On Wednesday, July 29, we arrived in Reykjavik, Iceland. What a magical place! The air here is clear and clean and cool. The sea water is clear and clean and cold. Even the streets and public restrooms are clean. People are out enjoying life and totally appreciating the daylight and above-freezing weather.
We were scheduled to stay at port in Reykjavik all day Wednesday, overnight, and for most of the day on Thursday, so we had plenty of time to explore. We began by walking downtown—a 45-minute walk on a paved path along the shore. It was in the 40s and windy and rainy on the way, but still a beautiful walk. It’s amazing how many wildflowers and plants thrive in that harsh environment. We also saw a little kid having his lunch at a picnic table in the wind and rain. Icelanders are hardy beings.
Once in town, we stopped at a sweet little coffee shop, Wake and Bake, and took advantage of the free Wi-Fi to read and send out a few emails. I had my first “Nutellacino” there along with a delicious lemon scone. Rejuvenated, we explored the colorful downtown area. We found a beautiful park on a hill with beautiful views and a statue of the man credited for being the first settler. The views are stunning.
While wandering, we came upon the “rainbow street”. They had painted the street in rainbow stripes one year to honor inclusion for some kind of holiday. The citizens loved it so well that they decided to maintain the rainbow colors. As you walk up the street (which is also walking up a hill) you see at the top of the hill a beautiful church.
We did some shopping, too. Many of the shop workers speak English, and most shops take Visa and Mastercard, which makes shopping just a little too easy. It would definitely be the place to buy high quality cold-weather clothing: wool sweaters, hats, scarves, rain jackets, etc.
Since we were in port overnight, some passengers stayed in hotels in the city. But we walked back to the ship to spend the evening. We really needed to rest up after ten miles of walking and dinner is always excellent. The fish that night was called “plaice” with bacon and dill. I liked it, which means it was very mild and not “fishy”. Dave has been eating salmon every day for at least one meal. That’s too much fish for this Wisconsin farm girl.
The next day, we walked back downtown with the goal of visiting that famous church at the top of the rainbow street, which is the tallest church in Reykjavik (maybe in Iceland?). It also happens to have a statue of Leif Erickson next to it, so naturally we were interested in seeing that as well. And, yes, we stopped at the Wake and Bake Coffee Shop (blueberry scone, this time) before heading back to the ship.
Again, the walk was well worth it. We saw so many kinds of birds we’d never seen before, and we enjoyed watching the very large ducks bobbing in the waves. It was great to be back on board to rest and relax after the long walk and have a great dinner. We also took in the main show on the ship that evening, which was a local celebrity/singer/musician called Greta Salome. Apparently, she is quite famous in Europe and put on an amazing show. I’m planning to check her out on Amazon when I get back home.
We really liked Iceland. It seems like the perfect place to live—it’s clean, people seem decent, nature abounds, and it is rarely (if ever) hot. However, when we think about the winter, when it’s only light for a couple of hours each day, that sort of dims the shine, if you know what I mean. At any rate, we’d love to visit Reykjavik again and we look forward to additional stops in other areas of Iceland on the way back. I would even consider visiting in the winter. The Northern Lights are supposed to be unbelievable!