Tag Archives: Travel Flashback

Swiss Ski Camps

December 24, 2017 pierrev Leave a comment

(Kingston, Ontario, Canada)

Although I have been to Switzerland a total of 20 times, I have not been there since starting this blog in early 2014. My only Swiss posts have been travel flashbacks to earlier trips. Happily, that is going to change in early 2018, as I will be returning to Switzerland for an extended ski safari.

Some of my friends having lunch outdoors, at the 1992-1993 Swiss Abroad ski camp in Splügen, Switzerland

Switzerland is an expensive destination and simple economics dictated that I ski elsewhere for the past several winters. However, I have found a way to make this work and will be skiing in both Wengen and Lenk this winter.

Me, halfway down the “Black Rock” piste above Wengen, Switzerland in 2002

Why Wengen? You may have heard of it as a stop on the World Cup ski circuit: the famous Lauberhorn piste is a real test of both daring and endurance. However, I chose Wengen this year because of the great experiences I had in the Grindelwald-Wengen-Murren region (a.k.a. “Jungfrau Ski Region”) between 1999 and 2011 with the ski camps for the Swiss Abroad.

Having lunch outside in the sun: the “Tipi” at Kleine Scheidegg, Switzerland (March 12, 1999)

The Organization for the Swiss Abroad (“Auslandschweizer-Organisation”, or “ASO” for short) organizes ski camps every year for Swiss citizens who are living abroad. I attended many of these camps and met lots of people who continue to be great friends. In fact, my current ski posse arose from the ASO camps. Some of us have been skiing together for 20 years!

Skiing by torch light down to Grindelwald (March 13, 2000)

The ASO camps feature a LOT of skiing, in addition to other sports and cultural activities. It’s a great way to connect with one’s Swiss roots…and become a much better skier. The camps tend to move around each year: I attended camps in resorts such as Splügen, Scuol, Arosa, and Grächen. However, I attended at least five such camps in Grindelwald and Wengen.

Me, in front of the Jungfrau (March 9, 1999)

This winter, I will have the opportunity to take up-to-date photos of the riotous scenery around Wengen. I will also be playing the role of guide: with all that experience, it will be a pleasure to show one of my Canadian friends some of the many highlights of these iconic mountains.

Part of my group, preparing to ski down the James Bond 007 piste from the Schilthorn to Mürren (March 11, 1999)

And the highlights are many. There is the brilliant chocolate cake at Wengernalp. There is the black-rated “007” ski run from the top of the Schilthorn (and its rotating restaurant), made famous by James Bond in “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service”. The black-rated pistes called “Oh God” and “Black Rock” that lead down from Eigergletscher also offer unforgettable challenges…partly because the scenery is so distracting! Above Grindelwald, you can watch an Alpine Ibex watching you from an impossibly high and inaccessible peak.

Avalanche! The Wetterhorn, above Grindelwald, on March 13, 2000

It goes on and on. There is the astonishing 2km sheer vertical rock face of the Eiger, which rises to a height of 3,967m: I can think of no more intimidating mountain in the world. To me, it is even more impressive than the adjacent Jungfrau, which rises even higher to 4,168m (13,675 feet). There is the car-free village of Wengen, perched on top of a cliff that plunges down 500 metres to the valley below. There is the “Tipi” at Kleine Scheidegg, where I have eaten many a sun-dappled picnic lunch outdoors…but where I am determined to have one of the freshly cooked pizzas and sausages.

About to ski down “Oh God”: March 15, 2000 (Wengen, Switzerland)

Pausing halfway down the “Oh God” piste, above Wengen (March 15, 2000)

I am really looking forward to revisiting some of these past highlights, as well as discovering new ones. To accompany today’s post, I’ve unearthed some archival photos of my Swiss Abroad ski camp experiences from 1992 to 2002.

Looking for Ibex, high above Grindelwald in the “First” ski area (2002)

Stay tuned for more on Swiss skiing…and on my evolving plans for the rest of 2018!

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Not a Travel Flashback on Skiing in Val Gardena, Italy (2013)

February 5, 2017 pierrev Leave a comment

(Kingston, Ontario, Canada)

In my last post, I said that I would dig up some photos from a 2013 ski trip to the village of Selva (in the famous Val Gardena of northern Italy) and write a “Travel Flashback” post on it. I found the photos, but have decided against a traditional “Travel Flashback” post.

