The Reykjavik Grapevine Travel / Traveling on your own

22.12.2009

Browsing Backyards on the Verge of Winter

Walking around Akureyri on a beautiful November afternoon got me thinking. Coming from Reykjavík, I’m pretty used to see trash lying around. Compared to Tokyo our capital is like a dumpster filled with candy-wrappers, empty beer-cans and cigarette butts.

25.11.2009

Tres Foss

This country sure has a lot of water: trapped in glaciers, flowing from glaciers, trickling down mountainsides, raging through canyons.

1.10.2009

Giant Horses, Hidden Folk And UFOs

Sleipnir was one hell of a horse. Born of the eternally mischievous god Loki (while in the form of a seductive white mare, naturally) and Svaðilfari, the magical stallion of a stonemason-impersonating giant;

25.9.2009

There Ain’t No Party Like a Réttir Party

All summer long, the sheep roam hills and fjords without a care in the world. Lambs nestle into their mothers’ backs until they are too big to carry and rams stubbornly block the passage of tourists on roads.

18.9.2009

Dead Ahead

A bird slamming into the windshield. That's my greeting to Ísafjörður.

16.9.2009

The Eternal Twilight of a Sparkling Mind

It’s five in the morning and I’m just rolling back to Siggi and Rúnar’s sailboat-slash-home away from home, which sits on the dock on the easternmost side of the Faeroe Islands village of Gøta.

14.9.2009

It’s Worth The Drive To Hveravellir

It’s a long and arduous drive through the rocky and oft barren interior of the country. Unpaved, unkempt, deeply rutted, rock strewn roads force driving speeds near the single digits

8.9.2009

Deep Down Dirty: Mýrarbolti Matures

The spectacle of it—just outside the picturesque town of Ísafjörður in the West Fjords, there are hundreds of locals dressed up in Halloween style outfits covered in mud, shivering, drinking from large cans of beer in the rain.

4.9.2009

Come to Daddi's!

“Out of the 500.000 tourists that give Icelanders the honour of their presence every year, 80 percent visit this mind-blowing natural treasure hidden in the North called Mývatn, so mind what you see.”

4.9.2009

Things I Learned At The Gay History Walk

When I first heard about the gay history walk, I wasn’t sure what to make of it. In all honesty I didn’t really think there were that many places relevant to gay history in a burgh as small as Reykjavík.

3.9.2009

Blönduós, Mother Of All Confusion

I do not know what it is about Blönduós that brings on confusion. If I did, I could bottle it and sell it as bottled misunderstanding. I would become very rich indeed.

5.8.2009

Seyðisfjörður Reveals Its Private Parts

After the Króna reached a new low – vamping up a settlement-style quarantine that imprisoned penniless and puzzled Icelanders in the process – it has proven to be an unavoidable activity during the summer to attend some of the heaps of hyped-up festivals going on in rural villages in Iceland.

5.8.2009

Landmannalaugar: Closer Than You Think

Landmannalaugar is a staple visit for many tourists to Iceland. In fact, some folks involved with Icelandic tourism frequently yield complaints that it is by far too popular, that it feels more like a supermarket or Disney resort than respected and treasured nature reserve during the peak months of summer.

4.8.2009

Thumbs Up!

Listen: I have never hitchhiked before and I don’t really know what I’m doing. In most parts of the world (especially where I am from, Canada), hitchhiking is a downright stupid idea that frequently finishes with a body floating face down in a shallow riverbed.

21.7.2009

...and on his farm he had some lettuce. E-I-E-I-O

Working the land. Hoeing the weeds from deceptively long rows of lettuce and parsley.

6.3.2009

The Eirikur Helgason Interview

Eiríkur “Eiki” Helgason first drew the attention of the snowboarding community in 2003 with the release of the snowboard movie “Óreiða” (“Chaos”), where he and his fellow rippers in Team Divine (Viktor Helgi Hjartarson, Gulli Guðmundsson and Eiki´s little brother Halldór) first set the standard for Icelandic snowboarding.

6.2.2009

Bus 51 to Hveragerði

Since the 2nd of January, the city bus company Strætó has provided the towns of Hveragerði and Selfoss with a regular bus service to Reykjavík.

