Alexander Armstrong was transfixed by Iceland’s natural wonders – its local delicacies, not so much
Iceland with Alexander Armstrong is on Wednesday at 9pm on Channel 5
Ed Grenby - 20 October 2021
It could have been a very different travel show,” says Alexander Armstrong of his Channel 5 series, which ends this week. “We were planning a programme called ‘My Wuhan Safari’, where I’d be eating pangolin for dinner, that kind of thing. But then along came Covid, and the only places on the green list were Iceland or Warwickshire, so we ended up doing the former.” He’s joking, of course, but once he starts talking about the trip he took to the land of fire and ice this July, he gets as earnest as a gap-year student. “I’m apt to go quite starry-eyed about the place,” he admits. “It’s so beautiful and bizarre, and the people are so extraordinary, and the landscapes so incredible – it’s like walking into God’s rockery.” Everyone should visit Iceland, he adds – and here are his highlights…
GEYSIR: LIQUID FIREWORKS
“I’m a big firework fan – I find them quite psychotropic, so I’ve basically been able to give up crack and just watch fireworks instead – and Geysir is nature’s firework. It’s the geyser after which all other geysers are named, and its main spout, Strokkur, hurls boiling water 70 feet in the air every 10 minutes. It’s a pool of water that bubbles like Snow White’s stepmum’s mirror, then starts to blister in the most perplexing way, and you get this beautiful dome of pale toothpaste-blue water – and then it just shoots into the air with a noise that you feel in your solar plexus. It’s deeply satisfying.”
THE SKY LAGOON: DRINKING IN THE VIEW
“It calls itself ‘the Sky Lagoon’, but it’s essentially a pub in a pond. Which is brilliant. It’s a geothermally heated pool and spa complex built into volcanic rock on Iceland’s west coast, not far from Reykjavik. There’s a whole ‘wellness ritual’ thing going on, but the best bit is this bar in a cave on one edge of the pool: we were there quite early in the morning, and I noticed that hadn’t deterred anyone in the entire place from drinking – just wallowing in the pool with their beer or champagne and gazing out over the infinity edge to the sea. The water’s a lovely 39 or 40 degrees, so in fact it’s more like a bar in a bath. I don’t know if it gets rowdy on Friday nights, but it’s one place where you wouldn’t mind if someone poured a pint over your head, I suppose.” (skylagoon.com)
HUSAVIK: ROTTEN LUCK
“Husavik, in the north, is the centre of the country’s whale-watching industry, and we went out in an absolutely beautiful old square-rigged sailing ship that happened to have a hybrid electric engine hidden away, like there was a Toyota Prius beneath deck. But even more memorable was hakarl – the rotten shark that they eat in Iceland. They bury it to let it rot for a while and get rid of some of its poisonous ammonia, but still… the taste of it! It comes on in three hits: first, faintly fishy; second, slightly Stiltony; then third, pure ammonia – urine, basically. It just tastes like old tramp wee. Traditionally locals drown the horrific flavour with the local firewater, Brennivin (known as Black Death), but that doesn’t taste much better, to be honest.”
FAGRADALSFJALL: MR LAVA LAVA
“Sometimes we forget just how mad and brilliant nature is – but not here. Fagradalsfjall is an active volcano south of Reykjavik that’s been erupting since March, and because this is Iceland, instead of panicking and fleeing, the locals just get on with it, and come over at the weekend to hike around it and have a look. You can also go over it in a helicopter – and my word, it was incredible: bright orange molten rock spilling out of the ground and flowing in rivers. It simply splashed around in the crater like paint, the colour of a hi-vis cagoule, and you could feel the heat of it even from hundreds of feet away through the walls of the chopper. Icelanders seem to live on the balls of their feet, and with a lovely gleam in their eye – and it’s not surprising when the whole geography can just change utterly overnight.”
HEIMAEY: PUFFIN MARVELLOUS
“Heimaey is a truly beautiful little island off the south coast, and its landscape is even more staggering than the rest of the country’s. You can also see these houses half-buried in old lava, because in 1973 they had a humungous volcanic eruption. By purest good luck the fishing fleet were in the harbour because of bad weather, so they could evacuate all 5,000 residents, but it’s still a sobering sight. And it also explains why much of Iceland’s architecture is so uninspiring: why go to the trouble of building anything fancy when there’s a good chance it’s going to end up underneath a huge dump of lava? The other thing Heimaey’s famous for is its puffins, which are eaten in season. I drew the line there, though: rotten shark and sheep’s eyes, yes; puffins, no. I’m attached to them, you see, because we used to get lots where I grew up in Northumberland, and I loved them. Also they have sad, Maggie Philbin eyes.”
