Reykjavík Grapevine - 17.06.2011, Blaðsíða 63

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Restaurant in the oldest
house in Akureyri
Hafnarstræti 11,
telephone: 461-2900
laxdalshus@laxdalshus.is
For further informations
on upcoming events and concerts go to:
www.facebook.com/graenihatturinn
THE GREEN HAT
AKUREYRI
CONCERTS:
Sat. 18. Jun. Eivør
Sun. 19. Jun. Eivør
Fri. 1. Jul. Baggalútur
Sat. 2. Jul. Baggalútur
Thu. 7. Jul. Kristjana Stefáns
& Svavar Knútur
Fri. 8. Jul. Varsjárbandalagið
Sat. 9. Jul. Thin Jim
conce
rt ve
nue i
n Ak
ureyr
i
Best
little
Works by 50 artists
1782-2011
LA ART MUSEUM in Hveragerdi,
40 min. from Reykjavík
on the Golden Circle.
The Image of
Þingvellir
Open daily 12am - 6pm. Adm. free
OUTSIDE REYKJAVÍK
As we began heading south and
east from the Westfjords to the
“mainland”, intrepid assistant pho-
tographer Katharina Volgger told
us there was a natural hot spring
for bathing on a farm nearby. Now,
hot bathing springs are all over the
country, and some of them are lo-
cated on private property. In other
words, if you want to try them, you
might have to roll on up to the land-
owner's home and ask permission
to bathe there.
Knocking on the door of a private home,
completely unannounced, and casually
asking if you can take a bath in a hot
spring on their property might seem a
little intimidating to the average tour-
ist, as it did for me at first, but I can
safely assure you there's nothing to be
shy about.
The farm is located on Route 633,
which takes you out of Ísafjörður east-
wards, a winding road that goes in and
out of several fjords. Once you reach
Mjóifjörður, look for the sign pointing
to Hörgshlíðarlaug. Pulling to a stop be-
side the tiny house by the road that we
guessed to be the owner's house, I was
democratically chosen to knock on the
door and ask permission.
It was a pleasant, clear day, and the
area was imbued with the characteris-
tic silence of the Icelandic countryside.
Cautiously, I knocked on the door. It
was answered seconds later by a giant of
a man with wild hair and a barrel chest,
wearing coveralls and rubber boots.
The kind of guy you imagine breaking
entire trees over his knee for his fire-
place, or maybe heaving boulders at
terrified villagers. Despite all appear-
ances, Finnbogi was a soft-spoken and
gracious host, and when I asked if we
could use his hot spring, answered im-
mediately, “Yeah, yeah, enjoy it. Just be
careful, it's pretty hot”.
The spring is fed by three sources—
two for hot water, and one for cold—that
empty into a stone enclosure beside a
modest changing shed. Situated mere
metres from the shore of the fjord,
f lanked on both sides by mountains, it
is indeed quite the spot for relaxing in
naturally heated water. Having forgot-
ten to bring a swimsuit and not will-
ing to go au naturel, I chose to stand by
while photographer Maroesjka Lavigne
and Katharina went in instead, and
they testified that the water was indeed
pretty hot, but not overpoweringly so. If
you're on a long drive through the West-
fjords, you must stop here.
Hörgshlíðarlaug Is A Pearl Of The Westfjords
Iceland's Past Lives On In Siglufjörður
When talking to strangers pays off
Akureyri may be the capital of the
north, but that doesn't mean it's the
only thing to see in north-central
Iceland. On the contrary, if you drive
up the west coast of Eyjafjörður,
you'll encounter quite a lot of natu-
ral beauty, culminating in the town
of Siglufjörður, with its tumultuous
and rage-inducing history.
A little background: Siglufjörður was
pretty much like any other fishing vil-
lage in Iceland until huge stocks of her-
ring were discovered in its vicinity in
the early 20th century. This sparked a
boom time for the town, which swelled
to about 3.000 permanent inhabitants
and saw hundreds of ships from all
over Europe docking in its port. Her-
ring speculators—entrepreneurs who
established businesses in the town—
were revered by the people who fished,
canned, pressed, ground and shipped
the fruits of their labours overseas. Ev-
erything was chugging nicely along un-
til the herring stocks dried up in 1969,
at which point the speculators f led
town, the ships stopped coming, and
Siglufjörður essentially collapsed upon
itself. Today, barely 1.500 people call the
town their home.
What makes this history even sad-
der is the fact that the speculators didn't
exactly leave town poor. One story re-
counts how one herring speculator,
many years after leaving behind a load
of unpaid workers, was still rich enough
to be able to settle salary debts out of his
own wallet, if one of his former employ-
ees happened to bump into him on the
streets of Reykjavík. The leftist in me
naturally wondered why dude didn't
just settle his unpaid salary debts all in
one go—why did you need to physically
find him on the street in order to get
paid for the work you did? Funny how
Iceland's rich really haven't changed
their behaviour since.
In any event, Siglufjörður today is
actually a gorgeous little town, and the
star attraction—the Herring Era Mu-
seum—is a lot more fascinating than
it might sound. There are three build-
ings, each painstakingly recreated to
period detail. The main building, for
example, featured the living quarters of
the herring workers, brought vividly to
life by countless personal touches—old
calendars still hang on the walls, bottles
of cologne and booze from the time are
here, the bunks are still made up with
straw-stuffed mattresses, pantyhose
from the period hang from twine, and
so forth. You could spend literally hours
wandering around in this place and
still not catch every little thing. It re-
ally brought the era to life. The other
two buildings similarly recreated the
fishing ports and the herring factories
respectively.
You don't need to be a history buff
to enjoy the Herring Era Museum, al-
though history buffs were surely have a
field day at this place. Rather, this is the
place to go to see Iceland's recent past
come to living, breathing life, and it
may just give you a deeper understand-
ing of the country as a whole.
13
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MARK YR. CALENDARS: Your
next edition of GRAPEVINE:
OUTSIDE REYKJAVÍK will hit
the streets on July 29, accom-
panying issue 11.