Michael Powell's Blog, page 102
October 9, 2013
The Kjölur Interior Road
Rent A Car For Your F-Road Adventure Here
After our successful completion of the Introduction to Highland Driving course, provided by the Kaldidalur road between Húsafell and Þingvellir, we felt confident enough on the very next day to tackle level two: Kjölur. Route F35, between Gullfoss and Blönduós.
The drive started out without any major drama. “If anything, this is easier than Kaldidalur”, I semi-shouted at Jürgen over the music we had blasting from the stereo. Björk grunting something abo...
The Kaldidalur Interior Route
For 60 kilometers between the Hvitá valley resort of Húsafell and the Þingvellir National Park, the bumpy Kaldidalur (Cold Road) cuts between glaciers and across lava fields. It takes about two hours to traverse, and acts as a kind of beginners course to the country’s highlands.
We tackled Kaldidalur after having visited the Glymur waterfall at Hvalfjörður. The weather had been pleasant enough by Icelandic standards, but took a turn for the worse almost as soon as we started the journey to Þin...
October 8, 2013
Glymur – Iceland’s Higest Waterfall
For a rewarding day trip out of Reykjavík, it’s hard to do better than a trip to Iceland’s highest waterfall, Glymur. Found at the end of Hvalfjörður (Whale Fjord), Glymur is hidden within a canyon, and an hour’s hike is required before it comes into view. But the walk is gorgeous, and the waterfall itself completely worth the effort.
We hadn’t heard a lot about Glymur during our time in Iceland, so I was surprised to learn that it was once one of the country’s most popular sights. But that wa...
Listasafn Íslands: The National Gallery
Found right downtown, across from the Tjörnin lagoon and next to the Free Lutheran Church, the Listasafn Íslands is stationed in a former freezing plant. Why not? What could make a better center for Icelandic art than a centrally-located ice house?
Given the country’s rich cultural history, the museum was far smaller than I had expected. There are three floors, but each has just a single room. One dedicated to the permanent collection, and another two to rotating exhibitions. Even though we we...
The Hellisheiði Power Station
Just outside of the hot spring haven of Hveragerði is the Hellisheiði geothermal power station. If you want to visit, don’t worry about accidentally driving by. This is the world’s largest geothermal plant, spouting giant columns of steam high into the atmosphere, and it’s unmistakable.
The plant was completed in 2006, just before the financial crash, and Iceland was still filthy rich. So, no expense was spared: Hellisheiði is state of the art, and beautiful to look at. As a fan of industrial...
October 7, 2013
The Hot Spring Town of Hveragerði
Precariously situated in the middle of an active geothermal area southeast of Reykjavík, Hveragerði makes for an easy excursion from the capital. During our visit, we would explore hot springs, eat an geothermally-cooked egg and treat our feet to a therapeutic mud bath.
Nowhere else in Iceland is geothermal power so intricately connected to everyday life, as in Hveragerði. Here, you can visit geothermal bakeries, eat bread fresh from geothermal ovens, buy vegetables in geothermal greenhouses,...
October 4, 2013
Þjóðminjasafn Íslands – The National Museum
Here’s a little known fact. If you can correctly pronounce the name of Iceland’s National Museum, you automatically win Icelandic citizenship. Absolutely true. The immense Þjóðminjasafn (that’s thyoth-min-ya-safin, if you feel like practicing) takes visitors on an exhausting chronological tour through Icelandic history. If you want to learn about the country, and can only visit a single museum, this is the clear choice.
The museum’s permanent exhibition, spread across two massive floors, is ca...
Harpa – Iceland’s Opera House
An asymmetrical glass building on Reykjavík’s harbor, Harpa most resembles a shimmering iceberg, crashed onto the shore. Since opening in 2010, this outstanding opera and concert hall has won prominent architectural awards, welcomed over two million visitors and become one of the city’s most recognizable landmarks.
One stormy afternoon, we took a guided tour of Harpa, which introduced us to the building’s design elements. With three concert venues, ample space for conferences, a restaurant and...
October 3, 2013
Hafnarfjörður
By bus, Hafnarfjörður is only about fifteen minutes away from our apartment, but it took us over two months to finally get around to visiting. The once proudly independent town is now little more than a suburb of Reykjavík, and though it doesn’t rank high on the tourism radar, Hafnarfjörður has fought to retain a history and identity of its own.
Hafnarfjörður’s main claim to fame is its incredible natural harbor; in fact the name means “Harbor Fjord”. Since the days of the settlement, this has...
October 1, 2013
The Settlement Center in Borgarnes
The town of Borgarnes, about an hour north of Reykjavík on the ring road, is a habitual stopping point for buses. So although we’d been here many times, we hadn’t seen anything except the inside of the gas station’s bathroom. Turns out, there are better places to spend time in Borgarnes, such as the wonderful Landnámssetur Íslands: The Settlement Center of Iceland.
Who could have suspected that the best museum we had yet visited in Iceland would be found in tiny Borgarnes? The Settlement Cente...
