Where Gumbo Was #450
This week’s mystery location was the Botanic Garden of Akureyri, a pleasant little town which is sometimes nicknamed the ‘Capital of North Iceland’. Congratulations to George G, who guessed the location correctly.
Akureyri is situated less than 100km south of the Arctic Circle, but its protected position at the end of a long fjord provides for comparatively mild climatic conditions. The origins of the Botanic Garden date back to the early parts of the last century, when a group of local women established a park here. It was opened to the public in 1912. The park has been extended several times since then and a botanical section was formally opened in 1957.
The garden lies about 1.5km south of the town centre and the walking route there is well sign-posted.
On the way you pass a number of traditional buildings from the 1910s and 20s. One of them is St. Peter’s (Catholic) church, whose interior featured in this week’s clues. This is what it looks like from outside:
We visited Akureyri in July of this year as part of a 17-day road trip round Iceland. As we had spent most of the previous day in the car – it was the longest drive of the trip – a leisurely stroll through some greenery seemed like the perfect antidote. To be honest, however, we had not expected all that much from the Botanic Garden and were very pleasantly surprised by the quality and variety of the colourful displays we found there.
We had expected the lupins and poppies, but there was much much more. According to the garden’s website they “are able to grow beside the 430 native species the surprising number of 6600 alien taxa”.
A network of well laid-out paths allows you to explore the garden and to get quite close to most of the plantings.
There are also a few small, but attractive, water features.
The philosophy of the garden is to grow plants that are either native or can cope with what nature throws at them in this locality. Accordingly, there are no heated glasshouses for tropical plants or other protected exhibition spaces. The single greenhouse within the garden is a working area, rather than a place for exhibiting rare specimens. It serves the sole purpose of propagating plants and readying them for the move into the garden. Against its sides, however, the gardeners had created some truly magnificent floral displays.
Not far from the greenhouse is a small cafe with both indoor and outdoor seating. Although it was a fairly grey day, we opted for a table outside – trusting the weather forecast, which had promised that there would be no rain (and fortunately they were right).
From various points in the garden you can catch glimpses of the fjord and the hills on the opposite side.
You encounter several statues in the garden. The bust pictured below is of Jón Rögnvaldsson, a horticultural expert who played a major role in turning the original park into a botanic collection.
Below are a few more photos showing different vistas of the garden and its collections.
As is evident from the photos, the garden is immaculately maintained and offers a diverse range of plantings. We spent a very enjoyable two to three hours here. Incidentally, there is no admission fee.
