Iceland 2022

It's 2022 and it's been a long time coming, with COVID everything travel related got delayed, and this trip was just like the rest, delayed several times for multiple reasons. Finally September arrived and it was time to pack our bags and complete our first major trip in almost 3 years.

Sept 12/13

Icelandair had a big sale, and we jumped on the deal, and after a few times rescheduling it was time to fly. We soon discovered why Icelandair has sales, they are a discount airline. From a 'bid to earn an upgrade' system, to no food on the seven plus hour flight unless you paid online in advance, to a non-existent in-flight WiFi to access their menus; It felt like an Allegiant airlines special. At least they had good movies to choose from on the flight. We left Vancouver at 3:30pm after a slight mixup in our airport ride arrangements, and arrived in Reykjavik the next day at 6:00am.

Reykjavik

Reykjavik is the Capital and largest city in Iceland, with a population of approximately 230,000 in it's regional area. Iceland as a whole only has 375,000 people. With no sleep we managed to find the SixT car rental office and picked up our Renault Captur, our first experience with a plug-in hybrid car. It is fairly spacious, comfortable and seems to get great gas mileage, especially when we can plug it in and charge it up.

Another great plus at SixT was they provided us with a mobile Hotspot box. About the size of a pager with a small USB recharger cable, we had 5G WiFi everywhere we went, and I mean everywhere!

We drove in to the city, and discovered the cars built-in GPS has a sense of humour; it keeps sending us down closed roads, dead ends, and odd shortcuts. It's early in the morning, and we can't check in until 2:00pm, so we found a restaurant serving early breakfast. Turns out Kaffivagninn is Iceland's oldest restaurant (est 1935), and after a brief wait for the kitchen to open we had some very good Icelandic omelettes to start our day.You could tell it was old because the table was really tippy.

Great, now it's 9:00 am, we still have a few hours before we can check in. We found a parkade closer to our hotel and put on our tourist boots to explore the area. Our hotel is right on Laugavegur which is the main drag, so we wander along checking out shops, and admire the amazing graffiti and artwork throughout the city.

 

Eventually we work our way up to the impressive Lego looking church known as Hallgrimskirkja.It was started in 1945 and completed in 1986 as a tribute to modernism and representing the Icelandic landscapes. It is one of the tallest structures in all of Iceland, but still looks like it was made in Minecraft to me.

We even took the elevator up the tower to see the lookout over the city, and discovered just how loud massive church bells can seem to someone that hasn't slept yet. Even with our ears ringing, the views from the tower are amazing.

 

It's a short walk back down the hill to our accommodations for the next few nights.

Finally we wandered long enough to be able to check in to our 'Room With a View' Apartment. It was very odd, the bathroom and shower (2 separate rooms) were across the hall, instead of in our room like all the other apartments on that floor, but at least it seemed fairly quiet for a place right on a main shopping street.


Here is the view...

After being on the go for what seemed like two straight days, we had a brief nap, then headed back out to wander the local neighborhoods, and harbour.

They have a nice waterfront area that leads into a mix of historic and ultra-modern buildings.

Eventually we had dinner at a unique place called "Sæta Svínið", where we discovered that every single table in Iceland is Tippy... this was the 3rd of our Tippy Table Tour. Their special meal offering of the day was Smoked Puffin, Minke Whale, Icelandic Flatkaka (cured arctic Char), and Horse Carpaccio. We didn't choose that for our meals.

A very good, yet expensive meal, and a short walk back up the rainbow road to our hotel.

When we got back to our room, we also discovered that it wasn't as quiet as we thought, there was a Live band playing right under our 2nd floor room. They were playing all the classic hits from AC/DC, Guns n Roses and Neil Diamond, it was like we were right on stage with them. At least they wrapped up around midnight, but between jetlag and drunken tourists, it would be a couple of very long nights.

Sept 14

With earplugs in and after a dose of Melatonin, we kind of slept in on our second day in Reykjavik. We headed down the street to the incredible aromas of the BakaBaka Bakery for 'Lunch' at another tippy table.

There is always subtle reminders that you are in Iceland, Vikings and Bjork cassette tapes are everywhere.

Having covered a good portion of Reykjavik already, we strolled along the shores of Lake Tjurnin admiring the geese and ducks.

They even have their own version of the little mermaid, along with other odd and unique statues.It seems everywhere you turn in this city, there is something unique to look at.

From the lake it was a couple kilometer walk to Perlan (The Pearl), a unique dome built on top of 4 city water towers, and now used as a museum. We had enough time to enjoy a Northern Lights show in a planetarium.

we also did the stairwell climb to the top floors for more amazing views over the city, maybe better than the top of the church tower, because you could see the church from here.

After 30-45 minutes walking there, it took 5 minutes by taxi to get back to our room and head out for the day's main attraction. We jumped in our Renault and made our way to Sky Lagoon, a geothermal lagoon overlooking the North Atlantic Ocean.

We immersed ourselves in the warm waters enjoying the first of a few Passion Fruit Martinis before completing the 7 step Ritual;

Basically; warm pool, goddam freezing pool, baking hot sauna with an amazing glass wall view over the ocean, a really really cold rain shower, rub this gritty smelly stuff all over yourself, a hot steam room with way too many people, now have a shower to get all that sweat and gritty stuff off. You're done, you can get back in the lagoon, Congratulations.

Aside from the oceanview sauna, one of the great features of the Lagoon, is the swim up bar, simply tap your wristband and get a drink... what could possibly go wrong?

As great as it was to just lounge in the lagoon, Norine with her swim up Prosecco, and me with my swim up Gull beer hang over the edge of the infinity pool and watch the sunset. This would be an experience that will be hard to top, and exactly what was needed after the long flights and in-room rock concerts.

Feeling fully refreshed, we headed back into Reykjavik, hooked up the Renault to the free charging in the parkade, and headed to The Bastard Brew & Food for dinner, we could see our room from the tippy table we ate at.

Sept 15

After another not so great night of sleep, we packed up our bags, left Reykjavik and it's sulfur smelling water and hit the road on our journey to what is known as The Golden Circle. It's a loop route that most people with a short stay in Iceland do as part of the Reykjavik experience.


driving down to South Iceland...