Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
1
Reykjavík
The world's most northerly capital, Reykjavík has a sense of space and calm
that comes as a breath of fresh air to travellers accustomed to the bustle of
the tra c-clogged streets in Europe's other major cities. Although small for a
capital (the population is barely 120,000), Reykjavík is a throbbing urban
metropolis compared with Iceland's other built-up areas; the Greater
Reykjavík area is home to two out of every three Icelanders. If you're
planning to visit some of the country's more remote and isolated regions,
you should make the most of the atmosphere generated by this bustling
port, with its highbrow museums and buzzing nightlife. But while it's true
that Friday and Saturday nightlife has earned Reykjavík a reputation for
hedonistic revelry, with locals carousing for as long as the summer nights
allow, the pace of life is in fact sedate.
Split roughly into two halves by the brilliant waters of the large, naturally occurring
Tjörnin lake, the tiny city centre is more a place to amble around and take in the
suburban-looking streets and corner cafés than somewhere to hurtle through between
attractions. Reykjavík lacks the grand and imposing buildings found in other Nordic
capitals, possessing instead an apparently ramshackle clusters of houses, either clad in
garishly painted corrugated iron or daubed in pebbledash as protection against the
ferocious North Atlantic storms of winter. This rather unkempt feel, though, is as
much part of the city's charm as the views across the sea to glaciers and the sheer
mountains that form the backdrop to the streets. Even in the heart of this capital,
nature is always in evidence - there can be few other cities in the world, for example,
where greylag geese regularly overfly the busy centre, sending bemused visitors, more
accustomed to diminutive pigeons, scurrying for cover.
Amid the essentially residential city centre, it is the Hallgrímskirkja , a gargantuan
white concrete church towering over the surrounding houses, that is the most enduring
image of Reykjavík. Below this, the elegant shops and stylish bars and restaurants that
line the main street and commercial thoroughfare of Laugavegur are a consumer's
heaven. The central core of streets around Laugavegur is where the capital's most
engaging museums are also to be found, containing, among other things, superb
collections of the medieval sagas. The displays in the Þjóðminjasafn (National
Museum), Þjóðmenningarhúsið (Culture House ) and Saga Museum , for example, offer
a fine introduction to Iceland's stirring past, while you'll find the outstanding work of
sculptors Ásmundur Sveinsson and Einar Jónsson outdoors in the streets and parks, as
well as in two permanent exhibitions.
With time to spare, it's worth venturing outside the city limits into Greater Reykjavík ,
for a taste of the Icelandic provinces - suburban style. Although predominantly an area
Excursions from Reykjavík p.52
Icelandic people power p.56
Icelandic pop art p.59
Magnusson's manuscripts p.65
Cold War hotspot p.70
The Reykjavík Welcome Card p.72
Top 5 places to stay p.74
Top 5 places to eat p.76
Wrecked in Reykjavík p.78
Swimming in Reykjavík p.80
Mount Esja p.82
The hidden people p.84
Traditional Viking fare: Þorrablót p.85
The Viðey rescue p.86
 
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