Solfar (Sun Voyager) - Reykjavik - Iceland

After I left the Icelandic Phallological Museum - Reykjavik - Iceland and wandered along Laugavegur, I spotted the Sun Voyager sculpture down near the harbor and veered toward the sea. This stainless steel sculpture was designed by Jón Gunnar Árnason in 1986 as the winner of a competition to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the founding of Reykjavik.

Sólfar (Icelandic The Traveler/Voyager of the Sun) was envisioned as a dreamboat, an ode to the sun, which symbolizes light and hope.

Hmm. Looks like a Viking ship to me.

Regardless of your interpretation, Sun Voyager is truly a magnificent sculpture.



I sat there looking out to sea, enjoying one last banh mi from Saigon's Bakery and Sandwiches - San Gabriel while contemplating the seafaring Vikings of long ago.



Thinking of how Icelandic language is really ancient Norse, incomprehensible to today's Norwegian. It'd be like someone speaking Beowulf's English?



And how geneticists must have a field day analyzing the descendants of the original 25,000 Vikings. I wonder how the handful of Vietnamese immigrants fit in?



Also, for such a violent group, plundering and pillaging most of Northern Europe at one time, how and why did the Vikings just stop?

I should've packed my copy of "The Sagas of Icelanders," but it was too thick and I had no room in my luggage.

A view at the other end of the harbor from the steps facing the Sun Voyager sculpture.



And looking up the hill at Hallgrímskirkja (Icelandic Hallgrím's church). Too bad it was late in the day and the tower lookout of the church was closed.



I had about an hour to kill before going back to Kex Hostel - Reykjavik - Iceland for my evening tour. I was trying to figure out what to do for my second and final day in Iceland when I stumbled upon another tour. Since I was able to squeeze in the Blue Lagoon - Grindavik - Iceland in the morning and the Golden Circle Tour in the evening, that left a whole day to either explore Reykjavik or see the glacier lagoon. To be able to touch pale blue icebergs?! No contest. I hurried back to the hostel to book it before it was too late.

All Europe posts can be read in Series: Europe, but I suggest reading the Iceland trip in this order:
Saigon's Bakery and Sandwiches - San Gabriel
Kex Hostel - Reykjavik - Iceland
Blue Lagoon - Grindavik - Iceland
Icelandic Phallological Museum - Reykjavik - Iceland
Solfar (Sun Voyager) - Reykjavik - Iceland
Mid-Atlantic Ridge - Thingvellir National Park - Iceland

Sólfar (Sun Voyager)
On Sæbraut, at the intersection of Frakkastigur.
Reykjavik
Iceland

*****
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