Slightly Disappointing Day: The 4th Day in Neighborhood of Reykjavik (30 June 2008)

It wasn't so windy today (only 6 km/h). Although the forecasting suggested rain, it didn't rain at all. So, I decided that today should be my first excursion day. I planned that I would go with a one-day bus pass to the open air museum Arbaer and continue to a neighborhood town Akranes  or vice versa, depending on which bus came first.

So, I walked to the bus station in Hlemmur to buy the ticket and to take a bus from there. To the bus station I took the route that passed Laugavegur where all the shops are. I dropped by at one of them and found a pair of orange woolen gloves. My hands will be no more cold, hopefully. I also bought in a supermarket opposite to the station Skyr which I later ate on the bus.

About the buses, to go to the museum, I should take No.19 and to Akranes No.15 and change to No.27 in Haholt. It seemed that my destiny led me to Akranes as Bus 15 came first. The ride to Haholt took about 40 minutes. When I arrived at Haholt Bus 27 was waiting there. The bus route was interesting. I could see Mt. Esja from the window. I actually had a slight thought that I could go there, but another thought warned me that climbing a mountain shouldn't be the choice for someone like me. Perhaps, seeing it from a window like this was the best way. 

After speeding in a very long tunnel, the bus driver safely brought the passengers to the town of Akranes. I got off at the last bus stop, because the bus map mentions that the tourist information center is situated at this stop and I thought it would be a good idea to get a map of the town. However, I couldn't find the information center as I expected. I walked towards the direction of the church; I supposed it should be the town center. Unfortunately, the town seemed to end at the church. Anyway, It wasn't too bad to walk to that direction because of the bright orange house. I love it! The owner must be very brave to paint his or her house like that.

Then, I walked back to where the bus had dropped me. I decided to ask people passing by. Surprisingly, the women whom I asked pointed at the cafe where the bus was waiting to return to Reykjavik and said that "I think it is there". So, I entered the cafe and asked for a map and the girl who seemed to do everything in the cafe (and tourist information center) said that there was only one on the information board. There came an old Icelandic woman who saved me, just because she asked this girl something and I guessed that she asked for a map as well. So, the girl had to try harder to find maps for us and she finally found those in Icelandic. I asked her about the museum area and she said that it wasn't in the center but a few bus stop earlier. The advertisement on the map and the leaflet saying that one should take Bus 27 to the end in order to visit Akranes wasn't quite correct! I shouldn't have believed any info that isn't on my Bradt Guidebook or at least I should have been skeptic about it. The girl suggested me to take the same bus and the driver would let me know when I should be out.

After taking the same bus back to the same direction, I got off at the stop where the sport hall is, then turned to a smaller road and walked for almost 2 km until I saw the Akranes museum Center. 

I was as tired as this wood-carved face when arriving at the museum.

In the museum area, there was a ketch named Sigurfari which was built in England in 1885 and claimed to be the only decked vessel preserved from the former time in Iceland. 

Next to this old vessel were many old smaller boats.

The main building where the ticket was sold (500 ISK) featured several exhibitions. The first one I visited was the exhibition of Iceland's Mineral Kingdom, an extensive collection of Icelandic rocks, minerals and fossils. It was unbelievably a lot! When buying the ticket, I asked the ticket seller about the bus schedule. She didn't know but kindly checked it via the internet for me. The next bus was 3.45 p.m., meaning that I had almost 4 hours here and that I couldn't go anymore to Arbaer Museum today because it is closed at 5 p.m. Four hours were definitely too long!

"In the right direction" was the exhibition of the National Land Survey of Iceland that traces the history of cartography and geodetic surveying in Iceland.

Under the same roof, there was also an exhibition Sport in Iceland, a collection featuring the history of sport in Iceland. The picture below must be imitated feet of an athlete. 

As I knew that I would have to be in the museum area for long time, to kill the time nicely is to fill the stomach. I ordered the soup of the day which was vegetarian. It came with a big basket of warm bread and the assortment of toppings such as pesto and different kinds of cheese. The soup was good, a bit spicy, and the bread seemed to be freshly homemade (or museum-made) which fit very well with pesto. I don't have to say if it was good or not but I emptied the whole basket. Altogether costed only 800 ISK. 

With the full stomach, I continued to the Akranes Folk Museum located in the same area. The museum preserved a large collection of everything used in and around Akranes in the old time. 

There are numerous objects, tool, instruments and materials used in various professions and places, ranging from ship maker, fisherman, sailer, fire fighter, dress maker, shoe maker, carpenter, dentist and many other professions to grocery store, school and other places. All items are presented so livingly.

The fins of a whale that died on a beach was also preserved.

A collection of old houses were also in the museum area. Some of them are still under restoration.

The only house opened today was the Gardar House which is claimed to be the oldest concrete residential house in Iceland (built 1876). The old household items was maintained and exhibited very nicely. The house is not on the photo above but visible on the right of the photo of the museum area.

Having walked and checked the exhibits in a slow motion, I was sure that I saw everything and finished the museum visit at 2.50 p.m. I walked to the bus stop. Still plenty of time to wait, I walked along the sandy beach Langisandur. There were children playing football on the lawn next to the beach.   

I was glad to see Bus 27 coming. On the bus, I was so tired and a bit disappointed that I missed the Arbaer Museum unnecessarily because of the bus schedule and the wrong info. When arriving at the bus station in Hlemmur, I didn't even want to walk anymore. I took Bus 13 back to the residence.