Reykjavik and the Blue Lagoon

We arranged our schedule with some flexibility so we would visit Reykjavik at the beginning, with an option to revisit at the end of the trip (which we did on our last day before going to the airport for a 6:30 pm departure).  Same with the Golden Circle and the southern coast with their very popular tourist destinations...if the weather was bad at the front end, we had 2 days at the end of the trip in the region where we could revisit missed sites or see new things, too.  Most locations around the country we stayed 2 nights so we could arrive late or leave early to see everything we wanted in that region and it all worked out for us despite some challenging weather we had to work around.

We arrived at 4:30 am Iceland time (12:30 am body time) after missing a night's sleep and with a whole day ahead of us.  After customs and baggage claim, our first stop was the duty free store to buy some Icelandic vodka and Cointreau so we could have daily martinis.  Be sure to throw a flexible cutting board and knife in your checked baggage to cut limes for that daily martini and a corkscrew for any wine.  We were told to buy liquor at duty free because alcohol is sold from government run liquor stores and is expensive and drinking out was very expensive.  On that subject, food is very expensive!!!  We packed a folding cooler and some ice packs, cheese, dried apricots, beef jerky and granola bars and purchased bread, crackers and salami there to cover some meals on the road (and eggs, bacon and butter for a few non-B&B places we stayed that had kitchenettes.)  Dinners out cost twice what we'd pay in the US.  For instance, 2 tacos, a pepsi and some chips at Taco Bell was about $18.  The famous pylsur hot dog (mostly lamb) with the works is about $5-6.  Tipping is not necessary though.

Leaving the airport is surreal, with lime green moss covered lava rocks everywhere and steam rising out of the ground and we headed for the Blue Lagoon, 15 minutes away.  I had reserved (!!!) an 8 am arrival time and upon check in you are given little wrist bands with a chip which gives access to a locker and to monitor purchases at the bar or spa.  Full (naked) showers are required first and you can shower and change in the spa after your soak.  This place is a very pretty, massive white-turquoise-silica water, multi-pool hot lagoon, surrounded by massive black lava rocks and steam and we soaked for hours.  Yeah it's a bit touristy and pricey, but you have to do it once and we loved it.  Towels (bring a microfiber one), robes, flip flops and hair ties are not included with the basic admission ticket, but a free silica facial mask is included and you can stay as long as you want, have lunch or a massage, hang under a water fall and pass time until you can finally reach your 2:00 pm check in time in Reykjavik about 1/2 hour away.

Reykjavik (smokey bay) is a quirky little harbor city with brightly painted, mostly corrugated metal buildings, colorful murals, and fun little pubs, restaurants and shops selling hats, gloves and sweaters
made from Icelandic wool.  330,000 residents live in Iceland, with the vast majority living near Reykjavik.  We stayed at the Canopy by Hilton an updated hotel with breakfast, right in the heart of the old town near famous Laugavegur shopping street, and we could walk everywhere.  After a 3 hour nap, we wandered the streets visiting the gorgeous rocky harbor, with views to the ice covered mountains in the distance and the city's landmark Sun Voyager metal structure.  The Harpa Concert Hall at the harbor is a marvel to wander around and through, with its multi-colored reflecting and glittering concave and convex glass crystals representing glaciers and volcanos.  There is a tour we did not take, but the building is open to the public until midnight.  I can't imagine how gorgeous it would look with the colors of sunset shining through the glass.  We also visited the landmark Hallgrimskirkja church which symbolizes the basalt columns seen at waterfalls and beaches around the country.  You can ride the elevator up to the top and see a gorgeous view of the entire city with its multi-colored buildings.

the harbor with tiny cairns

murals on the buildings

the Lopapeysa, made from the wool of Icelandic sheep

We ate at a casual restaurant called Fish and had fresh fish and a fish stew.  Apparently the restaurant and eating scene in Reykjavik is very big, but I didn't make any reservations (correctly) thinking we would not make it to a big expensive meal on our first day.

This time of year it never gets dark.  The sunset was around 11:00 pm, with sunrise around 3:00 am, but we never saw a dark sky, so bring eye shades to help you sleep as it never gets dark in any hotel room.  Of course, this means you can sightsee and travel all night long.  It also means that seeing the aurora borealis is not an option this time of year.

Iceland fun facts...with little migration, Iceland maintains an online registry of all its citizens going back centuries (and there's apparently also an app) showing your family ancestry so you don't accidentally hook up with a cousin.  True that.  And generally, a women takes the last name of her father, not her husband, and her children take the last name of her husband (their father), so everyone in a family has a different last name.  A woman's last name ends with dottir and the man's last name ends with son in most cases.  Apparently last names don't matter and everyone goes by their first name in the phone book anyway, including the heads of state.  This was interesting to note in family plots in cemeteries where everyone in an immediate family had a different last name.