Reykjavík

I tried to do a blog post while on our holiday in Iceland last week but my iPad wouldn't cooperate. So now I'm home and am overwhelmed by all the photos I have to organize. I'm going to start by posting some pics of our time in Reykjavík both at the beginning and end of our tour.

This Lutheran Church is the tallest landmark in Reykjavík. It is the Hallsgrímskirkja and the bell tower can be seen from almost everywhere in the city (pop. 115,600).

The statue in the foreground is of Leifur Eiriksson (c.970 - 1020), the first European to discover America, 500 years before Columbus. The statue was a gift from the US in 1930.  in honour of the 1930 Alþingi Millennial Festival, commemorating the 1,000th anniversary of the establishment of Iceland's parliament at Þingvellir in 930 AD.

This government building is right downtown and serves as the Prime Minister's office. It was built in 1761 and served as the jail until 1813. It then was the royal residence and governor's residence until 1904. It's been the seat of government offices since then and was the office of the president of Iceland from 1973 - 1996.

Down on the waterfront is this historic building, Höfði House, which was the site of the 1986 summit meeting between Reagan and Gorbachev, which effectively ended the Cold War.

Also on the waterfront near the harbour is this steel Solfar Sun Voyager sculpture by Jon Gunnar Arnason. In the background, shrouded by clouds is Mount Esja.

Nearby is the new Harpa Concert Hall that had excellent public toilets.

Looking from the inside out.

On top of another hill is 'The Pearl', the main water tower for hot water for the city. It also houses the Saga Museum and a revolving restaurant. Our tour bus brought us up here.

There were beautiful views of the city from the observation desk.

It was pretty easy to get around on foot. There are lots of places to shop and eat. We particularly enjoyed having coffee at some of the many coffee shops - all of which had free Wifi.

The streets were very clean and relatively uncongested. This was the end of the peak tourist season.

The ornamental kale and some type of herb made for a striking display.

There were flowers in pots and small beds in various areas adding welcome colour.

Rugosa roses were found in many places - mostly as shrubbery.

Dianthus seemed to thrive here in the sunny, cool conditions.

Reykjavík is a very modern city, very oriented to tourism. Several streets are either pedestrian walkways or largely geared to pedestrians. It was mostly sunny when we were there and it only drizzled a couple of times.

In my next post, I'll highlight the handknits of Iceland.