In early October, I did a five day trip to Iceland and I can honestly say I loved it. I'm looking forward to checking Iceland again during the summer and winter seasons. When I arrived, October was right when off-season began and it was rainy most of the time when I was there. I still got to see a lot despite the shoddy weather.
With these travel diary entries, I hope to share the things I enjoyed during my tips, tips and tricks, and amazing pictures of course!
Now to begin...
I had booked my journey three months ahead of time with WOW air. If you come with an understanding that it's a budget airline, meals/snacks & entertainment prepared, it isn't bad. The flight out from SFO was around 8 hours and I arrived around 4:00am in the morning to Reykjavik. Their airport is pretty small but modern, and easy to navigate. I found my bus ride in the arrivals pretty easily. I booked my ride to the city through Flybus in advance, but since the Flybus and Grayline run 24/7, it wasn't necessary upon arrival. My roundtrip tickets up for around $46.
The bus dropped me right off of my hostel, Hlemmur Square, where I snoozed and prepared for a day ahead in Reykjavik. I had arrived a day before my friends, so I took the opportunity to get to the know the capital. A bit more about my hostel, Hlemmur Square - it also doubles up as a hotel and it was a place my friend had recommended to me. I haven't stayed in many hostels, but I thought it was decent. They had extremely comfortable beds, but the common areas were a bit gross. House cleaning comes by once a day so it does keep the messiness to a minimum. I recommend this place if you are looking for cheaper accommodations, as Iceland was pricier than I was expecting overall.
My first stop the next morning was to grab lunch. I went to Old Iceland Restaurant on Lauvegur Street. ( Lauvegur is one of the main streets in Reykjavik, so you'll find most of your stops here if you keep walking.) Old Iceland Restaurant is one of the most popular restaurants in Reykjavik. Side note: Considering how small the capital is you'll probably get to eat at all your popular restaurants within a couple days ha.
The interior for the restaurant is warm and cozy and decorated with pictures of animals like this ram above. I'm very glad I got to eat here my first day because when I went back for dinner on my last night, they were packed and they don't allow you to wait when it's full. Basically it's first come first serve with no lines allowed.
Old Iceland Restaurant describes itself as a family owned restaurant that only using local meats and produce. Both me and my hostel roommate ordered fish dishes. He had the Fillet of Cod (with Angelica, garlic, carrots, mashed potatoes, and root vegetables), while I had Oven Baked Ling (with Parsnip, sundries tomatoes, potatoes, and veggies).
While the presentation was certainly modern and the fish was fresh and delicious, I can't say I enjoyed the parsnips with my ling, so I brushed that aside while I ate. My roommate devoured his cod, so I'm pretty sure that is a sign that it was awesome :P I also had the Icelandic lamb meat soup there (not pictured). It was very good, but reminded me of chicken soup with lamb meat instead.
After our meal, we headed to Hallgrímskirkja - one of the key landmarks in Reyjavik. It's smack dab in the middle of the city and around a 10 minute walk from Hlemmur Square. The church itself is simple inside, but the winner is architecture outside and taking the $8 ride all the way up to the tower.
With these travel diary entries, I hope to share the things I enjoyed during my tips, tips and tricks, and amazing pictures of course!
Now to begin...
I had booked my journey three months ahead of time with WOW air. If you come with an understanding that it's a budget airline, meals/snacks & entertainment prepared, it isn't bad. The flight out from SFO was around 8 hours and I arrived around 4:00am in the morning to Reykjavik. Their airport is pretty small but modern, and easy to navigate. I found my bus ride in the arrivals pretty easily. I booked my ride to the city through Flybus in advance, but since the Flybus and Grayline run 24/7, it wasn't necessary upon arrival. My roundtrip tickets up for around $46.
The bus dropped me right off of my hostel, Hlemmur Square, where I snoozed and prepared for a day ahead in Reykjavik. I had arrived a day before my friends, so I took the opportunity to get to the know the capital. A bit more about my hostel, Hlemmur Square - it also doubles up as a hotel and it was a place my friend had recommended to me. I haven't stayed in many hostels, but I thought it was decent. They had extremely comfortable beds, but the common areas were a bit gross. House cleaning comes by once a day so it does keep the messiness to a minimum. I recommend this place if you are looking for cheaper accommodations, as Iceland was pricier than I was expecting overall.
My first stop the next morning was to grab lunch. I went to Old Iceland Restaurant on Lauvegur Street. ( Lauvegur is one of the main streets in Reykjavik, so you'll find most of your stops here if you keep walking.) Old Iceland Restaurant is one of the most popular restaurants in Reykjavik. Side note: Considering how small the capital is you'll probably get to eat at all your popular restaurants within a couple days ha.
