Storyline: Filling the gaps
It feels like ages ago. And it was possibly not the best time weatherwise to visit that absolutely stunning country, but I’d recommend it to any casual music lover. Rain or shine, it was one of the happiest/hippiest weeks in my life. In 2014, I surprised Alex for his birthday with the “Iceland Airwaves” music festival package.
It is an annual international festival that spans over a week at the beginning of November. They offer packages and I am not sure how I even ran into it, but with all events included, a week in a hotel with breakfast included and the airfare: it seemed too good to be missed.
I remember throwing in the Blue Lagoon stop before arrival at the hotel. The package from Icelandair included a shuttle to the Lagoon, the passes for the Lagoon and a sauna that we didn’t use, and shuttle from the Lagoon to the hotel.
The price pre-booked from North America was actually good. But it made no sense to buy it at an inflated price once there. It seemed like the right thing to do since out flight arrived at Keflavik International Airport at 6:30am and check in-time at the hotels was at 4pm.
The Blue Lagoon, although interesting, was a tourist trap if you ask me. Overrated and overpriced (if tickets were bought there). We spent some time soaking in the geothermal pool, then walking around and having an uber-expensive meal at the buffet.
Alex enjoyed it more than I, because he tolerates cold air (it was 4°C when not in the water).
The shuttle took us to our hotel, a block away from the ocean. We had a room with water view (binoculars not included – A).
Harpa, the major concert hall which had opened just a few years earlier in 2011, was within walking distance (on the shoreline) from our hotel. The music events, however, were all over the city.
After check-in and obtaining our Airways passes at Harpa, we decided to dine in a nearby restaurant named Höfnin (Harbour in English).
Our table was about 5 metres from the water with stunning views. We’d become accustomed lately to sharing one starter and one main course when dining out, and they were fine with that there. In fact, instead of just giving us an empty plate, they actually split the portions and presented them each very nicely.
The mushroom soup was so full of flavour that we both said it was the best we’d ever had and it just got better from there. Arctic char with potato puree, cauliflower puree and garnishes that brought every bite to life. We enjoyed it so much that we ordered desert. Chocolate cake (warm!) white chocolate mousse with sprigs of tarragon, and licorice ice cream that tasted of real licorice rather than anise. Mmmm.
And since I am on the subject of food: we loved all Icelandic food. Never expected it to be so tasty and flavourful. It is the fresh herbs and the freshness of all locally grown produce (in hothouses heated by their geothermal water), variety of salts and minerals and water. Yes, we tried it all, smoked puffin and fermented shark included – small bites in tapas places or other restaurants offering Icelandic food.
Icelandic beer is simply great and way cheaper than imported wine and liquor. In general, we are wine people, but went for beer there and enjoyed it a lot. And of course, we had to try their schnapps (called Brennevin) – a perfect pairing to fermented shark (a survival staple from the past that is served in a sealed mason jar that emits a strong odour of ammonia when opened), but also a great aperitif on its own. We brought some home and over 6 years later there are still a few valuable drops in hoarded the bottle.
The main music events were in late afternoon and evenings, so we had plenty of time to walk through the city.
We walked to every corner of it. We went up the hills to Perlan, a futuristic glass-domed restaurant and museum, which offered great views of the city;
trying to hide from the rain, we ran under a covered entryway to a building that turned out to house the Canadian embassy – had a nice chat with a man who stopped to say hello and introduced himself as Stewart Wheeler, the Canadian Ambassador; visited Hallgrimskirkja cathedral, a few museums, including the unique Icelandic Phallological Museum. Reykjavik is fun despite the blasting winds (over 80km/h) that forced me to hold tightly to Alex, and constant rain.
Icelanders say that there is no bad weather, just bad clothing. So, if I look like a puffy penguin in the photos, this is because I usually had on 6 layers (and a 7th in the backpack). Alex only reached 3 but the Icelandic sweater that his mom had knitted 30 yrs. before counted for 3.
Regardless the weather, the patios of pubs and restaurants were open and full of locals and Airwaves patrons, often wrapped in blankets provided by the restaurants.
I actually bought a few nice handmade wool sweaters and hats from their flea market on day one. They served me well during the rest of the trip.
On our first full day we stopped at a few off-venue music events in pubs and cafes and after another delicious dinner (did I say Icelandic beer is really good!) headed to the Harpa, the main venue, in the evening.
Harpa is a beautiful structure containing a conference centre and the aforementioned concert hall that is home to the Icelandic Symphony among others.
The concert hall is dramatic, being dressed in fiery reds and laval black. This design evokes the 
volcanic activity that is ever-present in this country that sits atop the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, where the Eurasian and American tectonic plates meet.
On the various floors, meeting and events rooms hosted a large variety of musical and multi-media acts. We listened to a few good, some weird and some interesting singers/artists, etc. Then made the mistake of leaving the floor of the 2 rooms we were interested in, just to come back to a huge line-up on the stairs.
Most of the venues were first-come first-served, except two for which one had to get tickets with one’s wrist band.
