The kids’ big pool day dawned bright and early – and very, very damp.
No matter. We’ll just have to make the best of it, regardless of how it might impact our plans for the Akureyri swimming pool. Iceland is not known for crumpling at the sight of bad weather, so we’re hopeful that a little water won’t get in the way of today’s plans.
Off to breakfast at Ketilkaffi this morning, a café located in the Akureyri Art Museum. Sadly, the museum itself doesn’t open til noon – and our dance card is full today – but it’s still nice to visit the bright, modern space:
Photo Credit: Angelo Brambilla, TripAdvisor
On the way, however, we notice that there seem to be very few visitors indeed at the Akureyri swimming pool – and seemingly no lifeguards at the top of the waterslides. We do a bit of research to see whether the slides closed today, but can’t seem to get a definitive answer.
We also encounter one of Akureyri’s knitted garbage-eaters:
Art should spur a reaction, and this certainly does!
Anyway – back to breakfast, where my son and I get the bacon and eggs:
Tasty, but a little heavy with both the salt and the butter – it tasted like movie theatre popcorn
My wife gets the avocado toast and our daughter gets the French toast (not pictured).
I swing by the swimming pool on the way back to the hotel, and confirm that the water slides are up and running. Excellent.
We gather up our swimming gear then return to the pool, which is less than a 5 minute walk from the hotel. Cost for the pool is extremely reasonable – less than CAD$30 for all of us – and there are towels and even bathing suits for rent if needed, though we have brought our own microfibre towels. Year-round passes are available for less than CAD$500 for an adult, and less than CAD$35 for a child. There is a reason why we (briefly) considered moving to Iceland during our first visit in 2018.
As usual in Iceland, guests are required to take a shower without their swimsuit prior to entering – and no private showers stalls are available, unlike at Laugaras Lagoon. But it’s a quick and easy process, and nothing to be self conscious about.
Photo Credit: Sundlaug Akureyrar
The kids have a great time on the water slides, and must climb the 3-story staircase more than 10 times each. One water slide is a regular twisty water slide, while the other ‘bowl’ in which you do a few circles before sliding in through a pipe in the middle.
This ‘bowl’ water slide has become immortalized in family lore because – when we first came to Iceland – my son somehow caught up to me in this water slide, and I had to frantically scooch my way toward the central pipe in order to avoid a collision. (Some versions of the story have our 6-year-old son somehow passing me on the way out the slide, but I remain skeptical.)
Today, however, my wife and I are glad to simply be able to sit in the 38 – 40 Celsius hot tub and relax. (There are several other pools and hot tubs, including a 36 – 38 Celsius hot tub with massaging waterfalls.) It’s still pouring rain, but if you have to be at a pool in the rain then an extra-hot tub is definitely the place to be.
There are also some calamity cushions, though these have had their air blowers turned off during the rain – that seems a sensible idea, given the potential for slippery calamity cushion concussions.
We spend perhaps two hours at the pool in total – not long enough for our daughter, but we need to move on if we’re going to make time for all of today’s plans (and if we hope to beat the cruise ship crowd to the nearby cafes).
Off to Kaffi Ilmur for lunch:
Where we manage to beat the cruise crowd by roughly 43 seconds. (Seriously, we grab the last four-top upstairs as a surge of vistors enters downstairs). Both Celebrity Silhoutte and Seabourn Ovation are in town today and it shows.
Our son has a bagel with cream cheese for lunch, while my wife and I have their delicious ham and cheese panini with garlic sauce:
Our daughter has the pepperoni version of the same sandwich (not pictured). All are delicious.
Back to the room to get a head start on packing, and then we head out to Zipline Akureyri for one last hit of adrenaline before our long drive tomorrow.
The guides are out leading another tour when we arrive, so we hang out in the car for a bit before being fitted for our harnesses and helmets. Duart and Jann are both consummate professionals, and there is a huge emphasis on safety – there is a safety line in addition to the main line, and one guide at either end of the zipline any time a guest is traversing.
There’s perhaps a 5 minute tromp to get to the start point, then we get right down to business:
The lines aren’t terribly long or fast, making them the perfect way to introduce our daughter to ziplining.
And they are scenic – crisscrossing overtop of the river canyon Glerárgil, and through a long stretch of Akureyri meadow. While Dwight is setting up, Jann entertains us with stories about the natural history of Iceland and the manner in which the local scenery was shaped by glacier, and by teaching us our first Icelandic phrase – á á á á – which translates to “own sheep on the river”, showing the versatility of the word “á” (pronounced “ow”).
It gets more complicated, however – certain nouns may have up to 16 different suffixes depending on plural, singular, indefinite and derivational. So horses might be hesturinn, hestinn, hesti, hests, hestsins, hesta – the list goes on.
We’re also challenged to do various poses on the zipline, including flapping slowly like and eagle or fast like a puffin, and putting our feet up on the harness rope like spiderman. You can tell that the guides know this job very well, and that they love what they’re doing.
There’s only 1 other group of 3 on our trip – and Zipline Akureyri caps at 12 – so we’re able to move through the 5-zipline course in roughly 1 1/2 hours, including time to remove equipment at the end. (Though Zipline Akureyri notes that a session can last upward of 2 hours.)
Off to dinner – but first, a stop in the Fairy Tale Graden which Zipline Akureyri guide Jann recommended:
From Visit Akureyri:
“It is every man’s dream to create and share with others. With that in mind, Hreinn Halldórsson has over the last few years created various fairy tales sculptures that are locate in the garden next to his home. Hreinn has felt increasing interest from locals and visitors to view his work, and summer 2022 he decided to open his garden to the public. The opening went well and all the visitors were exemplary. He has therefore decided to repeat the opening this summer as well.”
We spot Pippi Longstocking:
And Little Red Riding Hood:
Robin Hood:
And Sleeping Beauty:
There’s also a magic rock upon which you can make a wish:
It’s well worth the visit – the carvings are artfully crafted, and expressively posed. We leave a donation to express our gratitude to Hreinn Halldórsson for making this open-air gallery available to the public.
We then head to Strikið for dinner:
Photo Credit: Strikið Restaurant Website
My wife, daughter and I split the tomahawk chop:
I only managed this photo after a few pieces had already been nabbed
Followed on with a ‘surf and turf’ sushi roll:
And a ‘tunacado’ sushi roll:
The truffle fries are cold, but our server has no issue replacing them when we point that out.
The kids then order a “chocolate fondant” which is essentially a lava cake – and not photographed, as they demolished it instantly.
It’s not an inexpensive restaurant – where is in Iceland? – but it has a lovely view, and the food is very good.
It is then time to return to our hotel, and finish packing up. We are expecting a very long day on the road tomorrow as we (hopefully) make our way from Akureyri to Keflavik, where we will overnight before our flight home to Toronto.