Reykjavík Grapevine - 15.07.2011, Qupperneq 42

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With an hour and a half layover in Akureyri before
a flight to Reykjavík, Grapevine’s photographer
and I were frustrated. Unlike international airports,
Akureyri domestic airport doesn’t have countless
stores one can mosey in and out of to kill time. In-
stead, there’s one, tiny café. Right as we were ready
to start ranting and complaining to each other about
how we had absolutely nothing to do, we realised
that another attribute Akureyri Airport doesn’t share
with most international airports is its closeness to
the main city.
Usually, international airports require a forty min-
ute to one hour drive into the city, while you can be
in the heart of Akureyri within five minutes from its
domestic airport, and with an hour and a half, you
could kill two touristy birds with one stone (leave the
puffins alone, though).
I SCREAM, YOU SCREAM, BRYNJA SCREAMS
FOR BRYNJA ÍS
Our first stop was Brynja at A!alstræti 3. Brynja is a
little ice cream shop that might not look like much,
but it is actually packed with wonder and history. Ar-
guably (the only people who may argue are people
from Reykjavík) the best ice cream shop in Iceland,
the proprietor tells us that the only known difference
between Brynja’s ice cream (known to Icelanders as
Brynjuís) and any other shop is that they use milk in-
stead of cream in their recipe. The rest of the recipe
is a tightly guarded secret by the family owned shop,
known only to the owner and his son-in-law. Accord-
ing to employee Krista B. Kristjánsdóttir, competitors
call in regularly to try and get the recipe from the
employees (one of which is in fact named Brynja).
While we were there, I got a pretty standard
tornado. However, this ice cream shop doesn’t stop
at the regular toppings. They extend well into the
gummy category, with toppings such as banana
gummies, cherry gummies amongst many others.
The ice cream served did in fact have a milky quality
to it, making it a lot lighter on the stomach than your
standard ice cream. Which would prove important,
as our next stop was the church of Akureyri, for ‘the
Akureyri Challenge.’
THE NEW AND IMPROVED ULTIMATE AKUREY-
RI CHALLENGE
The original Akureyri challenge is to start at the bot-
tom of the church steps, run up them as fast as you
can while counting every step along the way, and
then run back down. But, considering the fact that I
had just finished a medium ‘tornado’ (vanilla soft ice
cream with three toppings mixed in), when it came
time to take this challenge, I was severely worried
that I may be tasting some Brynjuís again, with some
stomach acid thrown in the mix. Thus, The Ultimate
Akureyri Challenge was born.
This challenge isn’t for the faint of heart, or stom-
ach. Before heading to the church to take the chal-
lenge, make a stop at Brynja and polish off a medium
sized tornado, then get your sprinting shoes on. If
you manage to run up and down the steps while
keeping your ice cream down, and getting the right
number of steps, you’ve successfully completed The
Ultimate Akureyri Challenge!
With an hour and a half to kill in Akureyri, we
were able to indulge in two of the town’s musts for
tourists and Icelanders alike. The ice cream at Brynja
at the very least rivals the best ice cream shop of
Reykjavík (step up your game, Ísbú! Vesturbæjar),
and the Ultimate Akureyri Challenge was an ac-
complishment, even though there isn’t any reward
(except for maybe applause from people at the top
of the steps). With another hour or two, it isn’t too
farfetched to imagine that one could get to know ev-
eryone in the town and possibly run for mayor.
42
The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 10 — 2011
Travel | Akureyri
Words
S. Alessio Tummolillo
Photography
Julia Staples
“ With an hour and a half to kill in Akureyri, we were
able to indulge in two of the
town’s musts for tourists
and Icelanders alike. The ice
cream at Brynja at the very
least rivals the best ice cream
shop of Reykjavík (step up
your game, Ísbú! Vesturbæjar)
We wrote this article about the time we had a one-hour layover in Akureyri while flying from
Grímsey to Reykjavík. Thanks for that hour, Air Iceland, it was way fun! Flights to
Akureyri can be booked at www.airiceland.is or by calling 570-3000
Grapevine’s fun-filled hour
in the capital of the NorthLAYING OVER IN AKUREYRI