10.12.2008

Slaughterhouse: A Culture Center

It is midday when a Grapevine photographer and journalist get on board a plane heading to Egilsstaðir on the east coast of Iceland.

29.9.2008

Rounding up the Sheep

Icelandic customs die hard

29.9.2008

Akranes Sports Museum

Where sports heros go to be forgotten

16.9.2008

The Northland

One Reporter's Adventure at the Top of the World

4.9.2008

The Northland Part 2

Two reporters´adventures at the top of the world

29.7.2008

Go to Greenland. Now!

There was an arctic fox hanging out on the porch of Hotel Kulusuk. He was just kind of lazing about; playfully jumping around as mountains larger than anything I’ve ever seen trembled in the fading light of a suspended midnight sun.

29.7.2008

Lose Your Moral Boundaries and Get Shitfaced!

It might seem a bit crazy, even ludicrous, that one weekend a year, the preceding weekend to The Labour Day public holiday (one Monday), Icelanders simply go berserk.

15.7.2008

Exploring fishing villages in the far northwest

It’s so sparsely populated around these parts, with only the occasional farm dotting the countryside, that we share the road only with the sheep and birds that inhabit these shores during the summer

6.10.2007

Across the Country in 40 Days

13.7.2007

Arnarstapi

3.11.2006

The Place Deserves Its Fame

27.5.2005

Next Winter’s Food, Today

We were just sitting in the office, enjoying the view of the harbour on a beautiful sunny day, when Bart noticed a crane lifting what appeared to be an enormous shark off the deck of a ship. Always first to chase the stories that touch us all, we scrambled down to the harbour for a closer look.

20.6.2008

City Slicker Rides Again

It’s Friday morning, around quarter past nine and me, the photographer, and an older Danish man and his wife are being driven to Laxnes in Mosfellssveit by Þórarinn “Póri” Jónasson.

18.6.2008

The View From the Top

Despite its name, Iceland is not all that icy.

9.5.2008

Stumbling Around Glaciers

9.5.2008

Chasing Monsters in East-Iceland

MULDER: A prehistoric animal living in a lake is not without precedence. Last August they pulled a Bull shark from Lake Onaga in Massachusetts. FARRADAY: An anomaly. Which proves nothing. It only serves as fodder for pseudo-scientists with nothing better to do than chase fairy tales. MULDER: It’s been reported for centuries in dozens of countries. From the monster in Loch Ness, Nessie, to the Ogopogo in Lake Okanagan. SCULLY: And Lake Champlain, Lagarfljót, Iceland... From The X-Files, episode 3x22 - Quagmire (1996)

4.4.2008

Across the Country in 40 Days

Last summer, Fabrizio Frascaroli spent 40 days walking across Iceland from East to West. This is the final segment of his story.

7.3.2008

Across the Country in 40 Days

Last summer, Fabrizio Frascaroli spent 40 days walking across Iceland from East to West. This is his story.

8.2.2008

A Different Kind of Country Music - Part Two

Jonah Flicker came to Reykjavík for the 2007 Iceland Airwaves festival. After a long weekend of too much booze and music and too little sleep, he set out to see the rest of the country.

8.2.2008

Across the Country in 40 Days

Last summer, Fabrizio Frascaroli spent 40 days walking across Iceland from East to West. This is his story.

8.2.2008

Iceland’s Winter-Sports Capital

11.1.2008

A Different Kind of Country Music

Jonah Flicker came to Reykjavík for the 2007 Iceland Airwaves festival. After a long weekend of too much booze and music and too little sleep, he set out to see the rest of the country

11.1.2008

Across the Country in 40 Days

7.12.2007

What a Day for Window Weather

7.12.2007

Across the Country in 40 Days

8.11.2007

Across the Country in 40 Days – Adventures of the Lonesome Traveller, Leg 3

8.11.2007

Destination: Lake Mývatn

21.9.2007

Mount Esja: The New Couple’s Therapy

21.9.2007

Across the Country in 40 Days:Adventures of The Lonesome Traveller, Leg 1

7.9.2007

Kjölur by Bike – Part Two

24.8.2007

Kjölur by Bike – Part One

10.8.2007

Island Life: 24 hours on Grímsey

The thought of spending the weekend on a tiny island with nothing to do is enough to send some people running. Instead, Gulli, the photographer, and I thought of some creative ways to keep ourselves occupied during our 24 hour stay. These included meeting as many of the locals (pop. 95) as possible, trying to defend ourselves from the aggressive arctic terns, and last but not least, scaling the dangerously steep coastal cliffs trying to catch puffins. While these may not be the most obvious tourist activities, our trip to Grímsey turned out to be full of adventure.

