Advertisement
Published: January 22nd 2015
Hallgrimskirkja
Church in Reykjavik. First entry to my blog and what a great place to be writing about.
The whole of Iceland has a population of around 300,000, set on two great plates it makes Iceland one of the worlds most volcanic islands in the world.
We, my beloved partner Ryan and I, spent our time in Reykjavik the most northern City in the world. The city itself is quite small but holds a host of interesting and delightful cafes, restaurants, shops and museums. The first day here after the 3hour flight we spent mooching and enjoyed tea and cake and generally finding our way around. We stayed in the Icelandic air marina hotel which is opposite the harbour, the harbour is very near the centre and has views into the working fishing harbour. Unfortunatly we had a road view but the amount of daylight and time spent here was minimal!
The ideal weather that I had pictured in my mind in January would be cold with a lovely dusting of crunchy snow laying around, however as I have learnt the weather is totally unpredictable, the weather ranged from high wind and rain which cancelled all flights out and in of Iceland,
battling the elements
By the Harper building in the freezing wind and rain! snow, sleet and freezing temperatures. The pavements were covered in thick ice and then more ice after heavy rain so they were inches thick! However the majority of the walkways in the centre were clear and easy to negotiate. The sun rose around 10:30 and set around 4:30 the low sun was beautiful when looking over the mountains and the frozen lake.
Reykjavik has no really old buildings, it was established in the 18th century and used to be the poorest country in Europe. However, the city itself has real charm and character with tin and wood houses mixed in with more modern glass buildings, it welcomes you in and you feel relaxed and safe. The most modern building you will find is along the water front, Harper, it is Iceland's concert hall and you must take the time to look inside as well as out. Another building that will catch your eye as it towers above the city is the church, Hallgrimskirkja. The massive looking space rocket like building is very grey but at night it does light up! You are able to go up the tower and have a Panasonic view of the city.
The locals
Harper
Concert hall are friendly and welcoming to tourists and are proud to talk about their country. Most people speak English which was helpful as my attempt at Icelandic was pitiful. There is a good choice of local bars, cafes and restaurants, all the meals we had out were good but expensive. Alcohol was also highly priced. If you decide to go to Reykjavik one resurant I highly recommend is Tapas Barinn, the choice was amazing and you could try the most traditional of the Icelandic foods ranging from smoked puffin, minke whale, lobster tails, scallops, blue ling, lamb, beef and salmon, the choice is endless and the meal was faultless. They do have set menus which makes it easier when choosing what you would like. Another food that is popular that Ryan was fond of every morning was the skyr, curdled cows milk, sounds gross, but it is essentially yoghurt bordering on cream cheese not my favourite but I did try, I liked it more in the chocolate cheese cake!
When in Iceland how can you resist the temptation of the Blue Lagoon, what a treat, you can easily book through Reykjavik tours online or when you get there, and they
Blue lagoon
Entrance to the lagoon! pick up from most hotels in the city. We travelled to the lagoon which took about 45-50minutes across the baron vocanic rocky land that is unusable for growing or building on. On approach you see a massive power plant this is powered by the heat of the earth which is also the natural heat that heats the water in the lagoon which is sea water and rich in minerals. You can choose what type of package you would like, ranging from standard which is the entry fee, going all the way up to luxury, you can also hire towels/swimwear if needed. We opted for the standard which was good for us. The worst part is getting from the changing room to the pool..... Brrrrrr!! It's really important ladies/long haired gents to put the conditioner provided in the shower in your hair and leave it in before going in as the water will dry it out. The pool itself was glorious it was a cold outside but the 40 degree heat was amazing and so relaxing. The waterfall was brilliant on tight shoulders as it pounds heavily against your back. Around the edges of the pool were tubs of silica which
Blue lagoon
Steaming lagoon! is the natural sludge found at the bottom of the pool, sounds disgusting but it's all natural and brilliant for exfoliation of the skin. My face was left soft and glowing!
We did try to search for the northern lights, we were not lucky. if you chose to do this try and chose a tour which allows you to go again the next night for free if you don't see them. The tour was funny as the tour guide was not great at English but her English was a lot better than my Icelandic so I can't complain! She told us facts about the lights and the most important being 'that to see the lights it needs to be dark!' She gave interseting facts about the weather and how when it got over 15 degrees it is officlally a heat wave! In some parts of Iceland they cannot bury people that sadly pass away as their bodies will cook in the boiling hot ground! As you can imagine we were in stitches, which was good as the trip started at 9pm and finished around 1am. Seemed like a waste of time but if we had seen the lights it
Snow
Standing in the snow watching out for the northern lights. would of been amazing, it's always worth a try!
Reykjavik is a brillant city to visit for a long or short break, I will definitely be coming back here sometime in the summer months and do some more travelling around to other areas of the island as there are plenty more things to do and see.
My top tips 1. Don't travel all the way to iceland to see the northern lights, the weather is unpredictable and would hate for people to go home disappointed if they were unlucky like us.
2. Drink the tap water and fill water bottles with it, water in the bottle is pricey and the tap water is natural spring water anyway.
3. Take time to chill in one of the bookshop cafes and watch the world go by (especially if you love people watching!) if you drink tea most places will give you free extra hot water.
4. Try the Icelandic food.
5. Go to the blue lagoon and enjoy the delights of the relaxing atmosphere and the natural minerals rejuvenating your skin.
6. If you get time visit the Icelandic museusm, it gives you a
Lake
The frozen lake at sunrise 1030. good history of the island and lots of facts to take away with you. It is closed in a Monday. We found this out after walking and powering through heavy rain and wind!
7. Wrap up warm!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.104s; Tpl: 0.01s; cc: 8; qc: 49; dbt: 0.0636s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
