Reykjavík Grapevine - 22.05.2009, Blaðsíða 26

26
The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 6 — 2009
Fly and discover
/ tel. 570 3030
Air Iceland
destinations
Get your action-packed day tour brochure
at hotels, airports or any travel agent.
www.airiceland.is
FAROE ISLANDS
REYKJAVÍK
AKUREYRI
EGILSSTAÐIR
WESTMAN ISLANDS
ÍSAFJÖRÐUR
VOPNAFJÖRÐUR
ÞÓRSHÖFN
GRÍMSEY
CONSTABLE POINT
Greenland
IIULISSAT
Greenland
KULUSUK
Greenland
NUUK
Greenland
NARSARSSUAQ
Greenland
ÍS
L
E
N
S
K
A
S
IA
.I
S
F
L
U
4
41
14
1
1.
20
08
Car provided by Hertz
www.hertz.is
Where is it?
Approximately 200 km along the south-
bound road number 1 from Reykjavík. Buses
on the route Reykjavik-Höfn stop at the petrol
station daily at 8.30 and 17 from Reykjavík.
Travel | Destination: Vík í Mýrdal
Watch Your Back
Don’t let the serene atmosphere of the southern village of
Vík fool you.
In Vík, the little white-and-red
church stands alone, overlooking
the sleepy village. Birds nest in the
vertical Reynisfjall cliffs and waves
crash against sea carved stone
columns by the black beach.
Vík (Icelandic for ‘bay’) or Vík
í Mýrdal (in full: ‘bay in the marsh-
lands’) is the southernmost village
in Iceland, the wettest place in the
country and, with an impressive
300 inhabitants, one of the largest
settlements in the area. I have
several reasons to believe that Vík
is also the epitome of all things
creepy.
1# Grumpy Gods
I recently watched the film “Wrath of
Gods”, which documents the making of
the potentially epic adventure film “Be-
owulf & Grendel,” shot in the Vík area in
2004. Things went so badly wrong that
the crew, desperate for some explanation
for their troubles, came to the conclusion
that the Norse Gods were sabotaging
the film. On our trip, the car windshield
cracked, the coffee was consistently bad,
I lost a contact lens and the iPod shuffle
played only 90s hard rock. What had we
ever done to them?
2# Sleeping lady
One of the most notorious volcanoes in
Iceland, Katla, is located just above Vík,
slumbering under the thick icy blanket
of Mýrdalsjökull.
Katla’s crater is 10 km in diameter,
and it is connected with Eldgjá (‘fire
canyon’) – the world’s largest volcanic
canyon – and Laki crater in Skaftafell Na-
tional Park. Together they make for one
of the most powerful volcanic systems in
the world.
Katla is still active. Since the Settle-
ment, it has erupted 17 times, every 70
years or so. The last eruption was in
1918, so the next one is long overdue.
In 2002, the seismic activity in the area
rose dramatically, but the volcano ap-
pears to have calmed down again and the
University of Iceland monitoring station
has found no further alarming activity
– beyond the everyday earth-quaking.
You can see for yourself; the web cam
at www.ruv.is/katla may not be action
packed, but I am sure Pierce Brosnan
would understand my concerns. I’m sur-
prised he’s not running around calling
town meetings at this very moment.
Whilst a 750-metre thick ice cube on
top cooling off the lava cocktail seems
like the perfect solution to me, the resi-
dents of Vík, scholars of these matters,
hardly agree.
Katla’s eruption will cause jökul-
hlaup: glacial outburst f loods. The
amount of water coming from the melt-
ed ice could reach 200,000 cubic metres
per second – four times the combined av-
erage discharge of the Mississippi, Nile
and Yangtze rivers. The village of Vík
would be wiped out completely.
Plans are ready in case of disaster and
the inhabitants of the village regularly
practice running up to the church, the
only building high enough to offer hope
of salvation.
They gotta love that place.
3# Troops of Trolls
While my fearful gaze is drawn toward
the slumbering horror under the glacier,
Vík has become a famous post card mod-
el on account of the geological sights in
the other direction – the strange basalt
formations of Dyrhólaey and Reynis-
drangar by the sea. Then again, accord-
ing to local folklore, these twisted shapes
are in fact trolls turned to stone by the
sunrise while dragging their boats to
shore. So maybe I should keep an eye out
to sea as well. Great.
As a little Vík style bonus: the Reyn-
isfjara cliffs are known for waves power-
ful enough to drag foolhardy tourists to
their death. What is it with this town?
4# Silence of the Lambs
Vík was originally founded in the 9th
century by Hjörleifur Hróðmarsson, but
it stayed – for good reason, it seems to
me – uninhabited until roughly a cen-
tury ago, when the local fishing co-op-
erative was established in 1906. Today,
the harbour is no longer in use due to
silting and on a normal weekday after-
noon Vík is eerily quiet. “Is it some kind
of a public holiday today?” my travelling
mate asks, and indeed, there is not a liv-
ing soul to be seen. Empty parking lots.
No pedestrians on the main street. Have
they all gone up to the church? Is Katla
erupting? Are the Vikings attacking?
Did I mention spooky?
— JR
What to do in Vík:
Watch rocks and sail on a car (yes,
sail on a car!)
Dyrhólaey and Reynisdrangar rock
formations offer beautiful views. For the
best ones, go to the beaches around Vík,
to Reynisfjall or Reynisfjara hills or take
the marked road to Dyrhólaey, which
turns right from road number one before
Vík (coming from Reykjavik)Dyrhólaey-
jarferðir takes tourists on its car-boat-
combo to see the rock formations.
www.dyrholaey.com. Tel. 8936800.
Watch birds
Reynisfjall hill above Vík has several
walking paths, lots of birds including the
cute and clumsy puffins. The area is a
preserve during nesting season.
Buy wool
Vík wool’s woollen products are a bit
cheaper here than in the fancy-pant tour-
ist shops of the capital, and the selection
is good. As a bonus, you get to see how
the goods are produced.
Austurvegur 20, www.vikwool.is
Swim
Like any self-respecting town in Iceland,
Vík has an open-air thermal pool.
Walk on the beach
Black sand, massive waves – what is
there not to love? Just – please – watch
out for the waves!
Walk on the lava
After Vík, the lava fields of Mýrdalssan-
dur take over the landscape. Hjörleif-
shöfði (231m) is a good walking destina-
tion from Vík with nice views over to the
Westman Islands.
Where to eat:
Puffin Hotel’s restaurant is the place to
see and be seen in Vík.
Halldórskaffi attached to tourist informa-
tion office in Brydebuð serves the best
burgers in town.
Grill at Esso Petrol Station is your saviour
when everything else is closed – on road
number 1
Where to sleep:
Hótel Puffin
The family-owned Hotel Puffin is the main
hotel in town. Also sleeping bag accommo-
dation. Vikurbraut 26, www.hotelpuffin.is
Hótel Höfðabrekka
A large, reportedly haunted, country
hotel 5 km east of Vík with 60 rooms and
a big restaurant. www.hofdabrekka.is
Vík camp site is located beyond Edda
Hotel on the eastern side of the village
Norður-Vík Youth Hostel
On the hill behind the village, the massive
international hostelling logo on the wall
makes this impossible to miss.
www.hostel.is