Reykjavik
Picture
29. May 2004
Spending a day just
doing as little as I can while at the same time enjoying the city.
Reykjavík is a great place to spend you time!
In this article I hope
to give you a view of Reykjavík in words as well as pictures.
Skólavörðustígur is the perfect place to start. It stretches from
the Hallgrímskirkja church right down to Laugavegur. This street is
the home of many of the best art galleries in Reykjavik (as well as
in Iceland).
Walking up the street you notice the friendly atmosphere and the
easy going traffic. The wooden guy sitting by looks like he
belongs there and will stay awhile!
Hallgrimskirkja church is the biggest church in Iceland with the
tower reaching over 70 meters high. The beautiful church organ
fills up the surrounding space with music.
Hallgrímskirkja was
designed by Guðjón Samúelsson in 1937 in the influence of
hexagonal basalt columns that are seen in various places in the
Icelandic landscape.
Looking out on Reykjavik from the church bell tower you can see
typical Icelandic architecture. The houses seem to be thrown
together from different eras and different cultures!
On the way to down-town I spot this lonely dog sitting on a
bench waiting for the owner who is perhaps taking a look at the
gallery inside the open door.
In a nice day like this you can even see some people enjoying
the sun and fresh air at a café.
Even down-town nature is never far away. The orange-yellow
busses and the yellow flowers are bright contrast to the gray
buildings!
Iceland has been enriched by cuisine from all over the world.
Italian, Indian and other exotic restaurants are numerous and
the standard is usually quite high.
Old and new fighting each other. In this picture it literally
looks like there is a giant getting ready to hit the old
renovated house. The newer building is rather unexciting except
for the giant mural art work.
Like so many cities a forest machine is a common site. Old
houses are moved out of the way and new ones built. Lately,
awareness of the cultural values of old houses has increased and
subsequently more are being restored.
Close to the harbor I spot this brand new Ferrari Enzo. Its
street price here in Reykjavík is about 1.2 million USD! It was
imported and put on a show here but is not a very practical
vehicle in Iceland. Mostly due to the fact that there are no
high speed highways and I guess they won't handle too good in
the snow during the winter time.
To see some
PRACTICAL vehicles we have another site dedicated
to the subject -
Reykjavik picture at
4x4OffRoads.com.
Sailboats!
Fishing is still one of the pillar of our economy. Reykjavík
harbor is full of fisher boats of all sizes. The smaller ones in
the front and some larger behind.
Taking a big ship like this one and doing advanced body work and
repair is possible in the shipyard. This is typical trawler used
for cod fishing in the deep waters around Iceland.
Chess is very popular by Icelanders. Perhaps because of the long
winter nights.
Grótta is a beautiful little island off the west side of
Reykjavík. You can walk out to the island during low tide.
Except for the lighthouse and a couple of houses you are in
undisturbed nature.
Voluntary rescue units operate on sea as well as on land. Here I
spot them on a practice mission on a powerful inflated boat.
Iceland has one of the highest car to people ratios. About two
persons per car!
Reykjavík spreads
its houses far and wide apart. The good thing is you can live in
the suburb sometimes in close contact with nature and without
the noise of the down-town. The bad part is you have to use a
car a lot.
Typical single family houses in a suburb in Reykjavík.
In the afternoon a performing band
livens up the city center. Bogomil Font and his band of
performing musicians.
English
Íslenska