Just catching up from 2 weeks away; it feels like a lifetime! Cats are glad we’re home. We took a 2 part vacation; a 3 night stopover in Reykjavik, then on to France. Iceland Air has a stopover program that allows you to stay up to one week on the way to somewhere else, and just counting it as a layover on your itinerary. Sold!
We landed at 7 in the morning. The Blue Lagoon is on the way into town from the airport, and lots of people stop here while waiting for the afternoon hotel check-in. The water is geothermally heated, 38° C/100° F. And it really is this milky blue, due to the high silica content in the water. This is a nice way to relax after flying overnight. Check out the lifeguard attire; it’s definitely not Bay Watch material.
After check in, we took a walk around town and found the Handknitting Association of Iceland, where you can purchase pre-knit sweaters, or yarn to make your own.
I brought my blue Stopover sweater with me, and bought yarn to make a coordinating, but not quite matching, headband. (Stopover sweater pattern is by Mary Jane Mucklestone, who designed it on her stopover in Iceland.)
The next day, we walked along the waterfront to Harpa (music theater) to meet our food walk. I doffed my coat for this chilly picture! The food tour was great, five stops with lots of interesting things to taste. Lots of fish and lamb. We did not go hungry.
The famed fermented shark, Hákarl, with a shot of Brennevin. One cube is enough! A definite ammonia taste at chew 8. The Brennevin (flavored with caraway) definitely helped wash it down. The walk gave us time to digest between stops, and passed several local viewpoints.
We ended at Cafe Loki across from Hallgrimskirkja Cathedral. The rye bread ice cream with whipped cream and caramelized rhubarb syrup was divine.
After the food tour we wandered our way back to our hotel for knitting and nap. We were gearing up for a Northern Lights Tour.
More in a following post!
