Iceland trek: Warmth of Reykjavik radiates through the winter cold

The sweet, almost angelic strains of Joni Mitchell’s River being sung in Icelandic is a sound that pierces the heart. But hearing powerhouse pop songs in that Nordic language stirs something deep within the gut.

Discovering Reykjavik and all of its charms is a full body experience.

In the dead of winter, it’s also a surreal one as the city only gets about four and a half hours of sunlight a day. It’s an odd sensation to spend most of your time sightseeing in the dark, illuminated only between 11 and 3:30 p.m. each day. You need to time your excursions so you catch the sunrise and sunset at the best spots for photos.

And that can be practically anywhere in this picturesque city on the shores of the North Atlantic Ocean. In December, it best resembles a porcelain Christmas village nestled inside a snow globe. Quaint houses constructed of timber, corrugated iron, bricks and stone and painted various colours brighten up the cold while city shops and restaurants beckon with their twinkling Christmas lights.

While summer is the peak time for tourists, visiting Reykjavik and Iceland in winter assures you of less crowds and some off-season deals. You’ll also feel pretty hardy — almost like an Icelander — bundled up in your parka, woollen tuque and mitts trundling along the stone streets and coastline first discovered by Norse explorers at the end of the ninth century.

That ancient Viking history and unique mythology has been drawing visitors in record numbers, ever since the 2010 eruption of  the Eyjafjallajökull volcano in southern Iceland. The massive ash cloud forced the cancellation of 100,000 flights in northern Europe which then sparked a massive social media campaign to combat the negative publicity. That, coupled with a devalued Icelandic currency as a result of the 2008 world financial crisis, turned what could have been a disaster into a boom.

According to the Icelandic Tourist Board, foreign visitors have quadrupled since then. Iceland’s 488,600 tourists in 2010 grew to 2.3 million in 2018. From November 2018 to October 2019, it dropped to 2,016,850 visitors, with the largest decreases coming from Canada and the U.S. — its biggest market.

Iceland’s wild landscape of geysers, glaciers, lagoons and waterfalls attract many visitors who hike and camp in the countryside. You can drive around the rim of the country although the roads can sometimes be hazardous in winter. Many of the outlying towns and villages have campgrounds where you can pitch a tent or park a rental camper van. While parts of the island are inaccessible except to heli-hikers, there are plenty of special sights you can hit on a driving holiday, including locations used in the filming of the popular Game of Thrones series.

But even a two- or three-day visit or stopover in Reykjavik is rewarding. Visually the city is beautiful, its people are warm and welcoming and the culture is intriguing. Nordic myths infuse much of life here, from the digital yule Lads seen climbing on walls around the city centre at Christmastime to the trolls said to be living in a large stone in a neighbourhood park. Even the scary Christmas Cat, whose mythical premise is to eat people who don’t get new clothes for Christmas, has a cameo appearance on a downtown street over the holidays.

There are humble cafes and five-star restaurants, coffee shops on every corner and plenty of hopping bars with live music where you might just catch well-known Icelandic pop singer Dagur Siggurdson playing to a packed house. The sweet Joni Mitchell song came courtesy of a young employee at Flyover Iceland who sang for the Christmas crowds.

There are several must-see sites in Reykjavik, such as the stunning architectural wonders of the Harpa Concert Hall and  Hallgrimskirkja Lutheran Church. Harpa resembles a glass honeycomb while the church, which took 41 years to build, was  modelled after Iceland’s rocks, mountains and glaciers. From some angles, it resembles the imposing prow of a Viking ship. At 74.5 metres high, you can see the whole city spread out below from its top observation deck. To the northwest, you’ll see the old harbour and dry docks of Grandi, which makes a great base from which to explore.

The FlyOver Iceland attraction, which opened in summer 2019, helped spur the change in the historic Grandi district. A once-thriving fishing harbour, it’s still used as a port for trawlers and whaling operations (both sightseeing and fishing). Long rows of former fishing sheds have been converted into boutique uses. There’s Jens Grandagarði, a family-run jewelry shop where they craft one-of-a kind pieces from lava, steel and Indigenous stones; the Matarbúrið butcher shop; Coocoo’s Nest sourdough pizza restaurant, Valdís ice cream parlour, and breweries like Bryggjan Brewery. Kaffivagninn, a coffee shop and restaurant that served decades of fishermen now dishes up simple meals for tourists and locals alike. Down the street is Grandi Mathol, an old fish factory that is now a popular food hall with lamb chops, keto pizza, seafood, Korean and burgers on the menu. Nearby is the fascinating and well-stocked Maritime Museum. And slightly further along is the Marshall House, a former fish meal factory renovated into a cultural centre with a large gallery and exhibit space where Danish-Icelandic sculptural artist Ólafur Elíasson can sometimes be found working on a new piece.

“For me, this is the meat-packing district, except we don’t have meat, we have fish,” said Sigurgeir Guðlaugsson, chairman of the board of Esja Attractions ehf, a partner in the nearby FlyOver Iceland attraction. “But it’s a similar concept to New York, to Copenhagen, where they have those old industrial neighbourhoods that have converted into a major tourist attraction. I would say this is the hottest — not today when it’s cold outside — but this is the hottest area in town right now, absolutely.”

“There’s so much potential. It’s amazing how much has been done with this area in such a short time.”