Akureyri as a Local

Pippy Longstocking

We're staying two nights in Akureyri in northern Iceland about 2/3 of the way around the Ring Road.  It is Iceland's largest city outside the capital region of Reykjavik.  In our first visit to Iceland a decade ago, we spent a few nights here and saw the northern lights. That visit was in late winter and now we're here in the middle of summer, so we're able to explore more of the outdoors and natural surroundings.  

We spent our morning visiting two sites that tend to be more for locals than for tourists.  First up was seeing the fairytale figures of local folk artist Hreinn Halldorsson.  He has created his own private gallery in the garden and yard surrounding his house.  It's in the middle of a residential street in the heart of Akureyri.  He creates his fairytale figures out of various materials and leftover household items such as using old mops for hair.

Pinocchio and Gepetto

Hreinn was leaving his house to run some errands as we we arrived, so we had the chance to talk with him for a few minutes. His artwork and figures around his house are purely a hobby and one that he's been doing for about 15 years.  We saw his creations and interpretations of such characters as Pippy Longstocking, Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, and Pinocchio.  We loved both his creativity and talent, and the way he repurposed materials for his art.

Our second stop was at the Akureyri Botanical Garden.  It was first started as a public park in 1912 and the botanic section was added beginning in 1957.  We are here at a great time as many of the flowers were in bloom. In addition to the myriad of native species of plants endemic to Iceland, there were also a lot of foreign plants including from Asia and North America.  One of our favorite flowers we saw was the Himalayan Blue Poppy (Meconopsis).  These grow well in this climate because of the northern latitude and cooler weather.

Himalayan Blue Poppy

Walking around outside and seeing parts of the City like the locals experience was a lot of fun, despite being 40 degrees and drizzling. Did I mention its the middle of summer?  It was over 90 degrees and humid back at home. Being outside here suits me just fine.