10.8.2007

Escaping 101

27.7.2007

The Westman Islands: Puffins Abound

No sooner had I started to settle into my seat than the pilot announced he was commencing the descent.

27.7.2007

Roots Tourism in Hofsós

27.7.2007

LungA: A Huge Little Festival

13.7.2007

Round and Round Around Route 1

13.7.2007

The Lonesome Traveller – Lónsöræfi

29.6.2007

Fighting Hypothermia at Iceland’s Highest Peak

“Crevasse!” The deal was that a yell would warn the party whenever a chasm and potential danger was spotted in the ice. In practice, things went quite differently. Our guide simply vanished in a white cloud right before our eyes. Yell or not, it was rather evident that we had actually happened to incur a crevasse, subtly concealed by snow. We all ducked at once – as we had been instructed to do in similar cases, before entering the glacier – to exercise further traction on the rope and give the leader the necessary stability for rescuing himself. Then, it was just a matter of waiting.

29.6.2007

The Playground Hvítá River

29.6.2007

The Lonesome Traveller: Delusional at Last

This summer, The Grapevine will send the famous mountaineer (well, he may not be famous yet, but he surely will be at the end of this journey) Fabrizio Frascaroli, a long time contributor to the magazine, on a dangerous and desolate journey through the Icelandic Highlands. His goal is simple – to walk from one end of the country to the other. The walk is expected to take around 40 days. The Grapevine asked Frascaroli to write a little about his trip and found out that he may already have gone delusional from the lonesome times ahead, as he sat down to interview himself.

18.5.2007

Horse Riding in Hafnarfjörður

18.5.2007

A Thrill Like No Other

4.5.2007

A Modern Treasure Hunt

The arctic wind and a nearby waterfall seem to be having a strength competition. They are both doing quite well. The GPS receiver in my hand tells me that there are still 150 metres to go. I feel like I am actually looking for a treasure. This is treasure hunting in the satellite time – this is geocaching. I notice a pile of rocks before me. That must be it!

4.5.2007

Full Circle - Low Budget

Much like the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, this is not really a guide, rather a whacky story. Hitchhiking in Iceland is not for the impatient, but can nevertheless be a rewarding experience for both the traveller and the unsuspecting locals. With the travel season coming, here’s a how to and how not to, from a traveller that wore out her thumbs on the deserted Icelandic “off season” roads.

4.5.2007

A Day Trip to the South Coast: Seljalandsfoss

4.5.2007

A Day Trip to the South Coast: Skógar

4.5.2007

A Day Trip to the South Coast: Dyrhólaey and Vík í Mýrdal

4.5.2007

A Day Trip to the South Coast: Mt. Hekla

13.4.2007

A Day Trip to Borgarfjörður: Borgarnes

13.4.2007

A Day Trip to Borgarfjörður: Reykholt

13.4.2007

A Day Trip to Borgarfjörður: Borg á Mýrum

13.4.2007

A Day Trip to Borgarfjörður: Barnafoss and Hraunfossar

13.4.2007

The Arty East

8.3.2007

A Day Trip to Snæfellsnes Peninsula

9.2.2007

Exploring the Þingvellir Lava Fields From the Inside Out

9.2.2007

Laugaskarð Swimming Pool

9.2.2007

“As Long as There’s Surf, We Won’t Be Leaving!”

On a chilly January afternoon, a Grapevine journalist and a photographer followed a group of local surfers to Þorlákshöfn, where they jumped into the freezing ocean to ride the large waves breaking right off the rocky coast.