One was The Iceland Symphony Orchestra and the other one was the closing event with popular among the younger generation “The War on Drugs” and “Flaming Lips”. During the first concert evening we thought we’d win the “Oldest hipsters” award if such were given, however next morning we went to line up for our tickets for the symphony @ 9:30AM (tickets were given @ noon) and found that there were many people of our generation already sitting at the tables and chatting.
The older crowd was the first in line, then the youngsters start arriving. There were about 8,000 people at this event and about 200 bands and artists from different corners of the world.
Thus far the weather was not favourable for Aurora Borealis, and the symphony was the following night, so we were split between – should we line up and get tickets for Sunday night’s closing event (which is included in our package price subject to ticket availability) or should we assume that there would be favorable weather and go chase the lights. As far as I remember we managed both.
Iceland has the most amazing tourist industry and is exceptionally well organized and effective. Weather: Sunny with blasting and howling winds next morning.
We chatted with the girls at reception and booked a morning tour (10am) with the 3 most popular sights on the Golden Circle: Þingvellir (Thingvellir National Park), Geysir geothermal area & Gullfoss waterfall.
We were picked up by minibus in front of the hotel and driven to the central bus station where we transferred to a roomy and comfortable highway coach.
Alex:
Þhingvellir (thing-fet-lir) rift valley is a national park, about 40 km northeast Reykjavík. It is of historical, cultural, and geological significance, having been the seat of Iceland’s parliament between 930CE and 1798 CE.
The rift valley marks the crest of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge and the boundary between the North 
American and Eurasian tectonic plates. These plates are slowly separating, causing the island to grow a few centimetres a year.
Geysir is a large geyser (you have three guesses where we get this word from, and the first two don’t count) that was known to regularly spew boiling water up to 70 metres (230 feet) high. There are many more small geysers on in the area surrounding Geysir, and we made do with watching some of these as Geysir hadn’t spouted for several years before our visit. We were told that many people had thrown things into the pool over the years and this may have caused the geyser to stop spouting. Sad, really.
Our last stop was to Gulfoss. In Icelandic a “Foss” is a waterfall. While it had been windy all day, it was howling when we hopped off the bus at the Gulfoss visitor’s centre. The fall itself was several hundred metres upstream and upwind. It could be viewed from two main levels – the plain on which we were parked and a lookout reached by descending a series of stairs from where a trail led closer to the falls. It also looked possible to get onto the rocks and down to the river, but that would have been suicidal given the freezing and windy conditions.
Spray from the falls was being picked up and accelerated horizontally directly towards us, and was freezing on its way. It felt like horizontal hail. But the sights were stunning, and worth another visit in better weather.
After fighting the wind for a few hours (I could hardly walk alone and was almost blown away at the waterfall) back at 4PM in the afternoon we decided to book the Northern Lights tour for 7:30PM. All done. One books the tours through each and every hotel or hostel, you are picked up from the hotel for any tour, and dropped off at the end. There was no such thing as limited places – if needed, more buses were provided. And so, it was Aurora night. We started at 7PM. We were first driven to where we were earlier that day.
We wandered around in the dark, cold and windy but no aurora was showing…. After about an hour most of us gave up and went back in the bus to thaw. The guide told us that the air was dusty with lots of pollution from a volcano. As we were ready to head back, the tour guide received a call that there was a better place a short distance away. We drove 15 km where the sky was clearer. Went out and after a while, there it was: an arc of Northern Lights! It wasn’t strong but we saw it… Frozen and bored after a while most of us boarded the bus. We were counted, given instructions and again as the driver stared the engine a call came through that there were lights right above us. We all ran out and YES! There they were, dancing and moving in all shapes…. This time they were real! We stayed for another hour, most of us absolutely frozen (even Alex, who rarely freezes). Deposited at the hotel after 11PM, long after the scheduled return. Did I say they have smart tourism? If one had booked an “Aurora Borealis” trip and didn’t see any, the ticket was valid for a year. You could return as many times as you wish and use the same ticket until you see the lights. There was a couple in our bus, don’t remember from where, but it was their third attempt.
Another interesting memory I carry form Reykjavik were the cyclists. Yes, they bike come hell or high water, or in this case 80km headwinds at 0°C. Bike paths separated from the roads; however, if there were no bike lanes the cyclists share the sidewalks with the pedestrians, not the road with the cars. Makes sense to me.
We managed to visit all major venues and see most of the events we wanted to. We even managed to see the lights! We loved Reykjavik and the rainy/windy weather didn’t bother us. It also helped that all the Icelanders we met had been cheerful, helpful and welcoming.
We’d love to go back someday during the summer, although it won’t be much warmer even then. We’d want to drive around the entire island, but for that we’d have to rent a campervan because there is no regular shipping service between Canada and Iceland as there is between Halifax and various European ports. There are some ferries from Norway or Denmark to Iceland, but we have to return to Europe when already halfway across the Atlantic. And of course, there are so many other places to visit in our short window of life and health. Time will tell.
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