Chapel in the snow, on the Sella Ronda route

I have to admit that I did write a flashback post about Val Gardena. Alas, I wasn’t very happy with the post. It has now been 4 years since visiting Val Gardena and there have been other ski trips to northern Italy in the interim. Ski trips are the ultimate in “experiential travel”: you’re not just observing, you’re interacting with the dramatic mountains. However, it’s hard to effectively convey that interaction in writing many years later, especially without any significant notes. It also would have been much different if I had not been skiing in Italy since then, as there would not have been any conflicting memories from 2014 and 2016.

Importantly, this was also one of my last trips before deciding to launch this blog. Over time, I have developed strategies for blog entries that don’t require me to spend precious vacation hours in front of a computer. I can now create the framework for a blog post in a few minutes, if necessary, and fill in the details later. Back in 2013, however, I didn’t have those strategies.

The only real travel revelation during that trip? This was the first time I had stayed for an entire week in a “half-board” (breakfast and dinner included in the cost of the room) arrangement and I was worried that the food would become tiresome after a couple of days. Not at all! The food was great at the Hotel Europa and we enjoyed getting to know the restaurant staff during the course of the week.

Our hotel in Selva (Val Gardena) – right across the street from the gondola station!

And what about the skiing? While not as challenging as the larger ski areas in Switzerland, I remember this much: there was an epic dump of snow on the third day that left us with outstanding conditions for the rest of the week. I don’t have any good photographs from that day but there is a brief video from that morning (you can link to it directly here). The powder was even deeper in the afternoon and it was difficult to leave the slopes at the end of the day.

Looking up from the lower slopes of Val Gardena

Despite not being able to create a satisfying “travel flashback” post about it, I still look back very fondly on Val Gardena. There’s something to be said for living in the moment and not spending too much of your trip thinking about blog entries.

Skiing in the dramatic Dolomites never gets old!

If you want to know more about skiing in the Val Gardena region, you can start by checking out the posts from my 2014 trip to nearby Cortina d’Ampezzo (here, here and here).

Returning to the present: our trip to Madonna di Campiglio is rapidly approaching. The next blog entry may well be from Italy!

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Travel Flashback: Stockholm (August 17, 2012)

July 9, 2016 pierrev Leave a comment

(Kingston, Ontario, Canada)

Another day, another blitz of the various attractions covered by the Stockholm Card!

We started off by visiting the Vasa ship. The Vasa was a huge, overly ornamental and excessively armed ship that was launched in Stockholm with much fanfare in 1628. Alas, with all of the bells and whistles, the engineers failed to take certain things into consideration. Foremost among those considerations: would it float? Sadly, it did not even make it out of the harbour and sunk ingloriously after a mere 20 minutes.

However, the ship was magically preserved over the centuries at the bottom of the harbour until it was rediscovered in 1956 and finally exhumed in 1961. Some restoration was obviously required but the ship now stands proudly in its own museum in downtown Stockholm. While the environment is strictly controlled and does not lend itself well to photography, it was still fascinating to see the 17th century version of the Titanic. It’s much more impressive, and perplexing, when you see it in person.

A couple of lemurs at Stockholm's Skansen open-air museum — A couple of lemurs at Stockholm’s Skansen open-air museum

Our next stop was Skansen – the “original” open-air folk museum after which many others are modelled (and sometimes even named). Alas, we were starting to grow a little weary of museums by this time and we decided to focus on Skansen’s small zoo rather than the other elements.

This lemur crossed the line and was subsequently sprayed

We spent a fair bit of time “walking among the lemurs”: there is a large area that you can walk through with about 20 of these odd creatures also wandering around. They don’t harm humans but aren’t supposed to jump on your back because it could easily become a habit for them. If they do jump on your back, a staff member will come running out and spray them with water: the lemurs don’t like that! It was strange to be hanging out with these creatures from Madagascar; we didn’t quite trust them but they also didn’t seem to be very dangerous.