9.2.2007

Icelandic Folklore at Stokkseyri

9.2.2007

Krýsuvík

9.2.2007

Lake Kleifarvatn

12.1.2007

Exploring the Historic Sights of Grettissaga

3.11.2006

Experiencing Aurora Borealis Underwater

6.10.2006

The Lonesome Traveller: Kárahnjúkar

6.10.2006

Trolls and Bubbling Mud Pits

8.9.2006

The Lonesome Traveller: Kjölur

8.9.2006

A Punk Rock Way to Travel

26.8.2006

Things You Should Do in Iceland Before You Die... or Turn 31

26.8.2006

The Lonesome Traveller: Kerlingarfjöll

11.8.2006

The Lonesome Traveller: Hornstrandir

11.8.2006

Dyrhólaey: Jagged Death Plunge or Birdwatcher’s Paradise

28.7.2006

The Grapevine’s Lonesome Traveller

28.7.2006

The Wild, Wild East

14.7.2006

A Great Place for Lobster, Ghosts, Giraffes and Friends of Foo

30.6.2006

A Really Wild Safari to the Brink of Human Endurance, Sort of

30.6.2006

Visiting Viking Trails in the West

16.6.2006

Watching Whales in Action

2.6.2006

Bubbling Water and a Hidden Bathing Spot

19.5.2006

Mind the Menacing Bumblebees

7.4.2006

Jobs, Yes. Women, No.

10.3.2006

A Truly Free Market:

10.2.2006

Akranes

13.1.2006

The Village of Hafnarfjörður

5.12.2005

For Families and Plastic Farm Animals;A Trip to Smáralind Mall

5.12.2005

Blue Lagoon

5.12.2005

More Pleasant Tour than Rugged Safari

7.10.2005

Tales From A Tomb:

After mentioning that I had locked myself out on a balcony and successfully climbed down, my editor immediately booked me a caving trip the next day. Whether it was meant to improve my climbing skills or to put me at a safe distance from any heights, I don’t know. As it turned out, both would prove to be naive concerns compared to the real danger that lingers in the depths of Icelandic caves: utter darkness.

2.10.2005

The Local Specialities of Mývatn

2.10.2005

Blue Ice Doesn’t Say the Half of It:

2.9.2005

Landmannalaugar, Sprengisandur and Akureyri

This is the tale of three happy people who set out on a trip to Landmannalaugar... and ended up in a desert on the Sprengisandur route that crosses the island from south to north and leads you in between glaciers to the most beautiful part of Iceland. The problem: In former times, when people used to ride through this barren landscape as fast as possible in fear of ghosts and outlaws, they often exhausted their horses (hence “sprengi”). Today, the horse is substituted with a car, and its battery is dying of exhaustion, almost as in the olden days. The next hut is 20 kilometres and a few river-crossings north. Will our three anti-heroes die in the wilderness?

19.8.2005

Driving to the East Fjords... and the Ring Road, Once Again

Our trip to Seyðisfjörður to visit the art festival for young people in eastern Iceland, LungA, was planned and organized in a spontaneous style to suit the destination’s creative spirit. In other words we didn’t plan or prepare, but rather just jumped in our little Suzuki Jimny 4x4, most likely the ugliest car in the design history of the automobile industry. This adventurous attitude did cause some incidents later on the trip, such as high blood pressure after eating too many liquorice strings, general frustration over the fact that an iPod battery only lasts 3 hours without a recharge or the few moments of fear and discomfort while waiting for the next gas station somewhere in the middle of nowhere before Höfn.

19.8.2005

A Letter from the Real Iceland: the East Fjörds

19.8.2005

Art Festival for the Young People, Made by the Young People

19.8.2005

“Our Themes Are Not Interesting For Anyone Outside Our Country”:

Popular Czech filmmaker Petr Zelenka met with the Grapevine immediately after winning the International Film Critics Prize at the Moscow Film Festival

5.8.2005

Death Hikes, Berserker Lava Fields, Hag Mountains and Desolated Islands:

Given the heat of the sun and the rate of glacial melt in today’s Arctic, we have about 2 hours to get to Snæfellsnesjökul before it completely evaporates, I tell the driver as we head out to Iceland’s most cherished peninsula in a last second decision to flee the city of Reykjavík and travel on a budget of 8000 ISK for two. We spend 4000 ISK immediately, filling our car with gas, and buying bread, cheese, cappuccino yoghurt, juice and chocolate for our entire trip at Hagkaup in Kringlan on the way out of town.

