Day 2: Reykjavik

Capital City

It was a bit of a surprise to discover that the area I'm staying is in Reykjavik’s downtown.  Many of the streets are only wide enough to admit one or two cars, bordered by wide sidewalks, cafés, houses, and small shops. Most buildings are colored concrete or corrugated tin walls with steeped corrugated tin roofs. Though most houses look similar, they distinguish themselves with colorings of their roofs and walls, most being red, blue, yellow, white, and/or grays. The day started out in the low 40’s (F) and rose to the 50’s. It’s been a bright, sunny day with remarkably fresh air.

In the morning, we visited a church called Hallgrímskirkja where, for a fee, we took an elevator up into the clock tower and looked out at the city. Reykjavik is a seaside city, ringed in the distance by snowcapped mountains. The effect is beautiful and makes the city feel exposed, a vulnerable patch of humanity allowed to exist on this rocky land because, for the moment, the environment is willing to humor humans.

Genetic Database

In 1998, Iceland created a genetic database, Íslendingabók, that maps the enter population’s genealogical information extending back over 1,200 years. (The database gets interesting reference in Arnaldur Indrioason’s Icelandic mystery novel Jar City).

 In 2000, Iceland seems to have sold the rights to access the database to deCODE, a US biotech company. Iceland’s been pretty isolated (which has interesting results, such as modern Icelandic being so close to old Nordic they can read the original Norse sagas, and Iceland mostly playing traditional styles of music until rock reached them). This also means it’s a great genetic sample for studying genetic diseases; deCODE has been able to develop drugs to combat heart disease, strokes, and asthma, and now offers them free to Icelanders. This deal may have been part of settlement after the database was declared unconstitutional in 2004; however, the database still exists.

Today’s Reykjavik Grapevine (a entertainment/tourist focused free newspaper) reports that deCODE celebrated its 10^th anniversary with the Incest Spoiler alert, a joke smart phone app. The idea is that before going home together Icelanders can answer a few questions on their phone, at which point either an alarm goes off telling them they’re too closely related, or a message encourages them to get it on. One columnist was pretty pissed off because apparently, international news got wind of this app and have been reporting as if Iceland is a pool of incest and this app is all that stands between them and genetic disaster.

Food

A classic food every guidebook mentions is Harofiskur, dried salted haddock. I found it at the grocery store and it tastes exactly as I should have expected – tough (it’s dried), salty (it’s salted) and with a fishy aftertaste (it’s fish). So. That’s a food then.

Food’s expensive in Iceland.

Saga Museum: Settling

The Saga Museum provided a collection of choice anecdotes on Icelandic settlers.

Originally, Irish monks found the island and stayed there because its isolation meant nothing would interrupt their studying. When “heathen” Norse arrived, the monks decided to ditch rather than stay in such company. Later, Vikings raiders would enslave Irish; so many so that at the time 20% of the men and 50% of the women in Iceland were Celtic (the rest were Norse).

Early Norsemen navigated by noting the flights of migrating birds in spring and autumn. The first Norseman to land on Iceland, Flóki Vigerdarson, took three ravens on his ship to use in navigation. Then all his livestock died and he left. Eventually a man called Ingolfor permanently settled in Iceland.

Saga Museum: Let’s Have a Religion

Iceland was divided between Christianity and belief in the Norse gods. In 1000AD the government decided they needed one religion so as not to divide the country.  A single member of the government, himself “heathen” as the museum called it, chose Christianity, but said some heathen laws would stand and that you could practice what you wanted in private. If you were caught, the punishment was three year’s exile. The last Catholic bishop in Iceland, Jon Arasson, was beheaded in 1550; against traditional Christian rules, he had many kids and most of Iceland is related to him.

Saga Museum: Let’s Have a Government

Most immigrants to Iceland came feeling oppressive European kings, and so they approached choosing a government with care. They ended up with the first Parliament, all members unpaid save for the Law Speaker, whose job was to memorize and recite all of the country’s laws. Writing was adopted around the time of the conversion to Christianity and laws recorded in books.

Saga Museum: Let’s all Die

In 1402 a ship from England under Einar Herjolsson brought the black plague. A third of Iceland died, but Einar was fine.

Saga Museum: Witches!

The first killed in Iceland’s witch hunt was a nun in 1343. Unlike most other countries, men were most often accused of witchery.

Get the View

The Hallgrímskirkja church is a nice view, but really, you want to go to Perlan/The Saga Museum (it’s the same building). While the church top let’s you peak out of barred windows, the Pearl has an outside walkway, offering an uninterrupted panoramic of Reykjavik (plus it’s free, while the church charges $7/person to enter the tower).

Food

Food’s pricey here but not quite as pricey as it looks (I was assuming an Icelandic krona was 100th of a dollar, but it's more like 100 krona = US$0.81).  It's about US$3.65 for a cappuccino or latte, and US $10.00 for a bowl of lobster soup.

Saga Museum

It’s about US $20/person, which includes an audio guide. It’s a small museum for the price. The audio-guide tells you anecdotes and tidbits of settler history while you look at wax sculptures in traditional dress and there’s a video explaining how the sculptures were made.