We also stood at the birthplace
of democracy. The Vikings called it
“Althing” and still do, although now
it is housed in a rather unassuming
wooden parliament building in
downtown Reykjavik. But the original
place, where the people of Iceland
first met in 930 to discuss policy and
vote on legislation, is also located at
Thingvellir National Park – with those
above-mentioned tectonic plates as a
backdrop.
Iceland is, arguably, the world’s
oldest democracy, and is still showing
the rest of the world how it is done:
According to Wikipedia, “Vigdís
Finnbogadóttir served as the fourth
President of Iceland from 1980 to
1996. In addition to being both
Iceland and Europe’s first female
president, she was the world’s first
democratically elected female head of
state. With a presidency of exactly 16
years, she also remains the longest-
serving elected female head of state
of any country to date.” And in 2009,
Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir became the
first openly gay person in the world to
be elected head of government.
Amazing adventures
We considered eating a puffin, but
opted to go puffin-watching instead.
Yes, you can partake of puffin, shark
or whale (or all three) as contentious
as it may be. Puffins are not yet on
any endangered list and are still
regularly harvested by Iceland’s rural
folk, who
are
becoming endangered,
as Iceland becomes increasingly
urbanised. We perused the menu at
the iconic Lækjarbrekka Restaurant
on Bankastræti, Reykjavik’s main
drag. Look at the menu online and
you’ll see: fermented shark, hot-
smoked puffin with crowberries and
seaweed crisp, birch-glazed minke
whale, wind-dried fish, cognac-cured
horse and skyr (an Icelandic form of
yoghurt) mousse! If you like to travel
to explore new things and understand
what Mother Earth has to offer
gastronomically-speaking, you cannot
deny that THAT is a menu worth
travelling across the planet for!
We stayed for a month and our
long summer days were jam-packed.
We swam in the Blue Lagoon,
smearing our faces with white silica
mud. We visited the self-described
world’s first sustainable eco-village,
Sólheimar, where sustainability is,
first and foremost, about people.
Integrating people with special
needs is the founding concept of the
community of over 100, who are
employed in their own hydroponic
greenhouses, as well as at the organic
cafe and gift shop. We played golf
under the midnight sun. We sat at
the desk of Iceland’s Nobel Laureate
Halldór Laxness (1955, for literature)
at his home/museum. We toured the
Nesjavellir Geothermal Power Station.
We sat-in during a peaceful protest
against plans for a new aluminium
smelting plant (raw bauxite is shipped
in from as far away as Australia to
feed Iceland’s smelters!). We rode tiny
purebred Icelandic horses, unchanged
since the time of the Vikings. At the
quaint town of Stykkishólmur, we
visited the Library of Water. And we
drank water straight from the tap.
At Thórsmörk, we got close
to that famous volcano with a
nearly unpronounceable name –
Eyjafjallajökull – which, in 2010,
caused the largest air-traffic shut-
down since World War II. We slept
in tiny wooden huts where the heat
cut out at midnight and I had to hug
my youngest like a hot-water bottle
(she didn’t mind). We rode mountain
bikes (left on the paths, free to use)
on the tiny island of Videy, and we
climbed the famed Mt Esja that forms
the backdrop to Reykjavik. We ate
scallops and sea urchin, straight from
the sea, and a bit of fermented shark
while visiting a shark-fishing camp
(a traditional Icelandic delicacy). On
Snæfellsnes peninsula, we journeyed
to the Centre of the Earth, or at least
to the place where the movie of that
name was filmed, and we marvelled at
the empty black lava beaches, and the
vast beautiful desolation of it all.
My daughters and I often talk
about returning to Iceland because,
believe it or not, there’s even more to
see than we could fit into our summer.
Next time, we’ll be sure to bring
Daddy.
