Monday Reading is my weekly recommendation of something I’ve found thought-provoking or fascinating. Sometimes it is about something I have read. Sometimes it is about television or food or music or projects I care about supporting. Sometimes I do not send it on Monday. Please share with anyone who might like the vibes!
I decided to go to Iceland for my 40th birthday. I had thought about it for a while, but when people asked me “what made you want to go to Iceland?” I didn’t really have an answer … UNTIL one Friday afternoon I put it together: I used to listen to a lot of Sigur Rós during my ketamine treatments. Yes, sure, being a little high and imagining your astral baby self floating in the North Atlantic might eventually make you think you want to go to Iceland.
I did not float in the North Atlantic—it was February—but I did soak in hot water every day. Iceland has a robust culture of year-round outdoor public bathing. This is less because there are a ton of natural geothermal pools (though there are some, this one is haunted) but because geothermal power is very cheap and can be used to heat swimming pools and hot tubs (“hot pots”) at municipal facilities all over the country. (The Blue Lagoon is actually man-made and also powered by cheap electricity.) Some of these are bigger and fancier, and others are smaller—I went to a couple of big complexes in Reykjavik, where you could choose from, like, two pools and five hot pots heated to different temperatures. In very small towns you might find a pool and a single hot pot.
I planned my trip around going to a different pool complex every day. I mean, “go to a pool every day” and also “go see Macbeth performed in Icelandic” were basically my itinerary. (Macbeth was weird, and not because it was in Icelandic.)
Sundhöllin: I got into Reykjavik around 8 AM, walked into town from the bus station (cabs from the airport are prohibitively expensive), and found somewhere to eat breakfast before heading to Sundhöll, which has the oldest purpose-built swimming pool in the country. It’s very near Hallgrimskirkja, the Church of Iceland cathedral built in the 1980s, which was designed by the same architect?? Anyway. Rolled in there with my luggage & asked for a ticket and she said, Have you … been to a pool here before? and I said Yes, I know I need to take a shower first, and she looked a little embarrassed. But I get it! You have to take a very thorough shower before getting in to any pool, in part because it keeps the water cleaner, but we vulgar Americans care little about the commons. This is the kind of signage you’ll find in locker rooms:
Sundhöll was renovated fairly recently. There’s an older building with an indoor pool and then three different hot pots of varying temperatures & a cold plunge on the roof; it’s connected to a bigger complex just outside a new building, where there’s another pool, a bigger hot tub, a splash area for kids, and a sauna. The view from the roof deck is great. Admission is about $8; towel rental is about $5.50.
Sundlaug Seltjarnarness: This pool is in a sports center a couple of miles from downtown, far enough away that visitors mostly don’t come here (or, at least, people assumed I spoke Icelandic, but that could also have been because I wore normal clothes like a person who lives there instead of brand-new Outdoor Gear like a person who’s planning to go ice climbing or whatever, but honestly was extremely flattered when someone reminded me that you can’t use your phone in the locker room but said it in Icelandic). There’s a big water slide here, which of course no one was using in February. I decided to take the bus back downtown after, and after they spent a couple of minutes conspiratorially whispering with each other, a tween asked me—in Icelandic until my puzzled face prompted him to switch to English—whether I “ever think about my hair,” which was obviously supposed to lead to some sort of insult. I really needed a haircut and it was kind of a mess after washing it and hastily drying it. “Doesn’t everyone?” I said, which seemed to provoke genuine reflection, and then one kid made fun of another kid’s forehead and then they got off the bus without insulting me openly, so that felt like a win. About $9. Cheaper towels than at other places, possibly because it’s a big sports complex where everyone needs towels all the time anyway.
Árbæjarlaug: This was enormous and very fancy. There’s an indoor pool inside a big glass dome and you can swim through a little opening in the wall to get to an outdoor pool and I think that’s neat. To my immense regret, I lost track of time /forgot what time my bus to the airport was and had to take an aforementioned exorbitantly priced taxi so I could catch my flight. Entry was $10.
Vesturbæjarlaug: I liked this pool very much. There’s a big sort of multi-level pool, like this:
and if you sit in the circular part and twist the right way, you have a very nice view. This nice cafe is around the corner. Also about $10.
Sundlaug Vík: I took a little road trip to Vík to see the black sand beach there, and the pool was my first stop. Only about 300 people live in Vík proper, and the complex is unsurprisingly pretty small: a small pool, a hot tub, and a sort of ratchet cold plunge that’s actually just a giant trash can. Admission was $9 here. The towel was $8????? I guess this is a question of supply and demand; it’s not like there’s another pool nearby.
Anyway, if you like soaking in hot water, Iceland is a very nice place to do it.
See you soon!!
this is so nice to read!! i traveled to iceland last february, & we stayed in a neighborhood right by Vesturbæjarlaug. What an awesome pool!! and that cafe right nearby was great. Iceland’s public pools are really just incredible, and it’s so wonderful to see all of the families & people of all ages there, especially in the evenings after work and school. Really makes me wish that we had better public pools & spaces like this in the US & elsewhere.