Some of Skansen's primates — Some of Skansen’s primates

After observing the primates for a while (they all seemed to have those nasty-looking red behinds), we visited some of the indoor enclosures. We saw rare Cuban crocodiles there, accompanied by this text: “Since there is an embargo from American authorities regarding Cuban goods, crocodiles born in Cuba are not allowed into the U.S.A. They are regarded as communistic crocodiles, in the eyes of American authorities. On the other hand, if they are born in Sweden, they are allowed [and this is] the only way for American zoos to acquire this rare crocodile.” I wonder if this still applies, given the recent thawing in relations between Havana and Washington? You can read more about these crocodiles here: I certainly didn’t realize that they were kept in a Russian cosmonaut’s apartment for a while!

Is this a communist crocodile? — Is this crocodile a communist?

As this was our last full day in Stockholm, I pressed onward and visited the Ericsson Globe Arena. This is a famous globe-shaped sports arena towering 130 metres above Stockholm. I mention the height because I did not go inside the arena: I rode a globe-shaped “elevator” on an external track to the top! This is definitely not recommended if you are prone to vertigo but it was a nifty way to see Stockholm from a completely different perspective. Once again, the Stockholm Card covered the admission cost.

The Skyview ride to the top of the world's largest spherical building: the Ericsson Globe — The Skyview ride to the top of the world’s largest spherical building: the Ericsson Globe Arena

While I’ve got more pictures from Stockholm to share, I’m going to keep them in reserve for now. The next blog post you see will be from our 2016 journey to the Southern Hemisphere. Stay tuned to find out what I’ve been hinting about for the past couple of months!

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Travel Flashback: Stockholm (August 16, 2012)

July 3, 2016 pierrev Leave a comment

(Kingston, Ontario, Canada)

On our first day in Stockholm, we had an unforgettable experience at an international soccer game between Sweden and Brazil. However, we also found a lot of other things to like about Sweden’s capital city. Today’s post is about our second day in Stockholm.

The National Museum in Stockholm (as seen on our boat tour)

Stockholm offers a multi-day combination tourist pass called the Stockholm Card that includes all public transit, museums and a host of other attractions. We easily made it pay for itself, although we raced around at a blistering pace. We began with a tour of the Royal Palace (Kungliga Slottet), the Postmuseum and a boat tour of the downtown area. The Palace was appropriately huge and opulent; the Postmuseum included oddities such as a realistic portrait of a Swedish postal director from the early 1900s that was made entirely from postage stamps! It was one of the oddest things I’ve ever seen: kind of like a mosaic but using stamps instead of stones or pieces of glass.

The streets are very narrow in Gamla Stan (the old town) area of Stockholm

The boat tour turned out to be rather brief (it was free, after all) but it was still nice to see Stockholm from another perspective. It is built on 14 islands and, as you’ll see from my next blog post, has quite a fascinating naval history.

Mårten Trotzigs gränd - the narrowest street in Sweden — Mårten Trotzigs gränd – the narrowest street in Sweden

We worked up quite an appetite navigating the narrow streets of Gamla stan (the oldest part of Stockholm) and had a fun outdoor lunch at one of the local restaurants. Downtown restaurants generally have a lunch special (called “Dagens rätt“) with a price corresponding to the local “lunch allowance”, so we took the opportunity to have some Swedish meatballs with lingonberry sauce. In the afternoon, we went to the Nobel Museum [“Nobelmuseet“]. This was important for us to see but the last “site” of the day was, to our surprise, even more impressive.

One of the sculptures at Millesgården in Stockholm

Carl Milles was a sculptor who created most of his enduring works in the first half of the 20th century. His home overlooked downtown Stockholm and was turned into a museum after his death. The home/museum is interesting (it looks as it did during Milles’ lifetime), but almost all of his major works are outside. The complex is called Millesgården.

Another one of the ethereal sculptures at Millesgården

While he created all kinds of sculptures, Milles is best known for those that appear to defy gravity and even take flight. You can see a few of them here, as well as a very small portion of the extensively landscaped grounds overlooking Stockholm.

More of Millesgården, with some of downtown Stockholm in the background

Millesgården is relatively difficult to find, if you are based in the downtown area, but it is well worth the effort if you would like to have an unconventional art experience. While I did my best to capture them in my photographs, the sculptures are even more impressive when observed in situ. It turned out to be one of our favourite stops on our whirlwind cultural tour of Stockholm.

Stay tuned for the highly unusual next day in Stockholm: who would have thought there would be an element of Madagascar to our visit?

