We recently took an extended trip to Iceland and Greenland. We spent August 10-15 in Iceland and August 15-22 in Greenland with Natural Habitat Adventures. We followed that with an August 23 through September 5 self-drive tour of the Ring Road and West Fjords. Nordic Visitor booked our accommodations and advised on places to visit. Both tour groups are highly recommended.
15 August, 25 August, and 5 September 2025
As with all things Iceland, we started and ended in Reykjavik. (Strictly speaking, we started at the airport in Keflavik, 45 minutes distant from Reykjavik.) We had a total of three days to walk around central Reykjavik. Here are some highlights.
 |
| The exterior of Harpa, a theater/concert complex is composed of hexagonal windows meant to imitate basalt columns. |
 |
| Next door is a bank headquarters that makes use of real basalt for exterior cladding. |
 |
| We went to a "Midday Music" concert at Harpa. It's a small performance with both audience and performers on the stage. The full concert hall is meant to invoke the idea of incandescent lava. |
 |
| Inside the main atrium of Harpa. |
 |
| Hallsgrimkirkja is the cathedral in Reykjavik. The concrete structure again embraces the basalt theme. A statue to Leif Erickson is in front of the cathedral - gift from America to commemorate the 1000th anniversary of the founding of Iceland's Althing (parliament). |
 |
| We were in Reykjavik for "Culture Day" with cultural performances throughout the capital - and the annual Reykjavik marathon. This had the downtown area completely shut down, so we had to carry our luggage about 4 blocks to get to our hotel. We attended choral and organ concerts at the cathedral. |
 |
| Iceland loves to knit! Icelandic wool is renown for its warmth and durability. "Lopapeysa" (literally, "yarn sweater") is a hand-knit sweater with a traditional Icelandic yoke design. If it's a real lopapeysa, it usually has information about the knitter on the tag. There's even an official "Handknitting Association of Iceland" with stores in Reykjavik. |
 |
| The stores sell Icelandic wool yarn as well as finished goods. |
No comments:
Post a Comment