{"id":2362,"date":"2017-07-11T13:03:53","date_gmt":"2017-07-11T17:03:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/sla2017\/?p=2362"},"modified":"2017-07-12T10:03:29","modified_gmt":"2017-07-12T14:03:29","slug":"reykjavik","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/sla2017\/2017\/07\/11\/reykjavik\/","title":{"rendered":"Reykjav\u00edk"},"content":{"rendered":"

G\u00f3\u00f0an Daginn!<\/p>\n

During my time in Iceland, I am living in the country’s capital, Reykjav\u00edk, and attending class during the week at the H\u00e1sk\u00f3li \u00cdslands (University of Iceland). As mentioned in last week’s blog, Reykjav\u00edk is often translated as “Bay of Smoke,” though some Icelanders prefer the translation “Bay of Steam” because the city was named long ago for the steamy vapor which spread from nearby hot springs (fun fact: the verb\u00a0reykja\u00a0<\/em>means “to smoke” in modern Icelandic). \u00a0About two thirds of Iceland’s population of around 340,000 live in the city’s greater metropolitan area. \u00a0However, a steady influx of tourists (over 2 million a year!) makes the city and its environs a hustling and bustling place. \u00a0New construction projects seem to be cropping up everywhere! \u00a0The Icelanders tell me these are mostly going to be new hotels. \u00a0However, other kinds of new businesses are also coming into the area; Iceland’s first Costco just opened in May and has been immensely popular.<\/p>\n

The city has an artistic flair, with intricate paintings decorating several of the buildings downtown. \u00a0Many of these buildings house tourist shops which sell traditional Icelandic wool sweaters, puffin stuffed animals, and viking- themed paraphernalia.<\/p>\n

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The architecture in the city alternates between the quaint, traditional Scandinavian brightly-painted houses and the structures of modern minimalism. \u00a0In the picture below, you can see how a ultra-modern building has incorporated the more organic-looking Viking interlace pattern into its wood door. \u00a0The top scene depicts Ing\u00f3lfr Arnarson (the first settler of the city) retrieving his high-seat pillars on the shore; around 874 he had cast his high-seat pillars (objects of great symbolic significance) from his boat and determined that he would settle wherever they landed on the shore.<\/p>\n

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One of the most important recent construction projects in Reykjav\u00edk was the completion of Harpa in 2011. \u00a0Harpa is a concert hall designed to evoke Iceland’s landscape visually and to be energy efficient. Construction began in 2007, but the project became delayed with the financial crisis of 2008. \u00a0The government decided to finance the completion of the building. \u00a0Icelanders are extremely proud of this unique and beautiful structure. \u00a0Its largest hall, Eldborg, seats 1,800 people and is named for one of Iceland’s volcanic craters.<\/p>\n

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Harpa, to the right of the photo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Near Harpa one can find “Grandi” and the traditional fishing district, a waterfront area with lots of food options (as well as whale-watching tour boats nearby, of course).<\/p>\n

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Though it is Iceland’s largest urban center, Reykjav\u00edk enjoys its own spectacular views-not only of its bay and the North Atlantic- but also of the mountains close by.<\/p>\n

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View of Mount Esja from city harbor<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

If you are not such an enthusiastic fish eater, there are\u00a0pylsa\u00a0<\/em>(hot dog) stands all over the city. \u00a0I think they are best with onions (fried or raw) and an Icelandic mayonnaise-based sauce. \u00a0Yum!<\/p>\n

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One of Reykjav\u00edk’s most striking structures is Hallgr\u00edmskirkja (Hallgrim’s Church), and many tourists ascend the tower to look down on the city and see the surrounding nature. \u00a0For reasons unclear to me, there is a statue of Leif Erikson (considered the first European to discover North America) right in front of the Church. \u00a0This statue was a gift from the United States to Iceland in 1930, commemorating the 1000 year anniversary of Iceland’s governing body, the\u00a0Al\u00feingi.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

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Me at Hallgr\u00edmskirkja with the statue of Leif<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After a hard day’s work, who wouldn’t want to grab a bite at Drekinn (“The Dragon”)?<\/p>\n

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G\u00f3\u00f0an Daginn! During my time in Iceland, I am living in the country’s capital, Reykjav\u00edk, and attending class during the week at the H\u00e1sk\u00f3li \u00cdslands (University of Iceland). As mentioned in last week’s blog, Reykjav\u00edk is often translated as “Bay of Smoke,” though some Icelanders prefer the translation “Bay of Steam” because the city was … Continue reading Reykjav\u00edk<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2540,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12678],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2362","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-iceland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/sla2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2362","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/sla2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/sla2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/sla2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2540"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/sla2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2362"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/sla2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2362\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2383,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/sla2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2362\/revisions\/2383"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/sla2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2362"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/sla2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2362"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/sla2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2362"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}