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Travel Flashback: More from the Road in Morocco (1996-1997)

June 25, 2016 pierrev Leave a comment

(Kingston, Ontario, Canada)

My visit to Morocco involved quite a road trip. After visiting Casablanca, Safi, Marrakech and the Oukaïmeden ski resort, we drove through the sparsely settled interior to my friends’ place in Ifrane. Ifrane is an atypical Moroccan town: it was developed as a winter sports resort and is home to a proportionately very large expatriate population. One of the reasons is the modern Al-Akhawayn University: you can see it in the picture at the top of this post.

Wow! It's Oued Ouaoumana! — Wow! It’s Oued Ouaoumana!

The long journey from Oukaïmeden to Ifrane contained two of my most vivid memories of Morocco: the discovery of a watercourse called “Oued Ouaoumana” and my very first encounter with “kefta”. The watercourse’s name highlights the fact that “W” is not a letter that occurs very often in French (the colonial language of Morocco). As for kefta…

Before the kefta caper, we had to deal with this unexplained detour... — Before the kefta caper, we had to deal with this unexplained detour…

We had been on the road for quite a while and we were all getting quite hungry. However, as we were definitely off the tourist trail, dining options were extremely limited. Near the town of Beni Mellal, we found a roadside stall (not even a shack) that appeared to be patronized by truck drivers. My friend told me that they served kefta – something I had never heard of before. He ordered some for me, explaining that they take ground raw meat and serve it in a kind of pita.

The petrol district in the town of Ifrane, Morocco — The gas station district in Ifrane, Morocco

I felt myself go very pale. I was starving but I had never been much of a red meat eater. The prospect of eating it raw from this remote, ramshackle and unrefrigerated roadside stall made me very uneasy. We were still several hours from Ifrane – wasn’t this asking for trouble? This is precisely the kind of thing that all the travel books tell you not to do! Upon receiving my order of kefta, I found out that my friend had neglected to tell me one very important fact: they do in fact cook the meat before putting it in the pita. I don’t think I have ever felt so relieved. It tasted good, too.

A view of downtown Casablanca, Morocco, with the Hassan II Mosque in the background

My trip to Morocco reinforced just how much variation (from palm trees to ski resorts!) there can be within a country, even one that is relatively small by Canadian standards. And Morocco, of course, is only one small part of a very large and diverse continent that straddles both the northern and southern hemispheres. Speaking of the southern hemisphere...it’s almost time to go! Did I mention that I might do some skiing this summer?

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Travel Flashback: Marrakech, Morocco (1996)

June 19, 2016 pierrev Leave a comment

(Kingston, Ontario, Canada)

The above photo was indeed taken on the “Road to Marrakesh”; we drove to the famous Red City after shaking off my jet lag in the coastal city of Safi. This was my first and so far only time in Africa; Marrakech (which is the local French spelling) was the first time that I felt like I was close to a desert.

The Vegetable Souq in the old part of Marrakech, Morocco

We may have been relatively close to the desert, but it was still cold. We were all wearing winter costs; in fact, after Marrakech, we would go skiing in the Atlas Mountains at Oukaïmeden. Still, despite the cool late December temperatures, I also saw my first camel on the outskirts of Marrakech.

Dinner at Stall 26, Djemaa-el-Fna, Marrakech, Morocco

I’ve never seen anything like the Djemaa-el-Fna before. It’s a huge square on the edge of the old city and is impressive during the day…but it was like another world altogether in the evening. There is sensory overload, with what seems like a massive carnival every day. There were ornately dressed water sellers, traveling musicians, hawkers of various kinds…we even saw snake charmers! It was quite cosmopolitan here, with people from all over Northern Africa, including the nomadic Tuareg (also known as the “Blue People”, as the indigo pigment from their clothing often stains their skin blue). We really felt like we were on an ancient trade route.

Very freshly squeezed orange juice at Stall 60, Djemaa-el-Fna, Marrakech, Morocco

We took full advantage of the atmospherics and ate freshly prepared street food at the market stalls. I had some kind of couscous for dinner at Stall 26 but I remember Stall 60 even better. Here, I had freshly squeezed orange juice from local oranges…it was, without question, the best orange juice I have ever had. There is definitely something to be said for eating and drinking locally!