22.7.2005

Never Enough Time

I used to pride myself on being a well-traveled person in this country, yet in the nearly six years I’ve lived in Iceland, I didn’t get around to visiting one of the most distinct parts of the country, the West Fjörds, until this month. The only thing I knew about the West Fjörds up until then was that the schizophrenic 17th priest Jón Magnússon had his witch burnings there, the people were alleged to have a distinct accent, and that both Mugisson and Eiríkur Norðdahl are from there. Having just returned from the West Fjörd’s capital, Ísafjörður, I’ve come to the conclusion that the whole region is worth repeated explorations.

8.7.2005

Outside Reykjavik: All Tourist Sites Bow to the Power of THE GOLDEN CIRCLE

As George Foreman said about the way the fans turned against him during his great fight against Mohammad Ali: Nobody roots for Goliath. The same is true for a ring of attractions labelled The Golden Circle, which includes one of the world’s most impressive waterfalls, a massive hot spring, and a continental rift/ home to the first parliament in the world. In fact, it is a local joke to ask tourists if they’ve seen and been impressed by the Golden Circle yet.

24.6.2005

Every Square Metre Merits a Photo: Four Days on the Ring Road

24.6.2005

The Floating Sculpture Garden

24.6.2005

Multi-tasking at Hótel Skaftafell

10.6.2005

Come for the Whales; Stay... As Long As You Can

10.6.2005

Look at Me, I’m Rugged

Hvítá is not the first river you’d think of putting a boat on. An extremely powerful glacial river, if you’ve gone to the awe-inspiring waterfall Gullfoss, you recognize the name. So it is surprising that Arctic Rafting runs a moderate tour, at a rating of about 2.3 on a 5 scale, down the river only two hours from Reykjavík.

10.6.2005

Whale Watching in Faxaflói Bay

The Grapevine sent two young foreign residents of Reykjavík on a whale-watching tour of Faxaflói Bay.

27.5.2005

WHERE THERE’S A WILL THERE’S A WAVE

I am a surfer and regular traveller to Iceland and had never realized that possibilities to surf existed here. With 4988 km of coastline in between the North Atlantic and Greenland Sea there is indeed a huge potential but with so much shoreline to explore I would need guidance to the best breaks available. My first port of call in my journey of discovery was to a well-known surfing website, www.wannasurf.com, where lo and behold I discovered four spots in Iceland. A little more research and I came across a surfer who was based in Keflavík as a US Naval Officer; although there no longer, he pointed me in the direction of a local surfer named Georg Hilmarsson “Iceland’s surf guru”. A strange feeling to hear those three words in conjunction together.

27.5.2005

CRADLE OF INSPIRATION

There was festivity and a touch of excitement in the air, in the bus on the way to Reykholt to witness the opening of the first cultural theme hotel in Iceland. Fosshótel Reykholt was reopening after extensive renovations as a cultural theme hotel, based on Icelandic literature, Norse mythology and classical music. This tourist class hotel includes a restaurant, bar, library, TV & Internet lounge, 24-hour front desk service, conference rooms for up to 150 persons and parking. The hotel features 24 spacious rooms with bathtub, 29 rooms with shower and 15 rooms without private facilities.

27.5.2005

Fire, Grease and Beer Breath

6.5.2005

AKUREYRI

6.5.2005

TOURING THE RING ROAD

6.5.2005

RANGÁ for a Night or Weekend

8.4.2005

Mývatn: Bathing

8.4.2005

Mývatn

8.4.2005

Mývatn: Touring

8.4.2005

Travel Tips: Getting to Mývatn

11.3.2005

HRÍSEY: Keepin’ It Real

Hrísey is a small place, even by Icelandic standards. 200 people live on an island measuring approximately 7.5 km by 2.5 km. If you want to experience “Old Iceland,” this is one of the best places to go. After a six hour drive from Reykjavík, me, our graphic designer, one of our photographers, and our publisher arrived at Árskógssandur and took the ferry to what their website (www.hrisey.is) calls “the pearl of Eyjafjörður.”

11.3.2005

“We Are Not theEnemies of the Seal”

Helgi Héðinsson was born in Húsavík in 1928 and still lives there. His ancestors were farmers, and he’s has been fishing and hunting just about everything the sea gives, fish, birds, whale and seal, from 14 years of age. He says that the most common method of hunting the seals was by shooting. In the olden times nets were used. Seal was both eaten and used as bait but in recent years it has mostly been used as shark bait.

