Places we’ve loved: Akureyri, Iceland

4 Comments

View approaching Akureyri, Iceland (Hint: It doesn’t suck.)

Blonde was fortunate enough to win a trip to Iceland courtesy of SadCars.  Brunette has a highly uncooperative respiratory system that would clearly have gone on strike in the chilly climate of Iceland. Luckily we have a third “honorary” sister, “Pinky”. (OK “Pinky” refers to  {some of} her  hair color. You should respectfully  think of her as Nola of NewTake Travel but we identify by hair color on this blog so she’ll just have to go by our rules.

The day Pinky and Blonde were driving to Akureyri we were making our way from our previous stop of Hvammstangi (easy for you to say). Pinky is appallingly well-organized and had done an impeccable job of routing our journey and predicting how long each day’s drive would take. In the world of logic (which has nothing to do with driving in Iceland) we had a 2 hour and 50 minute drive. This was our third driving day so we knew by now to take the predicted time and, at a minimum, double it.  The scenery is so spectacular everywhere you look that if you don’t stop to take pictures every ten minutes you shouldn’t be driving at all because you obviously lack vision.

According to the official website for tourism in Akureyri : “Akureyri is in north-east Iceland, in one of the longest fjords in the country and is surrounded by mountains reaching 1000-1500 m. The Arctic Circle in only 60 km north of Akureyri but  the climate is generally mild, with summer temperatures up to 25°C and winter temperatures in average around 0˚C.  It is also the second largest urban area  the capital, Reykjavík, with a population of roughly 18.000.”  It’s also very pretty, friendly and has good food and a lot of fun activities in the area.

When we finally reached Akureyri we fairly easily found our hotel, the Icelandair Hotel Akureyri. The trip we won included a tent and a camping card. As two urban gals we at first thought we’d give it a try.  After 6 minutes  (max) of considering that we decided to book hotels for some nights and Pinky managed, in record time, to arrange a home exchange for our time in Reykjavik.

The two stays we had booked at Icelandair Hotels were going to be our high-end experiences. And they were, although this one had some odd characteristics. The primary one was that in our room with two single beds there was a shower at the end of one of the beds – basically a curtain and a drain and a tiled wall.  Beside the other bed was a small room with a toilet and sink.  Many giggles ensued over this. A fair bit of consternation was experienced as we tried to navigate the hotel’s  poorly performing wi-fi that they charge to use. After enough complaints the nice, beleagured man at the front desk scrounged up a couple free passes and mollified us.

Lobby of IcelandAir Hotel in Akureyri – odd room configuration and annoying internet aside, it was a nice place and beat the hell out of a tent.

The next morning we were scheduled,  as part of the contest winnings from SadCars, to go on  a horseback ride at the seaside, family run  Skjaldarvik farm. They have Icelandic horses (guess it would be odd if they had Tennessee Walking Horses). They also have very comforting guides, a fact much appreciated by Blonde whose last horseback ride had resulted in her being thrown and landing on her head on a tree stump. Getting out of that relatively unscathed (permanently  painful pretzel neck was a small price to pay), but tempting fate twice didn’t seem to be very smart. But then, Blonde isn’t very smart and the person reassuring her that she could handle the horse ride was the 11-year-old daughter of the horse farm owners. Who wants to be scared to do what an 11-year-old does? Or at least wants to have other people know she’ scared?

 

11 year old daughter of Skjaldarvik horse farm’s owners

The farm is also an “Iceland Farm Holidays” property and as we bumbled through post horseride, searching for WCs,  it looked very charming.  They have a restaurant which is important because otherwise you would have to drive to town for food. If we pass this way again this place will definitely be on the “to stay” list.

But there wasn’t lunch at the restaurant that day so we headed back to town and had a very Icelandic lunch at the lovely Strikid restaurant. We were wusses and ate inside although it was a nice day. It was a tad breezy for us, so much for faking being rugged Icelanders (not that anyone was ever fooled anyway).

Blonde bravely ordered the Beef-Goose-Reindeer- Icelandic Cheddar burger. It was good, if a tad overdone. Perhaps reindeer carpaccio would be a better choice next time. Or maybe not.

Part of the menu at Strikid

Akureyri has quite a few other excellent restaurants. We also enjoyed a meal at Rub 23 and excellent pastries and coffee at the Bláa Kannan coffee house.

They didn’t rub us the wrong way. (Hey, they can’t all be good jokes!)

Bláa Kannan coffee house in Akureyri, Iceland – a great place to waste time and gain weight and use free wi-fi!

Akureyri also is a fairly hip city, as is most of urban Iceland. (That’s sort of an Icleand joke because there isn’t much of Iceland that can be seriously referred to as being “urban”.)  This is just an example of some street art we happened upon in a skate park.

Back to the tourism site: “The city has a wide range of activities and interesting places e.g.  museums, the world’s most northerly botanic garden, one of Iceland’s most popular swimming facilities (brrrr) , an 18-hole golf course, the best skiing area in the country and  good hiking trails. It also has a free city bus“.

After an all too brief two day visit we left for our next stop, Egilsstadir. The good and bad news was that once again the beautiful scenery was, well, beautiful, but the time to drive was double what we expected. If you’re heading to Iceland (and you should be, it’s delightful) plan to double all of your estimates for driving times, the cost of food and the fun you’ll have. Oh, and don’t miss Akureyri!

Leaving Akureyri, Iceland