My friends with our guide "Hajj", in Marrakech, Morocco — My friends with our guide “Hajj”, in Marrakech, Morocco

As Marrakech attracts a lot of travellers and Morocco had rather high unemployment at the time, anybody who looked like a tourist was persistently accosted upon nearing the old city. They didn’t want to harm us…they just wanted to be our guide. It was often a rather hard-sell approach. The old city is very confusing and it is a good idea to have somebody with you, at least for your first trip inside. Of course, they are motivated to bring you to certain shops where they will get a commission if you buy something, but having a guide also stops other potential guides from soliciting your business.

Inside the Medersa in Marrakech, Morocco

To avoid making a bad decision, we hired a trusted and licensed guide through our hotel. “Hajj” took us through various souqs and made sure we got back to our hotel safely. We went back to Djemaa-el-Fna on our own later and spent quite a bit of time at the perimeter politely declining assistance. Djemaa-el-Fna itself is not difficult to get around so it wasn’t necessary to have a guide for that. Once we were inside the square, the soliciting stopped.

I’ll have one more post on Morocco soon. As for the vague clues I gave in my previous blog post about our summer travel destination, I can give one more: we are not going to the Olympics!

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Travel Flashback: Roman Ruins in…Morocco! (1997)

June 5, 2016 pierrev Leave a comment

(Kingston, Ontario, Canada)

In addition to skiing in Morocco, I also had the equally unexpected opportunity to visit Roman ruins while there.

The ruined city of Volubilis is located about 33 km from the Moroccan city of Meknès and within an hour’s walk of the town of Moulay Idriss. Volubilis was one of the most remote outposts of the Roman Empire and was at its prime in the second and third centuries (A.D.).

The "Capitol" of Volubilis, as seen from the Basilica — The “Capitol” of Volubilis, as seen from the Basilica

In stark contrast to most Roman ruins in Europe, Volubilis was virtually unvisited by tourists. Perhaps it was the time of year, but we had the place almost to ourselves. And it was big: not quite as big as Ostia Antica perhaps, but it definitely had more of the large, ornate public buildings that we associate with the Roman Empire at its peak.

Picnicking among the ruins at Volubilis, Morocco

Unlike Ostia Antica (and probably Pompeii), there were very few tourist services at Volubilis. We came prepared, however, with a picnic consisting largely of fresh bread, olives and mineral water. We ate right in the ruins themselves: other than prohibitions against walking on the mosaics, I don’t recall any parts being closed off to visitors. It was quite special to eat food that the ancient Romans themselves likely ate at that very spot nearly 2,000 years ago.

In front of the Basilica at Volubilis, Morocco. This photo has not yet graced the cover of a best-selling album.

As my friend and I were in a band, we took a number of pictures with a view to turning them into album covers some day. Needless to say, these were not always sombre views reflecting on the decline of an ancient empire. However, a few songs (notably the cult classic “I am Volubilis”) did eventually result from our visit.

I quite enjoyed the less-visited parts of Morocco. I didn’t feel very comfortable in the big city of Casablanca (which is definitely nothing like the movie of the same name) but smaller places like Azrou and Safi were very welcoming. I’ll dig through my archives to find some more (non-digital) photos of Morocco and share more of my recollections from this most interesting destination.

Here, you can see some of the mosaics (completely exposed to the elements) of Volubilis.

Before signing off, I just have to share something that I read this week in a rather widely-read travel magazine. A very brief article on Martha’s Vineyard (in the New England region of the U.S.) purported to provide “some packing inspiration for a classic New England getaway”. Believe it or not, the packing list included Hermes shorts ($3,775), Van Cleef and Arpels earrings ($7,250), Tiffany & Co. bracelets ($36,000 and $30,000), and a Dolce & Gabbana handbag ($3,695). All prices are in U.S. dollars.

The Casablanca Voyageurs railway station on January 6, 1997

With articles like these, no wonder people think traveling is too expensive for them! Unfortunately, a lot of travel writing is like that. Don’t be scared off by such recommendations: they won’t make your trip any better…and they will likely make you more vulnerable to theft.

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Travel Flashback: Reykjavik and Traditional Icelandic Food (2008)

May 22, 2016 pierrev Leave a comment

(Kingston, Ontario, Canada)

As I’ve mentioned a few times in my blog, Iceland has a very small population and the majority of it is in the capital city of Reykjavik. So what’s it really like?

