Day Four - Reykjavik
I started the day off by running at 5 am. Yes, it’s quite the decision for 1) my vacation and 2) somewhere that is currently averaging only a few degrees above freezing, but I made the (also) somewhat suspect decision to run the Army Ten Miler the morning after we return, so screwing around and sleeping in would also be a bad decision. It was definitely pitch black outside, but no sign of the northern lights unfortunately. The igloos are down a side road off of the Hringvegur (Ring Road) called þykkvabæjarvegur, which is the road between Hella and þykkvabæjar, the oldest rural village in Iceland.
I got back to the igloo, changed, and climbed back in the bed to be lazy for a little while longer. It’s really comfy! Around 7:30 we started packing things away and we were out of the door by 8 am. I had played around with the idea of hiking to the thermal river in Hveragerði. But it was going to be open air changing and I was the only one up for it, so I decided it would be best to make a bit of a change in plans.
We headed back to the Ring Road and found a place to eat in Gullfoss where we had a nice breakfast before we got on the road again. Our first (and only!) stop before Reykjavik was at Kerið Crater, a dormant volcano cone that collapsed and is now filled with water.
We parked and walked down the (very steep) stairs to the overlook and then continued down to the edge of the water. The ground around it is very red, which I take to indicate a very high iron content. The contrast with the color of the water is beautiful. We got several pictures and then hiked back up out of the cone to get back in the car.
The rest of the drive to Reykjavik took about an hour and we found our apartment with little trouble. It wasn’t quite ready for check in so we parked our car and took a quick walk down the street to see the shops. We popped into a shop and I found a cute bag I needed, and when I checked again our apartment was ready! We walked the short way back and got settled into our unbelievable apartment. Two huge bedrooms, two sitting areas, and a kitchen. Going to love it here!
We sorted out our bags and went out to see the town and do a bit of shopping. We spent the next couple of hours walking through town, popping into shops, and taking some pics of all the colorful houses and buildings. We wound our way all the way to Hallgrímskirkja, which was even more impressive in person.
We made our way back through town (shopping all the way!) and got back to the apartment with enough time to rest before our food tour!
It had started raining again so we bundled up for the time we anticipated being outside over the next three hours and headed towards the concert hall to meet our group leader, Jenny. The food tour we were going on was going to stop at five different restaurants and we were going to get to taste 6-7 different Icelandic foods. We started our tour only a few blocks from where we were staying in the city center at Fjallkonan. We proceeded along several stops to so many amazing restaurants and chatted with a lot of great folks along the way until we ended the tour at Loki Cafe, just across the street from Hallgrímskirkja.
The full list of our food tour:
Fjallkonan
Lamb and Flatbread - Braised lamb served on a slice of flat bread
Arctic Char and Blini - Lightly cured Arctic char with roe
Messin
Plokkfiskur - Cod, potatoes, onion, potatoes, and cream served with rye bread
Arctic Char - pan fried with potatoes and cherry tomatoes
Bæjarins Beztu Pylsur
Icelandic hotdog (with everything) - lamb/pork/beef hotdog with crispy onions, raw onions, ketchup, sweet brown mustard, and remoulade
Islenski Barrin
Hákarl and Brevinin - Fermented shark with a shot of Brevinin as a chaser (Erin only)
Kjotsupa - Traditional Icelandic lamb soup
Loki Cafe
Rye Bread Ice Cream - Rye bread mixed into ice cream and served with cream and berry sauce
On the way back we stopped to take some great photos of Hallgrímskirkja at night, lit up pink for breast cancer awareness month.
Pink!
We stopped on the way back to do a bit more shopping and even after all that food, I needed a gelato, so I needed to make a stop.
Always room for gelato.
We got back to the apartment and Aunt Vickie needed to get something from the car so I went to get the key…and it wasn’t where I left it. I proceeded to tear apart my luggage and when I still couldn’t find it, mom, Aunt Janet, and Aunt Vickie joined in. We finally located it, jammed up the arm of my bag, where it probably slid when I turned it upside down. Having completely upended my entire suitcase I then needed to repack everything. Probably not the worst thing, since it all had to be repacked for the flight tomorrow anyway. Just annoying :(
We spent the rest of the night packing, settling in, and finishing off the (non-alcoholic) champagne from last night…with McVitties…if you’re me :)
Skál!
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