Iceland Day Five

We’ve arrived at our last day in the Land of Fire and Ice, but we won’t be saying goodbye just yet. We were gifted a gorgeous day to wander around and catch some last views and vistas of this extraordinary place.

We had been thoroughly enjoying (horking down) the included hotel buffet breakfast during our stay. On this day, we decided to go a bit lighter on the gratis meal and save some room for some sweets at a local bakery which we had passed several times during the week.

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We took our time enjoying our treats and coffee. It was at this point that the reality was setting in that the end was nigh. Let’s not think about it. How about a walk then?

Statuary and art is dotted all around the city of Reykjavik. You may recall that I highlighted some murals in my first installment. This piece is right by the fishing docks at the Harbor.

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A little further down you’ll find an iconic piece of art “The Sun Voyager”. This striking landmark was created by Icelandic sculptor Jon Gunnar Arnason to celebrate Reykjavik‘s 200 year anniversary.

None of us had yet done any sort of souvenir shopping. Deb was on the hunt for an authentic Icelandic sweater. We dipped in to a few shops and found our treasures in this place.

Deb found the perfect sweater. I don’t have a picture of her modeling it so I’ll use this one from the internet.

This next statue we happened upon is called “Vatnsberinn” (“The Water Carrier”) by sculptor Ásmundur Sveinsson.

This one sparked heated debates back in 1937 when it was first installed. It was meant to represent the hardships of the public at the turn of the century. People called it ugly and weird and said it was not considered beautiful enough to be placed in the heart of the capital, so it was relegated to the far reaches of the city…until 2011 when it finally arrived to the location originally reserved for it, on the corner of Bankastraeti and Laekjargata in central Reykjavík. I had no horse in this race but, finally, justice!

We’ve ended the cultural portion of this tour, now on to the culinary. I did no research on what the “must try ” foods are in Iceland, but we inadvertently happened upon most everything on the top ten list I looked up for this here blog. We had the Skyr, the Rye Bread cooked in a hot spring, Rancid Shark… all the hits! What I wouldn’t have ever guessed was an essential Icelandic food would be the Hot Dog.

Hot dogs are so ubiquitous and beloved in Iceland, they’re practically the national dish. They’re sold at every gas station and most convenience stores, at hot dog stands inside malls and at ferry landings, and even at the airport, but the most popular place to get one is in Reykjavik at Bæjarins Beztu Pylsur.

It’s been open in all sorts weather and crazy storms every single day of the year for almost 85 years!

It comes highly recommended that you get your dog with everything. That’s raw white onions, crispy fried onions, ketchup, sweet brown mustard called pylsusinnep, and remoulade. If you want to amuse the person behind the counter you may attempt the Icelandic for “everything” “ein með öllu” . Good luck.

I mentioned at the start of this blog that we were traveling during the Pandemic. I believe that this place was the perfect destination to get some perspective. The unofficial motto here is ‘Þetta Reddast‘ (pronounced thet-ta re-dust, if you care to try). This phrase roughly translates to the idea that everything will work out all right in the end.

This would make sense in some tropical, trouble free paradise, but this is freakin’ Iceland, a place of constant uncertainty. A small, isolated island with perpetual threats of erupting volcanoes, avalanches and brutally unforgiving weather. The country sits on the rift between the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates, and those plates are slowly moving apart, widening Iceland by about 3cm per year and causing an average of 500 small earthquakes every week.

One would think that anxiety would rule the people here, but it doesn’t. One of our guides said as much. To paraphrase “There are a lot scary unknowns here, but just look around. We enjoy the beauty of this place everyday and we are just thankful to be here.”.