Esja, My Love

The jewel in Reykjavík’s crown.

European cities such as Prague, Vienna, Rome, Budapest, and Barcelona are home to masterpieces of architecture. I can stand before those monuments, enthralled by their grandeur, marvelling at the audacity and imagination that brought them into being. Yet, for all their historical and cultural significance, they are, at their core, lifeless forms – stone shaped into magnificence but unchanging, inert. I admire them, but once my wonder is spent, I grow weary. Like the cities they grace, they are imposing and dignified, but ultimately static, devoid of a vital spark.

Reykjavík has none of this architectural majesty, but it has Esja. And for that alone, I would choose Reykjavík over all those pompous cities, any day and every day.

A mountain like Esja transcends anything wrought by human hands. It is not a monument but a living entity, emerging not from labour or design but from the mind of God. Where the imagination of Man builds and carves, Esja simply exists, a testament to creation’s boundless mystery.

Every day Esja brings a fresh reveal. Its slopes shift with the light, the clouds, the seasons – each moment a new expression, as if the mountain itself breathes with the world around it.

Light on Esja
5DS, 100-400L IS II