Reykjavík Maritime Museum

If you want to understand Iceland, you have to understand how the country has been defined by its relationship with the sea. There’s no better place to do that than the Reykjavík Maritime Museum (borgarsogusafn.is; adult/child 2450kr/free). This museum chronicles 150 years of fishing. Learn how traditional and modern fishing methods differ and what it took to survive the rough seas without the technology of today. The museum is housed in a building that used to be a fish-freezing plant. Make time for one of the daily guided tours (March to October) of the 816-tonne former coastguard ship Óðínn (1870kr). The vessel is a veteran of the 1970s Cod Wars, when British and Icelandic fishers came to blows over fishing rights in the North Atlantic.