Page 9 - June 2022
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MANEA MATTERS
                                                              MANEA MATTERS
      service from Akureyri to the island
      of Grímsey. On Grímsey you get
      Puffins, Kittiwakes, Auks, and you’re
      on a tiny island some 25 miles off
      the coast with yellow signs that
      happily tell you you’re in the Arctic
      Circle where the sun never sets in the
      summer. That’s got to be a photo opp
      at the very least: any of the island’s
      61 inhabitants will happily appear
      in  a  selfie.  After  all  you’re  bringing
      tourist Kroner to a country that saw
      its currency crash during the global    Northern Lights. If you're lucky!
      financial crisis of 2008. All three of Iceland’s banks
      went out of business and even now it’s still in   Akureyri is intimate and welcoming and offers
      recovery. It needs you!               a free circular bus service. Fancy a game of golf?
                                            You’ll find yourself playing 18 holes in the world’s
          That’s got to be a photo          most northerly course. Or there’s the Botanic
                                            Gardens; or Akureyrarkirkja, the Lutheran church
            opp at the very least:          completed in 1940 that boasts an organ with no
            any of the island’s 61          less than 3,200 pipes. There are great restaurants
           inhabitants will happily         like Greifinn, serving tasty local dishes as well as
              appear in a selfie.           those gourmet Western delights like beefburgers,
                                            to remind us we don’t get out enough.
                                            Want to know more? Best place to start is the Visit
      TIP:  Pack an  extra  woolie.  Despite  that  sun the   Akureyri website. Actually, best place to start is
      temperature even in July barely goes north of 15   Manea. That’s why we live here.
      degrees Celsius.
                                                                       David Learner


















              Arctic-loving papavers at               Iceland's population is
             Akureyri Botanical Gardens                less than 370,000!


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