11.2.2005

THE WESTMAN ISLANDS: The Atlantic Stopover for Puffins, Pirates and Superstar Killer Whales

The Westman Islands are Iceland’s frontier to the south. The island of Heimaey is the largest populated island off the coast of Iceland, and has a thriving community of almost 5000 people. This manages to support two local papers and even a TV station. It takes half an hour by plane to get there from Reykjavík, or almost three hours with the ferry Herjólfur from Þorlákshöfn on the southern coast. A tunnel is planned to finally end their relative isolation, although a group of enterprising university students suggested a zeppelin might be more economical.

11.2.2005

More Money than You’ll Ever See Again

I am standing outside the Art Museum of Akureyri along with the curator. The northern wind is blowing gently but, being the northern wind and this being just below the Artic Circle, even a gentle breeze makes its presence felt. The curator rings the doorbell, but no one seems to answer. The museum security, due to arrive at 12, is not here yet, so we withdraw to the warm locales of Cafe Karólína and wait for their arrival.

14.1.2005

Sólheimar in Grímsnes:

Situated at the bottom of a narrow gorge amidst hot springs, Sólheimar is home and workplace for 70 villagers, whereof half have special needs. The ideology which the place is based on is rooted in the theories of Rudolf Steiner, an Austrian scientist who developed the Gestalt ideology of anthroposophism (I’m glad we cleared that up –ed). The founder of Sólheimar, Sesselja Sigmundsdóttir, was a follower of Rudolf Steiner and attended his institute in Dornach, Switzerland in the late 1920´s. A visionary, she began the arduous task of building Sólheimar in the summer of 1930.

5.11.2004

Copenhagen for the desperatly poor

“This neighbourhood used to be called ‘Shit Island’,” Laust and Sara tell me. They are a Danish couple I am intrusively asking for directions in the Copenhagen neighbourhood of Amager, and I can’t help but feel even more encouraged to be here.

8.10.2004

Traditional Icelandic Sheep Chaos

Drunken farmers reeling on heavily sweating horses. Sheep that run til they pass out. Young boys holding fast to their horns and being dragged for metres.

3.9.2004

IF YOU LOVE SOMEONE SET THEM FREE

Large shoals of Atlantic salmon have filled the rivers that are to be found around the country’s coastline. The reason they are here is to complete a life cycle that for many starts and finishes in the river. They come from the sea for one reason, and one reason alone: to breed. When they return to fresh water, the salmon stop eating and their body undergoes a change that sees it transform from a feeding machine to a breeding machine, its sole purpose to swim upstream, find a mate and a gravel bed where they can lay and fertilise their eggs. Once they reach the river their only real impediment is man. And herein lies a growing dilemma.

3.9.2004

Dispatches From the Cold Seas - Maps and Dreams of a Changing Arctic

On a hunting trip somewhere in Kaldoaivi Wilderness area, the late great Saami hunter Aslak Uula Aikio recognized an otter that had decided to give itself to him on this occasion. Having skiied for hours, Aikio just knew the place and time where he was to be. The right otter would be there, waiting for him. The use of dreams, spiritual and cultural sensitivity towards nature building on generations of experience of living in a place is quite common among the diverse Arctic societies.

3.9.2004

Mountain Taxicab Confessions: My Tires are Bigger than Yours

It’s not the size of the tires; it’s the motion of the ocean, right? Wrong. If you want to venture off the coast and penetrate deep into Iceland’s virgin interior, you’ll need big tires. Unfortunately, most Icelandic jalopies can hardly make it up Öskjuhlíðin, let alone a glacier, but there are a number of local outfitters who are ready and willing to take you farther than you’ve ever gone before. Grapevine took a trip with one of the more popular outfitters, Mountain Taxi, to see if the grass really is greener on the other side of glacier.

20.8.2004

A MINISTER PLEASE

The Head of Tourism gave some good news the other day. Visitors to the country had increased by 13% from last year. Nearly 300,000 tourists will have chosen Iceland as their holiday of choice. At first glance the words “so what?” might spring to mind, but when the fact that the figure is roughly equal to the actual population of the country itself, then indeed it is an impressive achievement. And what´s encouraging, is that trend is look set to continue with the total doubling over the next ten years.

