Iceland – Reykjavick & the Perlan Museum Day 15
The Perlan Museum
Another grey, rainy day in Iceland…what a surprise! That’s ok though, we’ve got a plan that will usurp the god’s weather play for our final day in Iceland. We’ve arranged for some indoor activity at the Perlan Museum. Let me tell you, we didn’t take this visit lightly. The cost to get into this museum was $50.00…per person! Wow! We thought long and hard about it, asking ourselves is a museum really worth that kind of cost? However, we read up on it, checked out the online reviews and then, looking at the weather we were facing for the day, thought what the hell at least we will be warm and dry! Plus it gave us a chance to use up the Icelandic Krona cash that we brought along ‘just in case’ but never had to use. I have to say though, the Perlan was well worth the money spent! We both thoroughly enjoyed our time there.
The Perlan Museum offers some really incredible experiences of Iceland’s natural wonders. Volcanoes, glaciers, geothermal marvels and more come alive through some incredible displays, cutting-edge technology and amazing films. You can actually get a feel for some of Iceland’s amazing natural wonders.
The Perlan, which translates to “Pearl,” Museum sits on the top of Öskjuhlíð Hill in Reykjavik. It is also the site of six massive warm water tanks where Reykjavik’s geothermal water supply is housed. The museum building consists of a huge glass dome resting on top of these six heating tanks. Four of the tanks are in use for their intended purpose, while one of them now houses an actual ice cave and one houses a planetarium for the museum. The hill the museum sits on is a beautiful protected woodland area that has lots of paths for walking and biking.
We arrived right at opening as we were a little concerned as to how busy this place could be after reading some reviews. We got in and headed straight to the ‘ice cave’ as we wanted to see this without dozens of people around. Yes they have an ice cave, an honest to god actual friggin’ ice cave! It is housed in one of the water tanks and is 100 meters long. The cave is made from 400 tons of ice, snow, and ash and is surprisingly realistic!
The Ice Cave
The Ice Cave
Clever us of mirrors simulates a tube created by a glacial stream
The Ice Cave
They have also built a 10 meter high replica of Latrabjarg Cliff. Látrabjarg is a promontory in the Westfjords of Iceland, and is the westernmost point of land in Iceland. It is of one of Europe‘s biggest seabird cliffs is home to millions of birds.
Latrabjarg Cliff
There is an interactive glacier exhibit where you can point at a giant panoramic display and have things identified or start an animation of an event.
the interactive glacier exhibit
The Lava Show is a film on the Geldingadalir volcanic eruption which began on 19 March 2021 just 40 kms (25 mi) from Reykjavik. There had been no volcanic eruptions the Reykjanes Peninsula for the last 815 years. This one was a fissure vent in Geldingadalir to the south of Fagradalsfjall volcano and continued to spew fresh lava until 18 Sept 2021. This film is amazing and in itself almost worth the price of admission! The photography is phenomenal and the resolution is fantastic…the next best thing to being there and certainly a much safer way to have seen this incredible event!
Fagradalsfjall volcano – photo courtesy Perlan Museum
Perlan also houses a planetarium with a Northern Lights show called Áróra. Once again, this is really well done and is the next best thing to actually seeing the northern lights for real and as a bonus, without the cold!
Northern Lights show called Áróra
The glass dome we mentioned earlier sitting on top of the water tanks, houses a cafe, restaurant, ice cream parlour and a gift shop. It is a really beautiful and comfortable place to sit and have a cup of coffee and a pastry like we did, or have lunch. From the dome you can walk out onto a observation deck that circles the dome offering 360° views of Reykjavik and if the weather is clear, the surrounding mountains and ocean. This day was gnarly, windy and overcast though … how unusual! Linda stayed inside while I braved the elements to see what I could see! Which was not too much unfortunately!
Enjoying a coffee and pastry in the cafe
View from the observation deck
Looking towards downtown Reykjavik from the observation deck
If you’re in Reykjavik and have time, make sure you go and see Perlan…you won’t regret it! You should allow 3 – 4 hours at least to see it all!
The rest of the day in Reykjavik was fairly uneventful, pretty much taking it easy as we were heading home in the morning. We began the evening with our usual visit to the hotel lounge for Happy Hour. Linda did mention the wine wasn’t really tasting good. Foreshadowing? Hmmm.
We walked to a interesting restaurant, called Ginger, not far from our hotel and shared a meal for dinner as neither of us was really hungry. Like many other ‘modest’ restaurants we went to in Reykjavik, Ginger is comfortable but utilitarian and not the most inviting of places. The food is mostly prepared and ready to be plated at the counter and handed to you.
Ginger Restaurant
We chose Ginger because the food did look good and also looked like a healthy option. The dish we chose was much like a stir fry with veggies, yams, chicken and a bit of salad on the side. As I mentioned earlier we did share a meal which certainly turned out to be plenty of food and it was good, but once again not great.
Ginger Restaurant
Anyway, things got interesting from there. While I had a pretty decent nights sleep and felt fine, Linda started feeling not great around midnight and it went downhill from there. She had many, many trips to the bathroom with evil fluids acting like Icelandic volcanic eruptions alternating between one end and the other! Sorry … TMI? Damn you gods!!
Unfortunately, there were no pharmacies open past midnight so the best I could do was buy her a bottle of coke from the front desk. That seemed to calm things down for her somewhat but not entirely.
This was especially worrisome as we were flying home in the morning with a long, long day ahead of us! Bad enough when you’re feeling 100%! Only the morning would tell!
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