Iceland had been one of the legs on this adventure that we were both really looking forward to. We left London very early (4am alarm!) and caught our first flight to Paris (Easyjet – we were impressed once more) and then connected to our flight to Reykjavik with Icelandair. Before we left, we had read that everything was incredibly expensive in Iceland and so we stocked up on some cupboard staples in the UK before we left. We were surprised by the myriad of tunnels – like a rabbit warren – in Paris airport.
But soon, we landed. Our first impressions were very good – the eateries looked original and healthy at the airport. We quickly picked up our rental car (it took us a little while to figure out we had to catch a shuttle bus to get it) – a very, very old car (at least 15 years we guessed) which we needed help with to figure out the handbrake (Rob didn’t want to break the brake!) and drove the short distance to our accommodation.
Our accomodation was in Seltjarnarnes – about 20 minutes walk from the city and out on a peninsular. Such a relaxing spot, we loved going for a walk and seeing the plethora of flowers, the wild mushrooms, the lighthouse, and just looking out to sea from our windows.
We were also pleasantly surprised at the quality of fruit and veggies here – they do a lot of work with greenhouses!
The next day we embarked on what would become our longest walking day on the trip – 21 kilometres!! We set out to walk and see the sights of Reykjavik. We were immediately struck by the cleverness of the local street art.
We headed along the foreshore and made our way to the old harbour. It is now a funky area filled with eateries and a brewery (no samples for Rob – $20 Australian for a small beer!).
As it was a Saturday, we popped in to see the local market – a trash and treasure style event located in a warehouse. We followed our noses to the local snack!
We wandered up the main street – there were many stylish (although expensive shops) – full of odd things. Kim even found a friend.
We then stopped for a coffee (2 coffees and a tiny cake – $30!) at a beautiful coffee shop with a long queue.
On the top of Reykjavik hill is the church – visible for miles around. But nearby to it (just two doors down!) is a little known sculpture park which we found fascinating! And it was fun patting the caretaker!
We had a look at the church – much more impressive on the outside than the inside!
Then we headed back down towards the water. We stopped to see the famous sculpture of a ship before some music caught our attention – we wandered over to see many people getting ready for a pride march – some very impressive outfits!
Then we made the big walk to the zoo. We didn’t expect much – but it was cheap and very impressive. Not hundreds of animals – but they were well cared for and there was the bonus of a mini theme park for little kids.
A particular highlight for us was seeing the deer with a full set of horns – along our trip we had seen horns at various stage of development and finally we saw a full set – massive and so impressive!
Before we made the long trek home we paused at the botanical gardens next door. A great day- but we were exhausted by the end!
Wow, what a full day. Such a contrast from London.