It could have been a very different travel show,” says Alexander Armstrong of his Channel 5 series, which ends this week. “We were planning a programme called ‘My Wuhan Safari’, where I’d be eating pangolin for dinner, that kind of thing. But then along came Covid, and the only places on the green list were Iceland or Warwickshire, so we ended up doing the former.” He’s joking, of course, but once he starts talking about the trip he took to the land of fire and ice this July, he gets as earnest as a gap-year student. “I’m apt to go quite starry-eyed about the place,” he admits. “It’s so beautiful and bizarre, and the people are so extraordinary, and the landscapes so incredible – it’s like walking into God’s rockery.” Everyone should visit Iceland, he adds – and here are his highlights…
GEYSIR: LIQUID FIREWORKS
“I’m a big firework fan – I find them quite psychotropic, so I’ve basically been able to give up crack and just watch fireworks instead – and Geysir is nature’s firework. It’s the geyser after which all other geysers are named, and its main spout, Strokkur, hurls boiling water 70 feet in the air every 10 minutes. It’s a pool of water that bubbles like Snow White’s stepmum’s mirror, then starts to blister in the most perplexing way, and you get this beautiful dome of pale toothpaste-blue water – and then it just shoots into the air with a noise that you feel in your solar plexus. It’s deeply satisfying.”
THE SKY LAGOON: DRINKING IN THE VIEW
“It calls itself ‘the Sky Lagoon’, but it’s essentially a pub in a pond. Which is brilliant. It’s a geothermally heated pool and spa complex built into volcanic rock on Iceland’s west coast, not far from Reykjavik. There’s a whole ‘wellness ritual’ thing going on, but the best bit is this bar in a cave on one edge of the pool: we were there quite early in the morning, and I noticed that hadn’t deterred anyone in the entire place from drinking – just wallowing in the pool with their beer or champagne and gazing out over the infinity edge to the sea. The water’s a lovely 39 or 40 degrees, so in fact it’s more like a bar in a bath. I don’t know if it gets rowdy on Friday nights, but it’s one place where you wouldn’t mind if someone poured a pint over your head, I suppose.” (skylagoon.com)
HUSAVIK: ROTTEN LUCK
“Husavik, in the north, is the centre of the country’s whale-watching industry, and we went out in an absolutely beautiful old square-rigged sailing ship that happened to have a hybrid electric engine hidden away, like there was a Toyota Prius beneath deck. But even more memorable was hakarl – the rotten shark that they eat in Iceland. They bury it to let it rot for a while and get rid of some of its poisonous ammonia, but still… the taste of it! It comes on in three hits: first, faintly fishy; second, slightly Stiltony; then third, pure ammonia – urine, basically. It just tastes like old tramp wee. Traditionally locals drown the horrific flavour with the local firewater, Brennivin (known as Black Death), but that doesn’t taste much better, to be honest.”
FAGRADALSFJALL: MR LAVA LAVA
“Sometimes we forget just how mad and brilliant nature is – but not here. Fagradalsfjall is an active volcano south of Reykjavik that’s been erupting since March, and because this is Iceland, instead of panicking and fleeing, the locals just get on with it, and come over at the weekend to hike around it and have a look. You can also go over it in a helicopter – and my word, it was incredible: bright orange molten rock spilling out of the ground and flowing in rivers. It simply splashed around in the crater like paint, the colour of a hi-vis cagoule, and you could feel the heat of it even from hundreds of feet away through the walls of the chopper. Icelanders seem to live on the balls of their feet, and with a lovely gleam in their eye – and it’s not surprising when the whole geography can just change utterly overnight.”
HEIMAEY: PUFFIN MARVELLOUS
“Heimaey is a truly beautiful little island off the south coast, and its landscape is even more staggering than the rest of the country’s. You can also see these houses half-buried in old lava, because in 1973 they had a humungous volcanic eruption. By purest good luck the fishing fleet were in the harbour because of bad weather, so they could evacuate all 5,000 residents, but it’s still a sobering sight. And it also explains why much of Iceland’s architecture is so uninspiring: why go to the trouble of building anything fancy when there’s a good chance it’s going to end up underneath a huge dump of lava? The other thing Heimaey’s famous for is its puffins, which are eaten in season. I drew the line there, though: rotten shark and sheep’s eyes, yes; puffins, no. I’m attached to them, you see, because we used to get lots where I grew up in Northumberland, and I loved them. Also they have sad, Maggie Philbin eyes.”
ED GRENBY