Summer stop
The capital city of Reykjavik, in the
summer, is an ocean playground.
It is a walk in the park. The world’s
most northerly capital is a city of
gardens, and the air smells of lilac
and honeysuckle. Visitors would be
forgiven if they thought they were
imagining this, perhaps under the
influence of midnight-sun sleep
deprivation. But the place is festooned
in fragrant colour, reminding those
of us who were schooled in the lore
of the Vikings as school kids that
“Greenland is ice / Iceland is green”.
As you make your way past the
city hall to the national museum along
little Lake Tjörnin, for instance, or
stroll through the city’s outstanding
botanic gardens next to the zoo, you
can’t help but think how true that old
saying is. How sublimely true. Iceland
smells
green
. And it is green in more
ways than one. Homes are heated by
renewable geothermal energy and,
for a time (before the 2008 economic
meltdown) the city had hydrogen-
powered public transit.
Egalitarianism is reinforced in
one of the country’s most beloved
traditions, a daily dip in the
neighbourhood geo-thermally heated
outdoor pool. The price can’t be beat,
at around 600 krónur for adults (about
HK$30) and much less for children.
In a country where swimming is the
national sport, the pool rules are strict:
first-timers are given a card on entry
showing you (and telling you in five
languages) that you must shower, and
where you must soap yourself down
before entering the pool. You must be
naked when doing this, and you must
use the industrial-sized phosphate-
free-soap dispensers. You must wash
your hairy parts well. There is a
shower-room official on hand, whose
office is right there (it may or may not
have a glass window) and if you are
not doing a good enough job she will
come out and set you straight. Then
you can get your kit back on and run
out to enjoy a swim.
Or, you might choose a soak in a
shallow pool (where everyone is lying
down) or a sit shoulder-to-shoulder
in one of four hotpots, ranging in
temperature from 36 to 44 degrees
Celsius. All the guidebooks will tell
you that if you want to meet a real
Icelander, then this is the place to be.
There are seven swimming pools in
Reykjavik alone, Árbæjarlaug was our
favourite, in the western suburb of
Árbær with its lovely woodsy setting,
while Laugardalslaug is the largest
and best-known, located in Reykjavik’s
main park Laugardalur, which is as
wonderful as New York City’s iconic
Central Park.
Continental journey
We also walked from North America
to Europe. Yes, it’s true. The study of
tectonic plate movement will likely
be on your child’s curriculum, if they
haven’t already studied it, and Iceland
is a great place to see Pangaea in
action. There are two main bus-tour
companies, and both offer a Golden
Circle Tour, taking you to Geysir,
(the Icelandic language graciously
loaned this word to the English) to
see bubbling mudpots, and several
steamy vents exploding every few
minutes. A few miles down the road is
Gullfoss waterfall, roaring and misting
ferociously. On the return leg you pass
through Thingvellir National Park, a
UNESCO World Heritage Site. This
is the place where the Mid-Atlantic
Ridge is above ground, and your guide
will invite you to take a ten-minute
walk from the North American Plate
to the Eurasian Plate, hence, North
America to Europe. Corny, but cool!
January 2014
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