Reykjavik

We touched down bright and early in Reykjavik. Well early at least, the sun wouldn’t rise for another 2 hours.

The local wildlife was incredibly enthusiastic to welcome us!

Our first taste of just how famously expensive Iceland is came with the cost of the public transport. Deciding the airport shuttle bus would be the better option over the £120 taxi into Reykjavik we boarded and settled down for our trip into the city.

We were able to drop our bags off at the hotel and go in search of breakfast, the wealth of choice in wonderful food and cool and adorable establishments can be seen immediately. It was more of a task choosing where to go!

mmm pastries…

The place we eventually chose covered both the cool, and good food categories and we were treated to a gorgeous breakfast and a good cup of caffeine!

Can’t beat a good cup of tea and coffee when hideously jetlagged
mmm homemade sourdough…

Fueled up once more we wanted to make the most of our time here (and fight the jetlag) so we spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon exploring the city.

Quaint streets and Christmas lights!

The sun now risen, it revealed some incredible scenes across the bay and so that was our first checkpoint on the walk.

Oh hey there mountains!

We walked along the waterfront, avoiding the ice as much as possible, for a while enjoying the new perspective on the city and mountains.

The frost is beautiful and so is watching people pull incredible Kung Fu moves when trying not to fall over 
The Sun Voyager is a beautiful sculpture, and certainly popular with tourists
Back along the bay

The wind picked up and got rather chilly off the water before too long, and so we turned in land and continued our walk to nowhere in particular. Finding ourselves in what we assume may be the industrial or business district, as the buildings featured more than 3 stories and the signature “business building” aesthetic.

Business, business..
I seem to colour match this small piece of the Berlin Wall, which was gifted to Iceland to commemorate the 25th Anniversary of Germany’s reunification

Spying a spire above the rooftops we made our way towards it, keen to see what it was attached to and for the vague sense of direction, this led us through more quaint lanes with colourful houses.

I wonder if they coordinate them?
There’s lots of construction going on too

Turns out the spire was attached to the cathedral, a must-see icon in Reykjavik. It’s beautiful and upon exploring inside too, we discovered it was just as beautiful internally too.

Cathedral
The organ was beautiful too
They opted for a more minimalistic interior, which really works

The lack of sleep and jetlag were really beginning to take their toll, and so we headed back to the hotel to warm up and nap.

We spotted some street art along the way
I liked this little guy

Waking not too long later and better rested, but our stomachs grumbling, we decided to head out once again in search of dinner.

Again the wealth of places to try left us overwhelmed with choice. We decided on Glo; a vegetarian restaurant not far from our hotel.

Clean but cosy surroundings
We both opted for the vegan lasagne and our own choice of salad sides
James enjoyed the coffee; I enjoyed the earthenware

We took a short walk after the food to walk off dinner and stretch our legs before going back into hibernation for the night.

It’s too sparkly and sweet, I can’t handle it!
More quaint streets and cool street art
They use these for traversing glaciers and the like

The next day, we’d managed to catch up with the time difference and so we headed back out to explore after breakfast.

We had noticed a large glass building reminiscent of a honeycomb the day before and upon research had discovered that it was Harpa, the concert hall and conference centre. It is also open for visitors and so we decided to get a closer look.

Not a real violinist, this is a sculpture
Honeycombs

We went inside and wandered around the shops in the foyer, selling everything from a Christmas Wonderland to local arts and crafts.

Stone? Owl?
Love a Moomin mug
The view

We then wandered round the building slightly to take in more views of the mountains when we noticed a small mound which wasn’t all that far away as the crow flies, and was just begging to be climbed!

The mound

However a problem quickly arose: we are not crows. What therefore ensued was an hour long walk through the city and harbour to get to the other side of the harbour mouth.

Just a few patches
There’s the Harpa and pretty serious looking ship
I’d make a similar face if I was riding a moth

The daylight was beginning to fade as we finally got closer the mound but we were still presented with some excellent views of Reykjavik and the mountains around.

Reykjavik in all its glory
The conference centre as seen from our new viewpoint, not that far right? Right?..
The mountains are still unreachable though

We hadn’t walked all the way out here not to get a good look though and so we traversed the narrow path which spiralled around the Teletubbie-esque mound eager to discover what was at the top…

Teletubbies new blue recruit! ‘E-oo! 

As we rounded the corner, within steps of our goal, we hurried in anticipation and finally reached the top to see what the small building atop the mound was all about…

An outhouse type building with fish heads hanging inside.

Yup. A nod to traditional fishing practices and the industry heavily intertwined in Iceland’s history. We hoped the fish heads were props but alas, reality was this artists game. The views from the area were lovely though and the walk had certainly built up an appetite (but not for fish.)

And so we headed back into town for another lovely meal at Bergsson Mathus which featured more tasty food, cosy settings and beautiful earthenware, before heading back to the hotel to rest up for another not-so-bright and early rise heading back to the UK!

Scrumptious comfort in a bowl!

Hatti x

2 Responses to “Reykjavik”

  1. Reykjavik looks so clean and beautiful. It looks as though the air is clean and fresh. Gorgeous. ❤️

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