Reykjavík Grapevine - 06.05.2016, Blaðsíða 54

Reykjavík Grapevine - 06.05.2016, Blaðsíða 54
Sitting in the office on a rainy af- ternoon after several days reeking of the mundane, Hrefna and I take a solemn oath. We will take hold of our heartstrings, seek adventure, and head into the uncharted ter- ritory of the west. We will go to Akranes, a city 45 km and a bus ride away from Reykjavík! Though not often seen as a city of adventure, Akranes is, for many, uncharted territory. As far as we can tell, the Grapevine has only done one other travel piece on Akranes in over a decade, and I have never heard a tourist speak of a day, or even an afternoon, in this oft-ignored city. In my year and a half living in Iceland, I had only seen signs for it. That is, until our solemn resolution for adventure. With a population of a little over 6,600 people, Akranes is the ninth-largest city in Iceland, and by no means as remote as many towns in the more northern re- gions. Hrefna, Grapevine pho- tographer and my beloved travel buddy, even lived in Akranes for ten years. The lighthouse whisperer While Akranes is often disregard- ed in tourism ventures, there’s a quotidian mechanical beauty to it, with its pastel-painted smoke- stacks, endless rows of pipes, and boats bobbing up and down in the harbour. Compared to tour- ist hotspots in the rest of Iceland, Akranes is an understated kind of pretty. Rather than marvelling at chunks of glacier, deep canyons, or crazy rock formations, we find ourselves driving around, check- ing out the city’s houses, factories, and people. If we had more time, we would have stopped at the golden sand beach Langisandur and Akranes’s museum centre, which houses the Akranes Folk Museum, the Icelan- dic Sports Museum and the Min- eral Kingdom. But, alas, we had an important appointment to make: we have to pick up a renowned Akranes native, lighthouse-re- pairer Hilmar Sigvaldason. Though he made an acting de- but in ‘The Secret Life of Walter Mitty’, Hilmar is best known for his efforts to renovate and sustain Akranesviti, a large lighthouse perched on the coast of Akranes. Though it’s no longer a function- ing lighthouse, it sits next to a smaller, still-in-use lighthouse that isn’t open to the public. “Akranesviti is like my baby,” Hilmar proudly declares, as we step into the lighthouse’s lobby, which is filled with paintings, logbooks, maps, and souvenirs. He points to an artistic rendering done by a local radio station, in which the small lighthouse poses like a bodybuilder, and the bigger lighthouse squeals like a small child in Hilmar’s arms. Hilmar seems proud of his parenting skills, the ways he’s cultivated a larger, more exten- sive interest in the once-decrepit lighthouse. “People used to drink and do drugs in the lighthouse,” (More Than) Drive- Through Towns Pt. 2 Akranes: That Elf-Blue Sky Words REBECCA CONWAY Photos HREFNA BJÖRG GYLFADÓTTIR he says, “but then I decided to ap- ply for funding and fix it up.” A beacon for art and music Hilmar’s ardour for the lighthouse fell into place alongside his other interests, among them music. He notes that before his interest in the lighthouse, he mostly just listened to bands like Pink Floyd. But once he discovered the light- house’s nice acoustics, he started looking for and listening to other artists, especially local ones, in- viting them to play and record in Akranesviti. On top of concerts and record- ing sessions, the lighthouse also incorporates a series of art exhibi- tions into its three levels. As you climb the lighthouse, the exhibi- tion circles the interior, inviting you to examine the work instead of strolling past. We move up each of the floors, finally climbing through a hatch to a deck wrapped around the tip of the lighthouse. The view is stunning—on one side lie the colours and sprawl of modern-day Akranes, and on the other, a sweeping view of the ocean and the nearby mountain of Akrafjall. It’s windy and cold, but a poem on the side of the lighthouse keeps me outside for a few extra minutes. As translated by Bernard Scudder, the poem reads: Don’t I keep telling you To go easy With the pastels It could be considered Overdone Especially if The moon and the mountain Are in the frame I mean Who do you reckon would believe Those theatre-pink shadows That elf-blue sky? Most striking, especially as I type it out, is the poem’s lack of punctuation. It fits the common perception of the city perfectly: Akranes is, for many, a punctua- tion mark between Reykjavík and the places beyond. Very few people stop, and very few people want to stop; after all, it’s much easier to turn right towards Borgar- nes after the Hvalfjörður tunnel and avoid it entirely. But, just as the poem culminates in a ques- tion mark, so does our adventure. We leave with a budding curios- ity about what other treasures the city holds; wondering to what other unknown places Akranes’s rusty industrial pipes could lead. SHARE: gpv.is/akran Höfðabakki 9 - 110 Reykjavík - www.mimir.is - Tel: 580 1800 Höfðabakki 9 Entrance to Mímir-símenntun Höfðabakki 9, 110 Reykjavík Bus line no. 6 from city centre and bus line no. 12 from Breiðholt Öldugata 23, 101 Reykjavík Vesturlandsvegur Learn Icelandic this summer Location: Öldugata 23, 101 Reykjavík Registration: www.mimir.is or at the office at Höfðabakki 9, 110 Reykjavík Morning and evening classes in July and August Level 1-3 and online course level 4 Distance from Rvk 41 km How to get there: Drive route 1 to West Iceland, turn left after Hvalfjarðargöng tunnel (tunnel costs 1000 kr. each way) towards Akranes. Or just take the bus. GRAPEVINE TRAVEL 54 The Reykjavík GrapevineIssue 5 — 2016
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