20.8.2004

Geysir: The Resurrection

If you cast your mind back to your dim and distant childhood (or in my case last Saturday afternoon), you may remember a popular cartoon character called Yogi Bear. Along with his faithful sidekick, the cheerful if verbose Booboo, Yogi eked out a comfortable existence pilfering picnic baskets from unsuspecting tourists. I guess you could say it was his life’s work.

20.8.2004

POLAR OPPOSITES

The nature-culture collision in Iceland is unique. In its apparent incongruity it steams and hisses with all the crackling frisson of hot iron plunged into water, in a way entirely consistent with the general confluence of opposites that defines this country from head to toe. From the still nascent ground beneath your feet, to the lurching seasonal contradictions of extreme light and shade, and the extremities of paradox that together constitute the Icelanders´ inimitable lifestyle, this is a country suffused with polarity and contradicition.

20.8.2004

Borgarnes: Dead bald guys and a surprise appearance by Bush

Borgarnes is steeped in Egilssaga lore. According to the saga, Skalla-Grímur, Egil´s father, let his father Kveldúlfur´s coffin float to land, as Kveldúlfur had said that wherever the coffin came ashore, Skalla-Grímur was to make his home. That sure beats Ingólfur and his sissy seat posts in shopping for land. In Borgarnes today you can find Skalla-Grímur park, set up in 1930 to commemorate the events of the saga

6.8.2004

Stykkishólmur after dark

“Are you Icelandic?” asks a man as I stand outside Narfeyrarstofa bar in Stykkishólmur up on Snæfellsnes, wondering whether to go in. “Yes,” I replied. He looks at me disappointed. “And I was so hoping to speak English,” he says and walks away. No one can accuse the people of Stykkishólmur of not being friendly to foreigners. And it´s been moving a lot closer to Reykjavík recently. In 1980 a bridge was built over Borgarfjörður, connecting that peninsula with this one. In 1998, a tunnel was opened under Hvalfjörður, meaning that Stykkishólmur is now a mere two hour drive away from Reykjavík.

6.8.2004

BREIÐAFJÖRÐUR: THE ICELANDIC MEDITERRANEAN?

Breiðafjörður means literally “wide fjord.” It was said that there were too many islands in the fjord to count, but modern science has revealed these to be about 2800. People have lived on the islands since Iceland was settled. At its height in the early 18th century, some 70 islands were settled and islanders owned a total of 140 ships and boats. One historian has even likened the area to an “Icelandic Mediterranean.” The last permanent residents moved away more than 20 years ago, but the islands are still used for summer houses. It may not be a watery highway anymore, but there is still traffic there. The ferry Baldur operates between Stykkishólmur and Brjánslækur on the West Fjords. And the company Sæferðir operates cruises on the fjord with its two catamarans, the ms Særún and the ms Brimrún.

6.8.2004

The Patented Icelandic Underwater Massage

The afternoon I spent at the Blue Lagoon was similar to what I imagine it to be like on the deck of a ship in a squall. Winds, which can only be described as gale-force, slapped at my face and I feared for my eardrums as they were blasted with surf. It was exciting and only slightly annoying.

6.8.2004

LIFE BEYOND GULLFOSS

From Hvoll, it takes about an hour and a half to drive to Jökulsárlón, the glacial lagoon and a good point to turn around and begin the drive back to Reykjavík, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Venturing out further into the sands from Hvoll you’ll find long, single-lane bridges spanning a number of glacial rivers. The landscape here is rather lunar, and the bridges are something straight out of a 1930s sci-fi flick; if you drive down them fast enough, you’re liable to take off.

23.7.2004

THE FAROE ISLANDS FROM QUAINT TO COOL

Coming to the Faroe Islands reminds you of Iceland before the fall. Before baseball caps. Before pizza deliveries. Before FM hnakkar. When people had less and appreciated more. To experience the real Iceland, perhaps that´s where you need to go.

23.7.2004

THE MUSK OX: NOT AS STUPID AS IT SEEMS?

