Eight Hours in Akureyri, Iceland
Our first four ports of call aboard the Norwegian Star brought us to Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Labrador, Greenland, and Grundarfjordur, Iceland where I discovered bomb shrapnel in a church, dog breeds, a must-not-visit chocolate factory, and property-owning elves, respectively.
It’s hard not to like Akureyri right off the bat, or boat, in our case. There are small moments of delight when you least expect it: a trash can covered with a knitted sweater monster, a red light changed from a circle to a heart, a sheep skull mounted to a car dashboard—well, that last one delights me at least.
Iceland’s “Capital of the North” is a small city of 20,000 residents less than 100 miles from the Arctic Circle, so even at the end of July the temperature was comfortable for long pants and a dip in the local geothermal pools, our first stop of the day.
The Forest Lagoon is nestled in the trees overlooking town, a quick taxi or Uber ride from the cruise port. The building is typical Scandinavian design, simple and utilitarian in neutrals and volcanic black, placing the focus on the views outside. One wall of the hallway that leads to the locker rooms is exposed rock that trickles with the warm water that fills the pools.
The process to enter the lagoon is this: Remove your shoes in the antechamber of the locker room. Disrobe and place your belongings in a locker. Take a communal, naked, shower. (There were three shower stalls if you’re shy) Dress in your swim attire, and exit the locker room to the covered walk-in area of the lagoon. For some reason, towels weren’t included so we brought some from the cruise ship.
At 10 AM, the three areas of the lagoon weren’t too crowded. The boys and I waded over to the bar window and ordered smoothies and sparkling juice. There are in-water tables to park the glasses while you soak. Over the next couple hours, we sampled the sauna and the two infinity pools. The larger hovered around 99 degrees F, the smaller around 104, which I could tolerate for about two whole minutes.
I chose Forest Lagoon over a different spa experience which was thirty minutes north of the city. Bjorbodin Beer Baths allow visitors to relax in wooden tubs full of warm spring water, beer hops, and yeast. The combination is purported to soothe skin conditions and reduce stress, especially if you accompany the soak with a cold beer on tap. I’m not a beer drinker, so we skipped it, but here’s a look at some of the best beer spas in the world if you’re curious about this up-and-coming trend born in the Czech Republic.
After the Forest Lagoon, we ate pizza in the old town for lunch, and walked to Elding Whale Watching for our afternoon activity. This wasn’t your typical whale watch. We suited up in full-length protective suits with goggles and hoods. Instead of a ponderous tub of a boat, we boarded a racing craft with seats that you mounted like a horse. We were all snuggled up close together as we shot up the fjord in search of whales.
It took about forty minutes of breakneck, wave slapping to reach our observation spot closer to the ocean. The guide cut the engine and we drifted in the sudden quiet, scanning the water for disturbances. After a few minutes with no luck, we changed position, and finally, we were rewarded when a humpback broke the surface.
We returned to the Norwegian Star thereafter, happy with our excursions, but having left most of Akureyri’s highlights unexplored. Given a few more hours, I would have visited the main church, botanical garden, and done a little shopping on the pedestrian street in the old town.
My other regret for the cruise was that, due to a medical emergency, the ship did not visit Ísafjörður in the wild northwest of Iceland. Besides its raw, natural beauty, it’s the main area of Iceland’s witch scare which began in 1652 when a “sorcerer” was burned at the stake for raising a zombie against an enemy. By 1683, seventeen more had been executed by fire, but many more were banished to an adjacent peninsula called Hornstrandir, now a national nature reserve.
Information about the dark time in Icelandic history is housed in the Museum of Icelandic Witchcraft and Sorcery near Ísafjörður. I would be remiss if I did not take a minute to mention their most infamous piece: the necropants.
What are necropants, or better yet, WHY are necropants? The short answer is money. If one wears the skin of a man who has given you his permission to do so after his death, and one places a coin and a specific rune written on paper inside the scrotum, one will never want for money.
My best guess as to why it would work would be A) the smell, B) the crazy—both reason enough for someone to throw money at you to make you go away. It would certainly be worth a few coins to me to not have to talk to someone wearing them.
Some final points of interest in Akureyri: It’s a twin city of Denver, Colorado; it has the most northerly 18 hole golf course in the world; and every year on the third weekend in July, there’s a Medieval Fair just north of town.
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Your article has increased my already existing desire to visit Iceland. I think I can skip the necropants, but the witch museum sounds fascinating.
You raise one zombie and people never stop talking about it.