Despite the cool rainy morning we got going early. Lots to see before heading out of Reykjavik. People say not to spend much if any time here so we decided to check it out.
Breakfast at nearby Kactus. I was only going to have coffee but decided I’d try their marriage cake! It’s rough and knobbly outside and all sweet inside. A bit like a marriage really. It’s a well know Icelandic traditional cake. In fact I think it was mentioned in Hannah Kent’s Buriel Rites book.
Next it was up the hill to the big imposing church. Hallgrímskirkja. Started being built in 1842 it took until 1986 to complete.
The church is stunning in its size simplicity especially compared to the ornate but beautiful cathedral in Strasbourg. It reflects the personality of Iceland. Clean simple lines, stunning to look at.
The bell tower has gorgeous views across the city.
We walked slowly down the street from Leif Ericsson statue. Lovely quirky shops and lots of ceramic. Then a beautiful coloured rainbow finishing to the end of the street.
By now having walked awhile in rain with lots more to see we decided to do the hop on hop off bus. It was great. Just an hour.
The Perlan Museum was good. We went into an ice cave and the Planetarium for a show on the Northern nights . We’re not going to see that display in August . The best months for the Northern lights are late Sept Oct and early November.
We were on the road for Geysir after a delicious lunch at the old bus terminal – now home to a variety of mini restaurants. We had some fish and prawns
It doesn’t take long to leave Reykjavík and get out into the landscape. The first part of today we passed large areas of flat green field. No real evidence of crops or animals.
Our first stop was Thingvellir. It’s a National Park. – we’ll it seems all of Iceland could be considered a NP. Here there is evidence of the tectonic plates. And a waterfall. One of many in this country of high mountains lots of snow and volcanoes.
We walked a kilometre to the waterfall but we’re a little underwhelmed. I know tomorrow we’ll see some big waterfalls.
We called into Fontana Spa. I had high hopes for a thermal plunge. A wallow……Only problem was there were too many people wallowing already.
So we moved onto Geyser. Walking from the car we could see the stream rising from the Geysirs. There are a few but Stokker is the most active and spurts the highest. Every 8-10 minutes. We waited patiently finger hovering on the camera button. Looking …..looking at the water until …. Bubble bubble up he went.
With satisfaction we headed for our room for the night. A yurt. A Mongolian yurt. The owner thought the design would work here so painstakingly had 10 yurts built. I thought it would be a novel bed for the night.
It was. Very comfy with a toilet and lovely basin. The shower however was in an adjacent small building. Fine. As it’s summer and the top of 15 is balmy. But I wouldn’t want to be shuffling to the shower in rain snow or high winds!
It was fun unpacking into the yurt. Lots of room! Dinner was a short walk down hill to Skoll tavern which had a camp ground. Most people had vans but a few hardy souls were pitching tents. Brrrr.
Further along the road was a horse farm. You could stay there and go riding for a day overnight or a week trail ride.
The yurt had a heated floor so was cosy and with the rain putter patter on the canvas roof was the only sound we heard as we drifted off into a sound sleep.
frans travel tales 