Reykjavík Grapevine - 19.06.2015, Qupperneq 4

Most Awesome
Letter of the Issue!
Hæ hæ Grapevine!
I just saw your video about that house
that was moved to Hringbraut, and felt
like I should react. Indeed I really don't
think this should be treated as another
cute and quirky Icelandic thing, but as
a serious issue. It's far from being the
first time this has happened - it’s actu-
ally becoming more and more com-
mon. Between November and March
it happened to at least two houses on
Hverfisgata, and one on Grettisgata.
I've heard of more recently - another
one on Vesturgata also had been
moved.
The reason why this is happening
is because of some kind of a loophole
in the law. Those houses are actually
protected because they're old, but mov-
ing them is a way to cheat by getting
them out of downtown and put them in
Arbær or Grandi or whatever. By doing
so, there’s now room for more hotels or
ugly new apartments that stay empty
most of the time, because they're being
rented only to tourists (see for instance
the new tourist apartments at Hverfis-
gata 57 & 59). An old corrugated iron
house on the road has the same impli-
cations to the face of downtown, and
the everyday life, as what happened to
Hjartagarðurinn [a much-loved public
square that was destroyed to build a
hotel - ed].
I really think that instead of a small
and funny article with a video, this
should be treated as a full on printed
article exploring the matter in detail (I
remember the ‘Hotel Reykjavik’ issue
a couple of years ago... well things are
still getting worse).
I know we can count on you guys.
Kveðja,
Tom
Hi Tom!
Wow, yeah - transplanting old
houses seems bad. People talk a
lot about the “hollowing out” of
Reykjavík, with long-time renters
being displaced en masse, but they
don’t usually mean it this literally. It
sure sets a bad precedent - imagine
the colourful houses of Grettisgata
and Njálsgata being shipped out on a
convoy of trucks...
We agree that the downtown
property market needs to be better
managed. After all, if there were
only bland hotels in the soon-to-be-
formerly-charming downtown area,
would people even still want to come
here? If all those Tripadvisor re-
views start to turn sour (“this place
used to be so nice…”), this deluge of
visitors could dry up as quickly as it
began.
Grapevine
Halló!
As one of the million or so visitors to
Iceland last year, I've been reading your
articles about the economic, environmen-
tal and cultural effects tourism with great
interest.
It seems to me that it would be helpful
to know how many days visitors spent in
Iceland – I suspect many were like my
niece, Maddie, who stopped in Reykjavik
for a night en route from Seattle to London
– and how they spent their time in Iceland.
Just as most visitors to San Francisco tour
Alcatraz, Fisherman's Wharf, the Golden
Gate Bridge and Chinatown, I reckon your
typical visitor sees little more than Reykja-
vik between Harpa and Hallgrimskirkja,
the Golden Circle and the Blue Lagoon. A
shame, since there's so much more.
We spent two weeks in Iceland in Au-
gust, and aside from two rainy days, the
weather was fair and mild. Besides the at-
tractions mentioned above, we visited the
Westfjords; the North, including Akureyri;
and the South Coast as far east as Jokul-
sarlon. We climbed waterfalls; watched
fishermen land huge catches of cod in Pa-
treksfjordur; marveled at stinky, steaming
geysers in Reykholt; and came face-to-face
with Icelandic horses and sheep near
Blonduos. In all, traveled 2,500 km. Back
in Reykjavik, we enjoyed the Jazz Festival
and Culture Night, capped by a splendid
fireworks show (Thanks to the Grapevine
for alerting us to these events). We also
enjoyed Reykjavik 871 +/-2, the National
Museum and the fascinating Arbaejar-
safn and swung by the impressive Rock
Museum near the international airport.
What's the point of all this? There's
more to Iceland than Reykjavik and
Laugavegur. Encourage tourists to get
out of the city. If some of those one million
visitors would just venture off the beaten
path – and they don't have to off-road in
the Highlands to do so – they'd experi-
ence more of Iceland's natural beauty and
friendly people. And it would ease some of
the congestion in the capital.
Regards,
Tim Innes
Oakland, California, USA
Hey Tim,
That sounds like a pretty great trip.
And, wow, also a possible solution
for the tourist overcrowding of 101!
We totally agree that the small towns
and coastline, and wilderness are all
amazing—just less heavily marketed.
Some of those regional guesthouses
could really benefit from more full
rooms, whilst simultaneously easing
the burden on downtown Reykjavík.
So! Nice. We fixed it. Sorting out
Iceland’s problems seems easy when
you’re in the Grapevine’s letters page,
huh? Next let’s do healthcare.
Grapevine
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