geldingarnes

Even after four years here, I am still discovering things, some of them only minutes from where I live. Out at the end of the Reykjavík neighborhood of Grafarvogur, right in the looming shadow of Esja, is a little dirt causeway that leads out to a magnificent mass of land called Geldingarnes. It's a big island in the Reykjavík harbor, along with Viðey, but unlike Viðey one can drive right onto it. (At least when the tide is out!)

I hear the place is one of the sanctioned leash-free dog-walking areas of the city, and the couple times I have been there I have seen one or two lonely souls with tongue-lolling dogs meandering nearby. The top of the tallest hill affords panoramic views of the port's cranes, the harbor, Viðey, Esja, and Mósó wrapping into the sprawl of Reykjavík, laid onto the topography like a concrete sprinkle.

But despite the large number of inhabitants just across the water, it's quiet. There is only the sound of the wind to keep you company, or drive you mad, depending on your proclivities. Above, the sky spans huge and off on the southwest horizon are the mountains of Reykjanes. On clear days at this time of year, the sun shines brightly across them for a few hours, but low in the sky, with an orange hue that might be mistaken for sunset somewhere else. And underfoot the dry winter grass rustles in the wind, marshes and streams frozen solid.

Come see it before it gets turned into another ugly suburb.