Reykjavík Grapevine - 18.06.2010, Síða 44

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The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 08 — 2010
If you’ve seen the Icelandic Tourist
Board’s new ‘Inspired by Iceland’ video
campaign, you may be under the im-
pression that Iceland is always sunny
and Icelanders are super-hip-dancing-
machines. While that’s debatable, the
scene where the tanned couple goes
skinny-dipping and makes out in a natu-
ral hot spring is pretty spot on.
Swimming is very much a part of
Icelandic culture. I once read some-
where that Americans rendezvous at a
coffeehouse, the Brits head to the pub,
and Icelanders meet up at their local
swimming pool. Although Icelanders
do the coffee and pub thing too, they’re
really the only ones I know of that catch
up with friends at the public swimming
pool.
THE TOWN WATER COOLER
For the last thirty years, my grandma
has been meeting up with her friends at
their local swimming pool about three
mornings per week. After swimming
their laps, they sit in the hot tub and
chat before getting out and having some
coffee. It’s quite the social affair and if
you’re looking for the town gossip, the
hot tub is the place to go.
You’ll find public swimming pools
in nearly every town in Iceland and ev-
eryone from young kids to old folks fre-
quents them. On a fantastic note, Reyk-
javík’s newly elected mayor Jón Gnarr
of the Best Party campaigned on the
promise of making access to swimming
pools free for students and losers. Not to
mention, he also promised free towels.
Anyway, if you’ve seen one, don’t
think you’ve seen them all because each
pool f launts its own local f lavour. In
general though, they taste a lot less like
chlorine than, say, US pools. Instead (not
to scare away any prude Americans), you
should know that everyone is expected
to soap up naked in a communal shower
before getting into the water.
THE COUNTRYSIdE BATH
However, pools in Iceland are not limited
to the town. There are over 700 geother-
mal hot spots in Iceland and you’ll find
pools, hot tubs and springs in the remot-
est parts of the country. Heitar Laugar
á Íslandi, a book that was released last
year, describes quite a number of these
pools in Iceland, along with their GPS
coordinates. Admittedly some are more
hidden than others, but it’s also possible
to spontaneously happen upon them.
Some of the greatest pools and hot
springs can be found in the isolated
Westfjords region on the Northwest
corner of Iceland. On a recent road
trip with friends from the States, as we
wound our way around Reykjafjörður
(Smokey-fjord), we spotted both a man
made swimming pool and a natural hot
spring in a majestic landscape of other-
wise utter isolation. Given any desire to
replicate that scene from the ‘Inspired
by Iceland’ video, this would be a good
place to do it.
So we veered off the road, climbed
out of the car, stripped off our clothes
and broke out in a dance to Emiliana
Torrini’s Jungle Drum. Well, not re-
ally. But we did enjoy an evening relax-
ing in a geothermal heated hot spring.
I highly recommend it. Plus, you don’t
have to wait for Jón Gnarr to deliver on
his promise of free admittance to swim-
ming pools for students and losers be-
cause nature’s tubs are usually free for
all.
Travel | H20
The Iceland Aquaphiles
ANNA ANdERSEN
jULIA STAPLES
Comic | Nicelanders by Óttar Norðfjörð and Elo Vázquez
Travel | Ghosts
Ghosts And Goblins And Trolls, Oh My!
Interesting freaky shit
Car provided by Hertz car rental
for Westfjords trip.
Book online at www.hertz.is or call 522 4400
EXPERIENCE MORE IN ICELAND
Puffin express offers Whale watching, puffin
watching, sea angling and dinner cruises.
Our ticket sale in Reykjavik Old Harbour is open from 8 am to 8 pm.
Booking by phone: +354 892 0099 | Online booking: www.puffinexpress.is
When I was a kid, my favourite ride
at my hometown amusement park
was the haunted house. It was built in
1967; all the skeletons looked like they
were made out of popsicle sticks and it
was hilarious. Then they shut it down
and I cried. Then I moved to Iceland,
where there are no amusement parks,
but there is a ghoulishly delightful mu-
seum in the beautiful coastal town of
Stokkseyri.
Draugasetrið, The Ghost Centre, is a
spooky maze of folk tales and frighten-
ing tricks that simultaneously delight
and scare the living poo out of you. The
tour is guided by an ominous, disem-
bodied voice on a head-set as you walk
through various creepy settings, telling
you traditional folk tales of evil spirits
that couldn’t be quelled.
Then while you’re nice and dis-
tracted by the story of a broken milk
truck or that two-headed sheep in the
corner, some perfectly still object starts
moving towards you and grabbing your
arm! What the shit! Out of the twenty-
four rooms and stories, number nine-
teen is the one least suitable for the
faint of heart. I screamed like a hyena,
and I am made of steel wool and whis-
ky. Keeping your back against the wall
is not even an option: things occasion-
ally pop out of there.
Once your living daylights are ex-
tinguished and you make it out of the
last room (an equally scary church),
the museum is readily equipped with
a bar to ease your nerves and let you
mull over all the cool stories you just
heard. You can also build some liquid
courage before taking the tour, since
that‘s where it starts too. I recommend
it. Then you can head downstairs and
see the mystical and magical world of
the elves, trolls and northern lights in
the Icelandic Wonders museum. Watch
out for that little troll running about the
place though. He may be made of bur-
lap, but he’ll spill your wine.
REBECCA LOUdER
MERYEM YILdIz