You know the emoji with the flushed cheeks and bulging eyeballs? That was basically my face the entirety of our time in Iceland. Despite all of my months of exhausting research, I was completely unprepared for how gut-punchingly breathless the landscapes of this otherwordly little island would leave me.
Our honeymoon was shorter than I'd have liked due to leaving our two-year-old stateside (can I get an AMEN for grandparents!?), but thanks to summer's lengthy 18-20 hour daylight stretches we were able to cram a whole lot of Icelandic magic in less than 8 days. Thankfully, it seems that no matter how much time you are lucky enough to spend in this mystifying country, it's such a spectacularly beautiful place that it seems to leave everyone wanting more. (On our list for next time: exploring the vast beauty of the Westfjords and Snæfellsnes Peninsula, venturing deeper into the Highlands to see Landmannalaugar, and carving out more time to appreciate the apocalyptic volcanic marvels in Mývatn.)
Our loooong day of travel originated in Dallas, into a four hour layover in Toronto, and an overnight flight into Keflavík. We arrived at 9am, snatched up our luggage, and hit the duty free store to stock up on booze for our trip. (Note: liquor stores in Iceland are not in abundance and they are exorbitantly expensive.) We had complimentary tickets for FlyBus from renting our camper van, so we used those to make the 45 minute journey into Reykjavik. It was far too early to check into our hotel (22 Hill Hotel) but they were kind enough to stash our bags for us while we took a couple hours to explore the world's northernmost capital city.
First stop: adorable, vinyl-spinning Reykjavik Roasters for a quick caffeine boost before walking to towering Hallgrímskirkja. The Sunday church services were still full throttle, so we popped into Cafe Babalú for soup and a sandwich on their bright, cheerful balcony. Afterwards, we paid the worthwhile 900kr entry fee to ride to the top of the church tower, and loved seeing the tiny city laid out from a bird's eye view.
After whetting our appetite on Reykjavik's quirky colorfulness, we took off for a photo op at the Sun Voyager, which despite looking like a viking ship, is actually a dreamboat and an ode to the sun. We then realized how close we were to Kex Hostel, and decided there was no better time to see what the hype was all about. The space is warm and inviting, the vibe is laid-back, and our first taste of Icelandic beer was delicious. We kicked back here for about an hour (while creeping on the Japanese national handball team, who were apparently guests at the hostel) before we realized it was probably time to get our bags out of our hotel's lobby and into our room.
After a brief nap (well, husband napped...it's impossible for me to relax properly on vacation. Jet lag, schmet lag! To much to see!) we freshened ourselves up and ventured out to see more of Reykjavik's charms. We opted to get a quick pizza from Eldsmiðjan so that we didn't tie ourselves down with a big meal (or bill, as dining out in Reykjavik can be $$$$).
Since craft beer is one of our shared passions (and how we met and fell in love) it felt right to spend the first night of our honeymoon bopping around to the capital's hot spots for a little beer tour. I felt magnetically pulled to Lebowski Bar to revel in their unique tributary decor and menu dedicated to the cult classic. (They even have two dozen White Russian concotions to choose from!) The selection at Skúli Craft Bar was top notch, with a mix of Icelandic and American breweries on tap, plus they had tasty bar snacks like homemade pork rinds, and a PacMan arcade game in back. We also had a painfully expensive cocktail at Mikkeler & Friends, but the friendly bar staff, good music, and cozy vibe made us feel better about shelling out $25 for (an admittedly delicious) gin & elderflower liqueur drink.
We struck out in our attempt to visit Bryggjan Brugghús but at least managed to snap a few photos at the harbor and rejoice in the fact that the sky was still eerily light when approaching midnight. We knew most places closed around this time on Sundays, so we disappointedly prepared ourselves to end the first day of our trip. However, since the next day was a merchant's holiday in Iceland where many locals have the day off, we ended up stumbling across a random block party that was spillover from the Innipúkinn Festival, which was still raging when we left around 3am. After a late night hot dog from the famed Bæjarins Beztu Pylsur, we were more than ready to hit the sack and couldn't wait to get on the road and for our adventure to really begin.
Continue to Icelandic Honeymoon: Day Two (Reykjavik > Golden Circle)
No comments:
Post a Comment