Unfortunately, I don’t have much to show you. This was the very first destination with my digital camera and I didn’t anticipate that I would ever be writing a blog about it. However, upon reviewing my photos of Reykjavik I realized that almost all of them were dominated by a large umbrella, as it was raining for almost our entire visit.

The Bautinn in Akureyri, Iceland - we ate dinner here once — The Bautinn in Akureyri, Iceland – we ate dinner here

We spent a lot of time indoors in Reykjavik. I wasn’t going to include the photograph below, which was clearly not taken with my usual care, until I realized that there really wasn’t much blog-appropriate photography from Reykjavik. Most of the photos in today’s post are from elsewhere in Iceland.

Part of the cafeteria menu at Reykjavik's bus station — Part of the cafeteria menu at Reykjavik’s bus station

Many travel guides spend considerable time describing some of the more unusual traditional Icelandic foods. Iceland was once a poor country and it was necessary to eat whatever was available. As you can see from the Svið (sheep’s head) in the above menu, some of those traditional items have managed to stay popular today. I took a look at the Svið (which does not include the brain) but did not actually have any.

At one of the big markets in Reykjavik, we encountered the legendary hákarl: putrefied meat from the Greenland shark. It has to be buried underground and allowed to ferment for a couple of months because the meat in its “original” form is toxic to humans. The poisons include uric acid…it seems that this particular shark urinates through its skin. However, the fermentation process, followed by another extended period of air-drying, removes the toxins from the meat and it becomes edible.

Buildings near the harbour in Húsavík, Iceland

I did not try hákarl either: while it may not have been toxic, it apparently smells like very strong ammonia and rotten cheese…and can cause gagging for the uninitiated. At the market, we could not smell it because it was kept tightly sealed. Given the way it was presented at the market, it did seem to be aimed more at adventurous tourists than at everyday Icelanders.

Another traditional item I did try was Brennivín. It is the equivalent of brandy, as the name translates into English as “burning wine.” It is actually a powerful schnapps-like drink made from fermented potatoes and caraway seeds. Many travel writers speak poorly of it (indeed, its nickname is “Black Death”) but I enjoyed it enough to bring some home from the airport’s duty free shoppe.

I also developed a taste for chocolate-covered licorice in Iceland: like most northern European countries, Iceland is crazy about licorice and there are many different ways to enjoy it. I later had a variation on this theme in Finland (licorice-covered chocolate, which I liked even more) but it was in Iceland where I first discovered and enjoyed this unusual combination of sweet and salty. If you like dark chocolate with sea salt, you will surely enjoy the combination of chocolate and licorice!

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Travel Flashback: Urban Life in Northern Iceland (2008)

May 15, 2016 pierrev Leave a comment

(Kingston, Ontario, Canada)

Akureyri is the “capital” of the northern part of Iceland and is, in fact, the second largest urban area in the country. However, its population is still less than 20,000! Iceland is indeed a sparsely populated country, with just over 300,000 people altogether (most of whom are in the Reykjavik area).

The Akureyrarkirkja ("Akureyri Church) in downtown Akureyri — The Akureyrarkirkja (“Akureyri Church”) in downtown Akureyri

Akureyri feels bigger (at least in summer), as it is a major transportation and administrative hub. We spent 5 nights here in 2008: the main reason was to have a base for our day trips to the Lake Mývatn region (see this post, that post, and still another post), Grímsey and the Arctic Circle, and the fishing town of Húsavík. There weren’t really any specific “must see” sites in Akureyri, but we ate a lot of meals here and enjoyed making it our home.

Deep inside Akureyri's botanical gardens — Deep inside Akureyri’s botanical gardens

There were some surprises. Even though Akureyri is almost at 66 degrees north, it had botanical gardens! As there were very few trees left anywhere in Iceland, we really enjoyed getting some shade and seeing some plant variety here. We also spent an evening watching what was presumably a professional soccer game. The quality was uneven but the sparse crowd was very enthusiastic.

I spent a little time at Akureyri's soccer stadium — I spent a little time at Akureyri’s soccer stadium

While we were in Akureyri, the 2008 Olympics were taking place. I’ve never seen so much handball before…and I was quite surprised at the physicality of the game! Iceland is handball-crazy and they participate in many international competitions. Even so, it was remarkable how well they did in Beijing: they won the Olympic silver medal! Considering the size of the country, this has to rank as one of the greatest Olympic achievements. They lost 28-23 in the gold medal match to France: a country with 200 times the population of Iceland.

