Iceland review - 2015, Page 113

ICELAND REVIEW 111
SPECIAL PROMOTION MUSEUMS
Location: Brákarbraut 13-15, 310 Borgarnes
Website: landnam.is
Tel: +354 437-1600
Opening hours: 10:00-21:00 all year
THE SETTLEMENT CENTRE
The Settlement Centre in Borgarnes is an hour’s drive from Reykjavík.
Its award-winning exhibitions highlight the settlement of Iceland as
told through the sagas, and especially the saga of Viking poet Egill
Skalla-Grímsson, who settled the region. Viewing each exhibition
takes about 30 minutes and audio guides are available in 14 languag-
es. Inside the center is also a restaurant, serving delicious meals at
reasonable prices, café and gift shop. A visit to the center will add
context to historical sites and make stories fall into place while trav-
eling the country.
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Location: Garðar, 300 Akranes
Website: museum.is Tel: +354 431-5566
Opening hours: Jun 1-Aug 31: 10:00-17:00,
Sep 1-May 31: 13:00-17:00
Akranes is only a 40-minute drive from Reykjavík. The museum area
includes exhibitions about farming, housekeeping, the fisherman’s
life and social conditions in and around Akranes in times past. Boats
and ships are on display and the museum offers information on
sports in Iceland and Iceland’s mineral kingdom.
Also part of the museum are the two Akranes lighthouses. The
bigger one, which is currently in use, is open daily from 10:00-16:00.
Visitors can observe the photography exhibition in the lighthouse
and enjoy the view from the tower.
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AKRANES
MUSEUM CENTRE
Location: near Mosfellsbær
Tel: + 354 586-8066
Website: gljufrasteinn.is
Opening hours: Jun 1-Aug 31: 9:00-17:00,
Sep 1-May 31: 10:00–16:00, closed Mondays. Closed on week-
ends Jan-Feb, Nov-Dec. Group tours available by appointment.
Gljúfrasteinn was the home of writer Halldór Laxness (Nobel Prize in
Literature 1955) and his family. The house is now a museum, where
the author’s home is preserved just as it was when he lived and
worked there. An icon to literature lovers around the world, Halldór
Laxness is Iceland’s most famous modern author and his fascinat-
ing—not to mention beautiful—house is just as he left it.
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GLJÚFRASTEINN
Location: Hamraborg 6a, Kópavogur
Tel: + 354 441-7200 Website: natkop.is
Opening hours: Mon-Thu: 10:00-19:00,
Fri: 11:00-17:00, Sat: 13:00-17:00
NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM
OF KÓPAVOGUR
All nature lovers will find something of interest at the Natural History
Museum of Kópavogur. With two distinct sections dedicated to geol-
ogy and zoology, the museum broadly tells the story of how Iceland
came to exist and what it is made of, and the story of the mammals,
birds, fish and invertebrates that now call it their home, not to forget
the weird and wonderful marimo, or ‘lake balls.’ This is also an active
research center with a focus on aquatic ecology in its broadest sense.
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