Norwegian language. So these sagas that were written over 800 years ago are still readable by people who speak Icelandic. How cool is that?! Anywho, let’s focus on that “ancient Norwegian” language for a second. Iceland was founded by Norwegians- which is where the language comes from. Quick detour- Icelandic children learn Icelandic, English (from age 6), Danish (from age 13), and then they get to pick another language (generally French, Spanish, or German). So pretty much every Icelander speaks perfect English (for those of you freaking about about all of these words I’m posting that look impossible! btw- they are!). Ok, back to Iceland being founded by ancient Norwegians. The sagas tell the story of Ingólfur Arnarson, a Norwegian nobleman. He got into a feud with the earl, ended up losing, and in the process lost all of his land. With nothing left for him in Norway, he packed up his wife, children, slaves, animals, and the two huge pillars that held up his house, and sailed west. He saw land, threw the two pillars into the water, and prayed to the gods to wash those pillars on the shore of the place where he should settle. The pillars landed ashore in 874 at a place where smoke was rising from the land (thanks to all of the geothermic activity). Ingólfur named this place Reykjavik, which means “steamy bay”. And that is how the first settlement of Iceland came to be! The two pillars with smoke are a symbol of the city, and can be found almost everywhere you look!
Look for the smoking pillars!
We then left the park and walked up a little hill with a statue on top. It’s the statue of Ingólfur Arnarson, who will forever overlook the city he named from his hilltop perch. And the symbolism is just amazing. It’s just so darn….VIKING! Love it!
It was really windy and cold on top of the hill (back when I thought that was windy….see Day 3….yowza). We walked back down into town, down some touristy streets, and toward the tourist information center where the tour ended. Here were some of the sights we saw along the way…. Very nice tour and highly recommended to get some of the backstory of Reykjavik and a feel for the layout of the city.
The harbor
So many different meanings to this one…
After the walk, I came home to get lunch, ate, and promptly took my 2nd nap of the day for 3 hours!! What in the hell is wrong with me? I couldn’t sleep to save my life in South Africa, now all of a sudden I’m a narcoleptic! Anyway, woke up and decided I had time for another adventure. Looked at my nifty little map I’ve created of all the places I want to go, and decided on the Settlement Museum- mainly because it was a) like a 2 minute walk away and b) reviews said it would take about an hour and I was kind short on time since I had already taken 2 naps and one tour today! Paid my $15.50 to get in, and I must say, that although it’s pretty small, this is a very well done, modern museum!
One thing that was really interesting was that the only land mammal in Iceland at the time of settlement in the 800’s was the artic fox. Settlers had to bring all of their animals with them to survive. There was a whole little exhibit room about the animals. Birds that were eaten included puffins and auks- which were large flightless birds. The last of them were killed in 1844. 🙁 Outside that room, there was a really cool area where kids could get hands on with Viking stuff!
The next room was the main attraction. In 2001, construction was started on a new building. As they were digging, they just so happened to have unearthed the oldest known human settlement in all of Iceland!! It’s dated to 871 +/- 2 years. And that was actually the first name of the museum! 871 +/- 2!! See, no one could agree on the EXACT date. Was it 871? Was it 870? Was it 872? Icelanders, not being one for controversy, decided to compromise (insert gasp with an American accent) and make everyone happy by including a range of dates. If this was the US, we would have 5 groups of people, all firmly convicted of their belief of the exact date. They would call each other names, start Twitter wars, refuse to even think about hearing any logic from the other side. There would be Viking deniers, and people screaming that Viking is a racist term- they are Norwegian. Sigh. We suck. Anyway, back to how things should work…the city stopped the construction, excavated the site, and preserved it by building a museum over it. The museum is underground, giving you full access to the preserved site. The site is right in the middle of the large room, and all around the edges are these really cool, interactive information boards. There are also a ton of artifacts that were found at the site. It was seriously very well done, easy to understand, and fun to explore. Three to five longhouses were found, and there is still excavation to be done. How do you say, “I would like to buy a shovel.” in Icelandic? 😉
Silver bracelet. So delicate and gorgeous, and in such great condition!
An axe head. WOW!
I am all about Viking keys. They are SO COOL!
Fish hooks
Look at the detail still on this! They think it’s a gaming piece.
Reconstruction of how it would have look back in the 870s.
Came back, made some dinner, did some work, and went to bed with the sun still shining at 11pm.
Day 3- This’ll be fast…
Woke up at 8:30!! Dang!! Even after two naps the day before! Made breakfast, and promptly took a 2 hour nap! What. The. Hell.???? Brian thinks it’s exhaustion from such an intense spring semester. Could be true. Summer semester starts next week. Ugh. It was windy outside. Like seriously tropical storm force winds. Internet said 33 mph winds, and that was steady, not even including the gusts that would shake this entire 3 story house. What a shame, because it was actually kinda sunny outside! But I know my constitution is not up for such conditions. So I stayed inside and worked all day instead of going to the museum I had planned. No worries, I’ll go tomorrow. It’s 7:30pm now and the wind is already dying down a bit. Supposed to be back to normal tomorrow.
My Great Grandmother was Icelandic. Her name was Sigríður Þorsteinsdóttir. Can you say that? We had a grand time there – I’d love to go back. Thanks for sharing – you showed me things I didn’t get to see when we were there. Love, Elaine
No I can NOT pronounce that!! I’d like to hear you do it, though! 🙂 So glad I’m showing you the things you missed. A lot more to come….