Exterior of the Bláa Kannan in downtown Akureyri

As in Reykjavik, relief from the then-extortionate costs of eating in Iceland was found in Akureyri’s Thai restaurants. We also enjoyed some relatively inexpensive times at a café called the Bláa Kannan. As the name suggests, it was very blue…and also very cozy. Who would have expected to see a Parisian-style café in Akureyri? Unfortunately, we were not able to find a cheap way to do our laundry in Akureyri: at $50 (in 2008 dollars), it remains by far our most expensive laundering experience!

We had lunch at the Salka Restaurant in Húsavík

We went on a day-trip to Húsavík (see photo at the top of this post) just to experience a smaller town in northern Iceland. It’s known among tourists mainly for whale-watching but, after our “unsettling” experience sailing to Grímsey, we confined our visit to the town itself. As with Akureyri, it may have been relatively small but it was certainly not narrow-minded. We easily spent a couple of hours in one of the local museums. Actually, we were impressed throughout Iceland with the level of literacy and linguistic proficiency. Everybody seemed to be reading books!

Rough-looking bar at the harbour in downtown Húsavík

While Iceland’s main attractions remain its natural wonders, even its smaller urban areas are enjoyable. Stay tuned for the next post, where I’ll be taking a look at Reykjavik, Iceland’s edgy metropolis!

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Travel Flashback – Still more from the Lake Mývatn region of Iceland (2008)

February 23, 2016 pierrev Leave a comment

(Kingston, Ontario, Canada)

Iceland, despite its cold name, is actually the closest I’ve ever been to the scalding centre of the earth. The last part of our day in the Lake Mývatn region brought that into sharp focus, as we walked back and forth across the very place where the North American and the European continental plates collide.

Collision of the North American (left) and European (right) continental plates at Grjótagjá

This collision isn’t just theoretical: you can see the gap! At Dimmuborgir (see previous post), we were able to place one foot each in North America and Europe, as the gap was only about two feet wide. Later that day, at Grjótagjá, the gap was larger and it would take some substantial gymnastics to straddle the continents. However, you can also explore the famous caves here just below the surface. Like a couple of other places that I’ve seen recently, Grjótagjá has been used in the TV series “Game of Thrones”.

I can’t promise that you would still be able to straddle the continents at these precise locations. The continental plates are moving apart slowly but surely and the landscape is changing over time. However, tourism is quite important to this part of Iceland and I’m sure that there will still be access to the colliding continents…even if it is a little further down the road.

The Viti crater at Krafla (note people at top of far rim)

Speaking of “just down the road”, that’s also the location of the massive volcanic crater at Krafla called “Víti”. In Icelandic, “Víti” means “hell” and it is not difficult to see why that name was applied here. This is the same crater that resulted in the lava flows reaching the village of Reykjahlíð in the early 1700s. While there is a trail that goes around the rim of the crater, we did not have time to walk on it. We were at least able to ascend to the rim and take some photographs. While all this volcanic activity might be kind of scary for building anything, there is in fact a geothermal power station here…you can see some of the (above-ground) infrastructure at the top of this post and in the photo below!

On the way back from Krafla, we stopped at yet another outdoor thermal pool: the Mývatn Nature Baths at Jarðbaðshólar. This is similar to the Blue Lagoon (near Reykjavík), as you can enjoy the outdoor pool at any time of year; it’s also very close to a 3 km deep geothermal borehole.

This borehole goes 3km into the earth — This geothermal borehole goes 3km into the earth – we couldn’t get any closer because of the extreme heat

Finally, after three blog entries’ worth of sights, it was time to return to Akureyri. We loved our time in Akureyri and I’m sure that it will be the subject of a future flashback post on this blog. There won’t be many more flashbacks in the near future, however: it’s almost time to cross the Atlantic again. Be sure to check back here regularly for the whole story; I am looking forward to blogging in real time again!

Pierre Vanderhout's Travel Blog

Tag Archives: Travel Flashback

Swiss Ski Camps

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Travel Flashback – Still more from the Lake Mývatn region of Iceland (2008)

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The Odyssey Continues…

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The Odyssey Continues…