Q/and A
Walking in Iceland
Q.Are there any local walking-tour operators in Iceland that one can deal with directly by mail or after arriving in Iceland? -- Leonard Weiss, Brooklyn
A.Here are some possibilities.
Embla Eco Adventures, Skolavordustigur 21A, IS-101 Reykjavik, Iceland; (354) 511 4080, fax (354) 511 4081; www.embla.is. Hiking tours run by Embla, founded in 2000, tend to be short, unless they are customized. The 2.5-mile Hot Spot tour, for example, includes a two-and-a-half-hour walk of moderate difficulty, both uphill and downhill on uneven paths near the Hengill Volcano, and is reached by a four-wheel-drive minibus. Departures: Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday at 2 p.m. Cost for 2004 is $64, at 81 kronur to the dollar.
Small groups are a specialty at Isafold Travel, which has been in business since 1997. The agency is at Sudurhraun 2B, IS-210 Gardabaer, Iceland; (354) 544 8866, fax (354) 544 8869; www.isafoldtravel.is. Starting 100 miles east of Reykjavik, hikers on the five-day Landmannalaugar-Thorsmork trip cover 6 to 12 miles a day on a moderately difficult route. Cost for 2004, based on six to eight participants: about $1,000, which includes a guide, all meals, sleeping in a sleeping bag at huts and at a hotel on the last night. Departures are planned for June, July and August; the dates for 2004 have yet to be set.
If you prefer to sleep in a hut or your own tent and to provide your own food, try the Iceland Touring Association (Ferdafelag Islands) Morkinni 6, IS-108 Reykjavik, Iceland; (354) 568 2533, fax (354) 568 2535; www.fi.is. The nightly charge for a hut is $10 to $15 for members and $14 to $21 for nonmembers. For camping in your own tent, it's $6.20 for members, $7.40 for nonmembers. Annual memberships, valid for applicants and their families, are $48. On a scale of one to four, the popular five-day Landmannalaugar-Thorsmork tour is rated three boots if you carry your own gear over the 34-mile route. (Four is the most demanding.) If your gear is transported, the hike is rated two boots plus. The cost is $344 for members, $381 for nonmembers, including two meals, transportation, a guide and lodging in a hut. You can opt for an upgrade, which includes more meals and luggage transport.
More information about Iceland is available at (212) 885-9700 or online at www.icelandtouristboard.com.
Pipe Bands of Scotland
Q. We are planning a one-month stay in London in April or May and would like to include one or more bagpipe competitions in Scotland. How can we find a calendar of such events? -- L.D., Hampton Bays, N.Y.
A. You will have to wait until October, which is when the Royal Scottish Pipe Band and Association publishes its calendar on www.rspba.org. Competitions usually attract 30 to 150 bands, each made up of 25 to 30 pipers and drummers.
Traditionally, the competition season starts on the second Saturday in May, in Dunbar, and ends on the first Saturday in October, in Houghton le Spring.
For the period you have in mind one date has been fixed: the Scottish Championships, one of the five major pipe band championships, will take place on May 22 in Dumbarton. The usual schedule -- note that it can vary -- calls for competitions on the second Sunday in May in Gourock; and on the last Saturday in May in both Enniskillen and Bathgate, in Northern Ireland.
Ian Embelton, chief executive of the Royal Scottish Pipe Band Association, explained that in a competition the eight winners (one in each grade) are determined by scores awarded by a panel of four. Two judge piping, one judges drumming and one judges how well the musicians perform together. The single criterion for winning, he said, is musical ability.
Admission cost is decided by local organizers and sponsors. It can even be free, as last year's Scottish Championships were. But it is unlikely to exceed $8, based on $1.63 to the pound.
Japan's Villas and Palaces
Q. Does one still need permission to visit the Imperial Palace in Tokyo and Katsura Villa in Kyoto? -- Nancy McAfee, Pepper Pike, Ohio
A. Yes, prospective visitors still have to apply to the Imperial Household Agency for admission to those sites; applications are accepted as early as three months in advance. A passport or other ID is also required for the tours, all of which are free. An interpreter who is a Japanese citizen can accompany visitors at household agency sites.
In Tokyo, tours of the Imperial Palace grounds -- the residential parts are off limits -- are given Monday to Friday at 10 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. and run 75 minutes or more. They are given in Japanese, and foreign visitors get a brochure in English.
Reservations can be made by calling (81-3) 3213-1111 (extension 485 and 486), and applications should be submitted at least a day before a visit. They are accepted Monday to Friday, from 8:45 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
The palace's 52-acre East Gardens, where pink cherry blossoms and azaleas bloom in spring and irises bloom in early summer, are open daily from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.; last entry at 3 p.m. The nearest subway stations are Otemachi and Takebashi.
Tours at sites administered by the household agency are given Monday to Friday and on some Saturdays; they last an hour or more.
Katsura Villa in Kyoto, Japan's capital until 1868, was built in the early 17th century as a country home for a Japanese prince. Understated and elegant, the villa is set amid landscaped gardens, overlooking an artificial pond. As visitors make their way along a steppingstone path, they are greeted with a hint of something new at each turn. It may be a bridge or a teahouse or an arbor or a roughly hewn gate, says Steve Beimel of Esprit Travel. Official tours are given at 10 and 11 a.m. and 2 and 3 p.m.
Tours of Katsura, Sento Imperial Palace (11 a.m. and 1:30 p.m.) and Shugakuin Imperial Villa (9, 10 and 11 a.m. and 1:30 and 3 p.m.) are limited to groups of four people at a time.
A 50-minute English-language tour of the Kyoto Imperial Palace is given at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. Monday to Friday and some Saturdays. Nearest subway stop: Imadegawa.
Applications for sites in Kyoto are accepted from 8:45 a.m. to noon and 1 to 4 p.m. Monday to Friday at the Imperial Household Agency, Kyoto Gyoen 3, Kamigyo-ku, Kyoto; telephone (81-75) 211-1215; www.kunaicho.go.jp/eindex.html.
If a trip is arranged through such companies as Absolute Asia, (www.absoluteasia.com) or Esprit Travel and Tours (www.esprittravel.com), they can handle the applications for you.
PAUL FREIREICH