Day 3 CityWalks Reykjavik
Today we had scheduled a CityWalk Reykjavik Exclusive VIP Walk. This tour is a small group walking tour and ends with a traditional lamb soup in a cozy local restaurant.
On our first visit to Iceland we took the CityWalk Reykjavik Free Walking Tour. We were very impressed with the knowledge and demeanor of the guides and their presentation was simply excellent. Thus on this trip we opted for the VIP walk, so as to get the lamb soup. We were not disappointed in any way. All was EXCELLENT!!!!
Martin was our guide then and also our guide today.
Our meeting place was the church at the highpoint in Reykjavik and it is all down hill as advertised. Our meeting point was Leifur Eiríksson statue in front the Hallgrímskirkja church, Reykjavík's main landmark and its tower can be seen from almost everywhere in the city.
Hallgrimskirkja was designed by the late Guðjón Samúelsson in 1937, who was often inspired in his endeavours by the fascinating shapes and forms created when lava cools into basalt rock. Construction of the church began in 1945 and ended in 1986, with the tower completed long before the rest of the building.
Our next stop was the Einar Jónsson Sculpture park that is literally next door to the church. It’s the garden of the Einar Jónsson home and his studio as he was Iceland’s first sculptor. Here one finds many of his works and it is fun to walk about and simply enjoy. Not many folks know of this gem. Further, many of his other works can be found all over Reykjavik.
We next meandered the back streets viewing several murals. The murals one finds painted on many of the houses are commissioned works. For me they are all well done and each is unique in their own respect.
Stopping by the old prison and Supreme Court, we learned there are only 200 prisoners in the Iceland correctional facility. This is not large enough so many a convicted persons are out and about with ankle bracelets awaiting an open bed. Most of the violators are White Collar Criminals who have manipulated the markets. Iceland has a rather small unarmed police force, and there is a lazie fair attitude towards violations, yet serious crimes of sexual abuse are taken seriously.
We made our way to the gate of lost gloves/mittens. Here should one find a lost mitten one can simply place it atop this gate for the owner to retrieve. We were told sometimes people will wait here for their lost mitten to appear and oft times it does appear as they are waiting. Laugavegur is the street where this is located, this street is basically named as the road to the hot springs. Yes these hot springs heat the roads and houses. Heating is inexpensive here in Iceland.
We made our way to The statue of Viking settler Ingólfur Arnarson by sculptor Einar Jónsson. Here we learned of his tossing his pillars into the sea and finding them at the Smokey Bay where now one finds Reykjavik. It should be noted the land along the harbor had been reclaimed and now there is much construction in progress. There is a new hotel going in which will block Ingólfur Arnarson’s view of the harbor. Personally I feel this Marriott should not be built, but that us me.
From there we went to the Harpa the city opera hall and found our way to the top floor for a view.
As one views the various building in Iceland one notices a recurring theme of the Basaltic Columns through out many buildings.
Eventually we made our way to an old section of Reykjavik where many early houses are located. These buildings maintain the corrigated steel exteriors and are most pleasant to walk about.
Here one finds a Elf Stone, yes there are elf’s in Iceland. This particular stone was found at a construction site, many efforts were made to remove this stone, but the crews continually met with calamity. Finally a shaman came in and negotiated an agreement with the elves to place this stone at the current location. The elves were promised the stone would be moved to this private happy place and construction work would be put on hold for one week so they could pay final respects to this elf stone’s previous location.
Red Wing Thrush
Elf Stone
baktusthecat on Twitter yes he has a rather large following
We made our way to City Hall and talked about the geology of Iceland as we observed a large relief map.
Next stop was lunch of the bread bowl of Lamp Soup. This was provided by a local shop providing street food. The was excellent and welcome on this cool day.
We learned they are changing the name of 871 + or Min 2 as new data is showing new information , so the sign is changing
The Unknown Bureaucrat
PE Class on The Ice
They serve a great Lamb Soup in a great bread bowl.
I can not speak highly enough of the quality of the CityWalk Reykjavik Walks, warm presentation, a font of knowledge beyond words. Simply put this is the most informative overview one can get of Iceland and Reykjavik, not to be missed. So if you are planning trip to Iceland check them out at https://citywalk.is/tours/.
We then jumped on a local bus and headed to the Maritime Museum and learned it has closed for renovation. We then regrouped and caught a bus to the Laugardalslaug Pool. Here we enjoyed a nice warm soak.
After our swim, we amazingly found a Hot Dog Stand and shared one before catching the bus back to our hotel.
Enjoyed happy hour and called it a day.
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