When my south coast/Sky Lagoon tour fell through, I decided to make it an urban day. I walked three miles from the Hostel to the dock where the whale watching tour was to take place, and along the way I took in the urban landscape. Downtown Reykjavik seems to be a mix of residential and commercial property, not organized in any way that looked apparent to me.
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| An established neighborhood of traditional houses. Most of these older homes were stucco with corrugated metal roofs. |
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| New apartments being built near the harbor and downtown Reykjavik. |
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Another new apartment building, entirely clad in corrugated metal. Notice the large picture window with the smaller pane that opens. I saw these on almost all buildings, old and new.
 | | New buildings, mostly apartments, south of downtown Reykjavik |
Reykjavik is a small city but has grown recently. It’s getting sprawly. It made me think of Canberra, Australia in scale and modernity, but with some uniquely Icelandic features. Throughout the city, both residential and commercial buildings shared a type of window I may not have seen before: a large fixed pane of glass with a smaller pane next to it that tilts out from the top so that the opening is at the bottom. The design lets fresh air in while keeping rain out. Since all of the city is heated with hot water from the thermal springs, one can open a window even in winter without guilt. I noticed that even an urban office tower had open windows as I walked past on a sunny but blustery day. |
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| How often do you see a new office tower with windows that open? Iceland can get away with it because all buildings in Reykjavik are heated with free hot water from geothermal sources. If it gets too warm, just open a window! |
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| It's a clean city. While I was waiting for a bus I watched this city worker steaming spots off the sidewalk. |
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| Narrower streets in the oldest part of town |
The city as a whole has a spare, Scandinavian esthetic to it: simple lines and restrained colors, with the occasional pop of red, blue, or yellow. While many older buildings were made of stucco, most newer buildings are clad in corrugated metal. I have to assume that this is because wood is scarce here. Iceland’s trees were cut centuries ago and new ones have struggled to take hold. There are trees within the city, although nothing like the lush canopies of elm like Minneapolis used to have. While efforts have been made at reforestation much of the country is treeless.
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| Modern design in downtown Reykjavik |
My walk to town was to get to the harbor for a whale watching cruise. The cruise ended at 4 pm and from there I set out on my futile trek to Sky Lagoon, which involved walking an additional three miles (this after standing on the deck of a boat for three hours.) By the time I’d ridden the bus back to the hostel, I was wiped.
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| Sky Lagoon was at the edge of the bay in an otherwise industrial area. As I walked there, I came upon this creative use of columnar basalt as road divider in a company parking lot. (I have a thing for columnar basalt and was delighted to see this material in commercial use.) |
But the big municipal pool was open until 10:00 pm so I thought I’d give it a try. Blessed with ample supplies of hot water, Reykjavik has several of these pool complexes. My neighborhood pool looked like it had been built in hopes of attracting the 1960 Olympics. Next to the enormous outdoor lap pool was a stadium that looked like it belonged on the Jetsons.
Entry for me was free, but the regulations are strict. Bathers are required to take a soap shower, naked, before suiting up to go into the pool. Have you ever tried to pull on a Speedo when you’re soaking wet? Just getting into the suit is a workout on its own. The vintage shower rooms for this huge pool complex were sized to match, very industrial looking with aging white tile walls and rows of steel shower heads. Showering there creeped me out; the shower room gave me a distinct concentration camp vibe (entirely unintentional I’m sure; all the Icelanders I’ve encountered have been gracious and helpful.)
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Laugardalslaug, the pool near my hostel with the Sixties esthetic. This photo is from a tourism website; cameras are not allowed in the pool area. |
Once showered, I was amazed by the facilities: indoor and outdoor Olympic lap pools with at least eight lanes each, and additional pools outside: a huge shallow pool with a waterslide; two very warm pools for relaxing, one deeper for adults and one shallower for children; plus four small hot tubs, each two degrees Celsius warmer than the last. That evening the facility was filled with people of all ages, and it seemed to be the place where teenagers hung out to visit. Sitting amongst the throngs, it struck me that many Icelanders share a distinctive set of features including smooth skin (thanks to frequent cloudy weather, I don’t believe they suffer much sun damage), eyes that turn up at the corners, and little ski-jump noses.
The following morning before departing Iceland for home, I visited the pool again, taking turns in the warm pool and swimming a few laps. At this hour it was less crowded. The teenagers were in school and the retirees ruled the relaxation pool. A digital sign displayed time and temperature. At 9:00 am it was –1.5°C (about 31°F) and vapor swirled about. The fog was so thick that I couldn’t see to the end of the lap pool to tell if a lane was occupied by another swimmer.
I’d missed the Blue Lagoon on this trip but found that relaxing in the urban version of Iceland’s hot springs was a delightful Plan B.
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