Seltjarnarnes is one of my favorite spots to go for an easy seaside stroll (or midnight golf) as well as for an almost guaranteed great photo or two. This shot, taken at midnight on a lovely June evening, is of Nesstofa, a 1760's fusion of Danish architectural expertise and Icelandic esthetics. It currently houses the Medical History Museum of Iceland and has recently been the focus of an archeological investigation.
For anyone coming here I highly recommend you pick up a copy of the very popular 25 Beautiful Walks of the Greater Reykjavik Area, which I had the pleasure to translate into English, and which includes a wonderful and detailed description of the nature and history of this area (and the website selling it online, nammi.is, is pretty cool itself, though of course you can also find it in all bookstores here on the island.)
Have you tried Dynamic Viewing yet? Five new views in all. Use the blue tab at the top of the view page to check them all out : )
9 comments:
Hi! my name is Silvia! I'm going to visit IceLand in august and I like your blog! Pictures are great and also the informations! :-)
Seltjarnarnes was definitely a beautiful place to take a walk and photos... Very nice light in this photo.
Hello, Silvia! Thanks for the compliment : ) I know you'll have a great time on your visit.
Vaido...this house is of course originally bone white, so the setting midnight sun does cast a wonderful rosy glow over it, yes?
Just spotted the "esoteric and inviting" in your header - new? Totally agreeing with inviting - but what do you exactly mean with esoteric?
A normally very silent reader from Switzerland, not esoteric at all, but adoring your coountry, suffering from 32 degrees right now and dreaming of the 8 - 12 degrees you're enjoying ...
Hahaha, good question, a.more.s! Aside from liking the look and feel of the word, I think it suits nicely what my "angle" is on Iceland Eyes. I don't mean esoteric in the crafty black arts kind of way, but more in that I try to discover the more curious angles and moments of life here in Reykjavik, and really enjoy finding, gathering and sharing links that no other online sources are offering in one package.
There are quite a few blogs and sites and feeds about life here in Iceland these days. I challenged myself recently to define what I'm adding to the equation, or what I've been up to with this blog for the past seven years.
The core concept has always been that I see my Iceland both as a visitor, or ex-pat, having grown up in California, but also as a local who has insider knowledge of Icelandic culture, since my parents were both born and raised here. So esoteric in the sense that I see what maybe only a select few see about life here, and I share it with those who are interested.
Though my text is generally short, I put effort into finding the best sites to link to, the most appropriate and/or the most obscure. A post only a few lines long can take an hour to craft because I want to be informative but also intelligent about what I'm sharing.
For example, when Egypt was going through it's turmoil this winter I wanted to give them a shout out of sorts. I had already happened upon a nice but simple shot of two palm trees in Perlan (www.icelandeyes.blogspot.com/2011/02/palms.html) which was a little bit of an iside joke for me because of this post www.icelandeyes.blogspot.com/2007/12/palm.html from back in 2007, so all I needed was something to write. I googled "Iceland Egypt" and lo! found a book online called Egypt and Iceland in the Year 1874. I hit the gold mine! And then the second link, about the Lakagígar eruption just fell into place nicely given the relatively recent Eyjafjallajökull drama. It's not light reading, the geological text, but it is fascinating, and I never would have known about it if I hadn't just followed the rabbit into the depths of the interwebs rabbit hole. Lastly, I was able to fold some politics and a link to one of our more feisty politicians, Birgitta, into the mix (she's all wrapped up in the Assang/Wikileaks/CIA Twitter thing.)
So the short answer is, I think I'm offering more intelligent and interesting stuff than the next tourist-focused site. I don't post for tourists, or to bust out clichés. I post for people like you who might want just a little slice of island life, but who may also enjoy going a bit deeper (and who ask very informed and intelligent questions!)
(oh, and you can definitely send some of your sunshine over here...we'll swap weather for a bit!)
What an answer - thanks a lot! Well, as a tourist who wants to go a little bit deeper I try to follow some rules ... One: no short-time visits. Two: no limited-time visits. Three: not as many regions/places as possible - only a few, or just one ... Four: no day-to-day pre-planning, no organized travelling. Five: travelling without somebody on your side - I'm sorry to say that, but it's true - allows to get the chance of big slices instead of tiny little bits&pieces. Six: listen to insiders, residents (like Iceland Eyes, clausiniceland, Alda Kalda, litlihjalli, the people at and around Finnbogastaðaskóli ...). Seven: drop all the travel-guide-books - just read ICELANDERS, by Sigurgeir Sigurjónsson & Unnur Jökulsdóttir; a beautiful non-tourist-book for really interested people.
Well, I will have to break some of these rules this summer: for the first time in three years visiting Iceland I will bring my family with me (including 2 kids). Of course I will enjoy it!
Excellent set of travel guidelines! And yes, the writers you mention are the ones I pay attention to as well : )
Oh, your adventure is going to be so different with kids! I wish you all the best on your trip (and if you get a good photo or two, let me know. Maybe we can post it here... ; )
Thank you - I once found some good advice for "Iceland with kids" on your website - concerning photos: I have some on flickr - but as there are different opinions about what is a "good" photo or not, I leave it up to others to judge ...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/49609719@N00/collections/72157606342589582/
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