Old Iceland Restaurant describes itself as a family owned restaurant that only using local meats and produce. Both me and my hostel roommate ordered fish dishes. He had the Fillet of Cod (with Angelica, garlic, carrots, mashed potatoes, and root vegetables), while I had Oven Baked Ling (with Parsnip, sundries tomatoes, potatoes, and veggies).
While the presentation was certainly modern and the fish was fresh and delicious, I can't say I enjoyed the parsnips with my ling, so I brushed that aside while I ate. My roommate devoured his cod, so I'm pretty sure that is a sign that it was awesome :P I also had the Icelandic lamb meat soup there (not pictured). It was very good, but reminded me of chicken soup with lamb meat instead.
After our meal, we headed to Hallgrímskirkja - one of the key landmarks in Reyjavik. It's smack dab in the middle of the city and around a 10 minute walk from Hlemmur Square. The church itself is simple inside, but the winner is architecture outside and taking the $8 ride all the way up to the tower.
Front view of the church
Statue of Leifur Eirikkson
Interior front door of the Church
The very top of the church is a clock tower were you can see 360 views of the city through the windows. You could see all the colors of the buildings and the best I can describe it is it has a very Nordic Feeling.
Top of the Tower
Video :)
After the church we went to grab some coffee at Reykjavik Roasters. Below are some random street shots walking around the city.
Reykjavik Roasters is a small coffee shop known as Iceland's finest independent coffee roasters. I'll have to emphasize here again how small Iceland actually is (2/3 of the population live in Reyjavik)... and in terms of food, drinks etc. the options out of your top picks don't give you much choice. I'm not saying this place was bad, in fact they had damn good coffee - I'm just saying you don't have much of a choice if you're looking for other independent coffee roasters in the city.
The coffee shop had a hipster vibe, which pretty much all of Reykjavik did. I don't know how to describe it. It might be the way people dressed and the emphasis on fresh and local ingredients. Anyways, the shop was warm and cozy and I would recommend checking it out.
With our coffee at hand, we then ventured the Kolaportið flea market. It's pretty much like any other flea market in the world except with icelandic things. Some gems you'll come across are old books, toys and icelandic knits at cheaper priced. However, my favorite part was the food section. They sold a lot of smoked salmon and dried fish here. I absolutely love smoked salmon, so I was pretty much in heaven. I wouldn't say this is a necessary stop during your trip here, but if you have time to kill, this would be another thing to do.
After the flea market we walked to Harpa - a music hall across the street. It's really quite a pretty building with the reflective glass. At night, it even lights up into different colors. They hold concerts, musicals, conferences, and all sorts of arts related events here. If you happen to come when they are holding a festival definitely check it out. I missed the Iceland airwaves festival, which played in the beginning of November. I heard it has a great upcoming musicians playing there.
We headed back to our hostel afterwards and met our new roommate - a lovely australian girl - who joined us for dinner at Prir Frakkar. So Prir Frakkar has an extremely good reputation of serving Iceland's finest foods including the exotic kinds like whale and puffin. Personally, I had no interest in trying the exotic meats, and I actually learnt most Icelandic people do not eat these meats themselves. I ordered the Plokkfiskur and proceeded to have the best meal of my life.
The coffee shop had a hipster vibe, which pretty much all of Reykjavik did. I don't know how to describe it. It might be the way people dressed and the emphasis on fresh and local ingredients. Anyways, the shop was warm and cozy and I would recommend checking it out.
After the flea market we walked to Harpa - a music hall across the street. It's really quite a pretty building with the reflective glass. At night, it even lights up into different colors. They hold concerts, musicals, conferences, and all sorts of arts related events here. If you happen to come when they are holding a festival definitely check it out. I missed the Iceland airwaves festival, which played in the beginning of November. I heard it has a great upcoming musicians playing there.
We headed back to our hostel afterwards and met our new roommate - a lovely australian girl - who joined us for dinner at Prir Frakkar. So Prir Frakkar has an extremely good reputation of serving Iceland's finest foods including the exotic kinds like whale and puffin. Personally, I had no interest in trying the exotic meats, and I actually learnt most Icelandic people do not eat these meats themselves. I ordered the Plokkfiskur and proceeded to have the best meal of my life.
Plokkfiskur with Icelandic Black Bread
Plokkfiskur is hashed fish with bernaise sauce. They served it with a side of hearty Icelandic black bread and veggies. It was honestly so SO GOOD. It made me feel very at home and satisfied. The restaurant itself also has very interesting decor. It's decorated with random trinkets as shown in the pictures below. Tip: We got here right at 6pm without a reservation, but if you come any later, I recommend making a reservation because it got filled out quick.
My day 1 entry ends here. I hope you enjoyed reading about it. Originally I had planned to make much shorter posts, but it ended up being all about the first day. Plus I don't want you to be bored out of your mind, so it's best to leave it up to here for now ;) I'll be writing more about my favorite snacks and more scenic sightseeing in my next posts.
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