I got off the plane in Kangerlussuaq, Greenland, and lit a cigarette. A woman immediately came over and told me in a heavy Danish accent that smoking was not permitted. At least we weren´t that far from civilisation. For anyone who´s ever promised to love each other till the end of the world, Kangerlussuaq is as good a place as any to call it quits. There´s something unreal about everything this far north. Perhaps it’s the lighting. Even though it was past midnight, it was still bright as day. I should be used to that by now, but somehow it seems even more apparent up here. I wondered if this was how travellers coming to Iceland for the first time viewed it.

23.7.2004

Westman’s Your Man

For almost two years now I have blighted this fiery island with my presence. For nearly as long every Tom, Dick and Þorsteinn has been asking me this recurring question: “Have you been to the Westman Islands yet? What! You haven’t made it out there yet? Man, you don’t know what you are missing!” Well, I already live on a small remote island. Why go to a smaller and more remote one? But, tired of fending off incredulous and indignant Icelanders, I retrieved my tent from the attic, borrowed a sleeping bag and headed off to see what all the fuss was about.

23.7.2004

LIFE BEYOND GULLFOSS

For most travellers, the southern coast of Iceland ends after their whirlwind tour of Gullfoss, Geysir, and Þingvellir. However, pushing past Selfoss on route offers one a wealth of unusual landscapes and natural peculiarities. The area can be well explored in two days (one day out and one day back to Reykjavík) with plenty of time at any site that catches your eye. This is dominated by the Vatnajökull glacier (Europe’s largest) and almost all the curious land formations are in some way a result of this icy beast. While this area is far less frequented than the area of the coast closer to Reykjavík, accommodations and other necessities become few and far between. Make reservations and, most importantly, gas up when and where you can. A good place to start is at the pink gas station as you come into Selfoss. It’s probably the cheapest on the southern coast right now.

9.7.2004

ON THE RIVERBANK WITH BUBBI

It’s the car you notice first. So many millions of kronur’s worth of tinted windowed, metallic grey, whispering-wheeled Range Rover. Then out jumps the driver, dressed from top to toe in an equally impressive several hundred thousand kronur’s worth of Simm’s, metallic grey waders and wrap-around shades. We are on the banks of one of the country’s most exclusive salmon rivers with Bubbi Morthens.

9.7.2004

SEARCHING FOR SHANNON ELIZABETH

You need more Americans here. It is a sunny but windy and cold day, and Höddi the photographer and I are walking down the center of a fairway in Hafnarfjörður. We’ve been searching for Shannon Elizabeth - best known for appearing nude in American pie - for an hour. All we’ve found is a bunch of fat and lethargic American men in their mid-thirties.

25.6.2004

GET YER KICKS ON ROUTE ONE

The innate need for Icelanders to conquer the world around them has decreased dramatically over the past 1000 years, but the tendency does still surface from time to time. While looting and pillaging are at an all time low, this wanderlust is now sated by taking to the open road and venturing out into Iceland’s stunning wilderness - along with every electric doodad meant to bring all the comforts of the indoors to the outdoors: multi-roomed, vaulted-ceilinged tents; six-burner gas grills and mobile entertainment centers. Camping has become keeping up with the Jónssons, a veritable world fair of gadgetry specifically designed to eradicate any and all traces of being out in nature. However, there is a subtle charm to camping on a shoestring budget that is not lost on all campers here. A lot of tourists and young people have the right idea. Some even brave the elements and spread out their sleeping bags on Iceland’s posturepedic-like moss.

25.6.2004

The West Meets Ice

The first time I mounted an Icelandic horse, I noticed something was missing. The saddle lacked the horn familiar to my experience riding horses as a child on my grandfather’s farm in northern Minnesota. The horn is originally designed for roping calves in true cowboy fashion, but I would use it to stay on the horse.

11.6.2004

STICK PINS IN THEIR FEET AND SLAP THEM ON THE CHEEK

I cut across the adhesive tape, only to discover that there were staples underneath which held the box firmly shut. I eventually got it open and proudly displayed the skeleton that was hiding inside.

11.6.2004

Geysir

Iceland is often accused of having been dealt a poor hand by whoever it was who handed out nature’s goodies all those years ago. No oil, no mineral wealth, no forests, no sun. This was a country that seemed to be sucking on the hind-teat of Genesis, a place destined to receive Mother Nature’s nul-points for life.

28.5.2004

Travel

Articles in Traveling on your own: