This morning our group met for the first time at the tour hotel, some distance from the centre of Reykjavik. Our trip leader is Hlynur. His name is pronounced more or less the way it is written but the HL happens kinda in the back of the throat and the Y seems mostly silent as does the final R. The penultimate U, however, is wonderfully clear. I doubt I will be able to master Hlynur’s name or the names of most of the streets and towns we will visit, but I assure you that will not diminish MY enjoyment one bit. It may diminish Hlynur’s some but he seems a congenial – and knowledgeable!! – soul.
Hlynur issued us transit passes and showed us how and where to take the bus in Reykjavik. We headed to the oldest area of the city and learned much about the history of Ísland and architecture and construction in the area. There are murals aplenty to beautify buildings, some unfortunately “free style,” some more thoughtfully painted and others created by tile mosaic. This is one of the larger, more complex and lovely tile mosaics. The close-up below shows some of the different sized tiles that were used to create the mural.
We visited a tourist information centre that houses a large topographic map of Ísland. (Good thing Ísland is so small!) There is a vaguely s-shaped swath of land across Ísland from southwest to northeast. The two sides of the swath rest on different tectonic plates that are moving, at about one centimetre per year, away from each other, essentially dividing the island in two. Magma from below ground is filling the space created. At the same time coastal erosion on both east and west coast is keeping the island approximately the same size.
I have circled in red on the topographic map below Eyjafjallajökull (try saying that one 🙂 ), the volcano that erupted in 2010 and caused the lengthy disruption of air traffic in Europe.
Other interesting sights encountered on our walk: an Ísland national soccer team fan; a very Íslandic street musician; some hearty flowers in a planter; an inviting outdoor coffee space too cold and blustery for loungers; an attractive building.
Reykjavik houses a large collection of street art. I don’t know much about the object on the left, but I am hoping jet lag will dissipate overnight and I will no longer feel like the person in the photo on the right.
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