Iceland Day 10-11 Reykjavík
The morning came and the weather was just as beautiful as the way it ended last night. After breakfast, we started to make our way to Reykjavík. We took F225 and it was so much better than taking F208 North. The road was in much better condition and there are a few river crossings. The road was also just a fun drive in general, however there are a few spots with high shoulders that you may have to back up quite a ways if there is oncoming traffic. Tour buses like taking this route so I had to back up 3-4 times to get out of there way.
Once I finished the trail, I aired up the truck and headed back on the 1 to head to the capital. We got there around noon and parked at our hotel. With Iceland being so popular for tourism now, the hotel was packed with people attempting to check-in early. It was quite funny to see the entitlement of people trying to argue to check in early because they are tired when there was a sign clearly saying they are fully booked and early check in wasn’t available. I felt bad for the staff and honestly if you book your flight and you have no option then suck it up and go out and enjoy the city you are visiting. After confirming we were okay to park here before check-in, Dana and I walked to lunch.
We found a little food hall where we both had pizza. Right next to the food hall was one location of the Handknitting Association of Iceland. Founded in 1977, the Handknitting Association compromises of a group of local knitters that do locally-made items from Iceland. Although expansive due to being hand made and locally, the quality is top notch and one of the best ways to get an authentic lopapeysa.
After checking it out for a little bit, we decided to head to the Downtown one since we had time to kill. Although Reykjavík is the largest city in Iceland, it is still very small and Dana and I pretty much walked most of the downtown area within that couple of hours we had to kill. We also started to look at souvenirs for people just to get an idea. Once it was time to check-in, we went back to the hotel to rest before our food tour later that night.
Once the time had come for dinner, we started to get ready. With it being a pretty far walk to downtown/the meetup, we decided to take the rental scooters that were conveniently located at our hotel. There are two major apps for scooters in Iceland: Zolo and Hoop. Dana was a little concerned just because she is not a big person on speed. However, once she got comfortable on the scooter, she actually enjoyed it. It turned a 40 minute walk to a 10 minute scooter ride.
We met up with the tour guide who was extremely friendly. We learned that he was relatively new to the tour guide group, but was loving his job. You could feel how much he enjoyed it while walking around and describing some little things that we would have never noticed on our own around town. The first stop of the day was the Seabarron Restaurant for their lobster soup and some salted herring. The sound was really good, but for me the herring was ok. I’m not a big fish guy though but Dana did enjoy it. After a brief walk, we then headed to the most famous hot dog stand in Iceland, Bæjarins Beztu Pylsur. We got there at a good time since there was a small line, and quickly got our hot dog with everything. The hot dog was delicious, but Dana still preferred the Orkan one since they put the onions on top.
We then stopped by a supermarket where the guide went through the aisle explaining all the traditional things he would buy food wise, including the dried cod. Dana ended up buying a bag for dad back home since it is very similar to some Vietnamese snacks. Once it was time, we went to Icelandic Street Food, where we had the sheep soup with bread. The soup was nice and warm, but a bit gamy. The final stop on the tour was to Dass lounge. We had a traditional shot, which tasted like licorice, some shark, cooked cod with potatoes, and a Skyr desert with fruits. All were amazing except for the shark and licorice in my opinion.
After saying goodbye to the group, we went to Monkeys to have some drinks and an early birthday celebration. I felt a little underdressed when we walked in, but the bartenders were super friendly and we had a couple of amazing drinks before calling it a night.
The following morning we stopped by a local bakery for some pastries for breakfast before heading into the city center. The first stop afterwards was to go see the famous Sun Voyager. Created in 1986 by Jón Gunnar Árnason, the stainless steel sculpture is intended to show dreams of hope, progress, and freedom. After admiring the artwork, we then moved to the most famous site in Reykjavík, the Hallgrímskirkja. Consecrated in 1986, the church is a Lutheran church and the tallest church in Iceland at 244 feet tall.
After walking down rainbow road, we began our day of souvenir shopping for family, friends, and co-workers. We then had lunch at another food hall, where I had fish and chips and Dana had a local fish. After that, we went to the concert hall to see the interesting architecture and then headed to the hand-knit store to purchase a lopapeysa. Turns out, the one we went to was closed on Sundays so we had to go back to the downtown one. After shopping a bit, Dana ended up buying me a lopapeysa for my birthday! It was such a nice gift and throughout the rest of the trip ended up being my go to midlayer on almost all days. Unfortunately the store didn’t have one of Dana’s size that she wanted, but I told her I would go to the bigger one the next day to grab her one.
After a little rest in the hotel, we headed back out to dinner at Apotek Restaurant. This was a little fancier restaurant, but since it was my birthday we decided to do it. Plus, we wanted to try whale and puffin, and they had a tasting menu that did offer it. When we got to the restaurant it was already packed. Luckily, we had a reservation so getting a table was no issue. The dinner was absolutely amazing and the drinks were just as good. The puffin was definitely a little gamy, but was pretty good. The whale was one of the best pieces of meat I’ve ever had. The menu also had local lamb, plaice, cod, arctic char, and a Skyr desert. Every course was absolutely delicious and a great way to end the night.