Hello everyone! This week I’m focusing on one of the coolest places I visited in my last trip: Perlan! Situated on top of a hill overlooking the City of Reykjavik, Perlan offers amazing 360 views from its observation deck at the top of its glass dome. Within this dome is also a cafe/restaurant with equally amazing views, and offers a great place to hang out and work on projects. But that’s not even close to all it has to show!
When I began my trip, I started first by going through the museum. Focusing on the history of Iceland, Perlan looks through the volcanic activity and formation that led to the creation of Iceland. With videos of different volcanic eruptions, and a timeline that focuses on the separation of tectonic plates, it offers a great overview as to how the land was shaped. One of the coolest facts I learned while visiting was that at one point Iceland had the same climate as California and was covered in giant sequoias– it’s hard to imagine that seeing Iceland today!
Perlan also has a variety of other exhibitions including a life-sized rock-cliff wall complete with an interactive activity revolving around the model birds who perch there. They also have a water/animal species exhibition focusing on the aquatic life of Iceland, such as walruses, fish etc. Finally, they have an exhibition devoted to global warming and the impact that it is having on Iceland, especially focusing on its glaciers.
After passing through the museums, I stopped at the Aurora movie theatre. Here they run thirty minute long movies (offered in both English and Icelandic) about the history and legend behind the Aurora Borealis. Narrated from the perspective of the elusive Aurora goddess, the video explains the scientific logic behind the aurora phenomenon. Coupled with amazing animations and pictures of auroras around Iceland and played on a large planetarium style screen, it was super cool to look up above, and see all of the shining stars and photographs.
Before heading out, we made sure to check out one final thing: The fully functioning Ice cave held inside of Perlan’s walls! While admittedly underdressed for some subfreezing temperatures, I had an amazing time navigating through the tunnel, and sitting on the Ice throne in its center.
With many exhibitions and something for everyone going to Perlan was a fun and awesome experience I won’t forget soon!