Reykjavik, Iceland

July 26, 2023

This morning we packed up and drove from Vik back to Reykjavik. We had seen all the waterfalls on my list on the drive to Vik, so just did the straight drive back. I enjoyed looking at the scenery as we drove. You could see a few of my favourite waterfalls from the highway as we were driving.

Here are a few shots to show you what you might see on a drive in Iceland:

When we arrived in Reykjavik we had a mission. We had to wash our clothes before we got on the cruise ship. Reykjavik doesn’t have many laundromats because most people have their own washing machines in their homes. We did find one place called the laundromat cafe. You can do your laundry in their machines in the basement and eat at the cafe upstairs. This was the most economical way we could think of to do this, because if you use the laundry service in the hotel they charge you per item. Still it was not cheap. We payed about $30 CAD for a wash, dry and some laundry soap. The cafe upstairs was pretty cool and we enjoyed some lunch and played a few games of chess while we waited for our clothes to finish. In case you are wondering how expensive food is in Iceland, we had two BLT sandwiches and two milkshakes and it worked out to about $90 CAD! We’ve been loading up on the included breakfast in our hotels in Iceland, eating one meal a day and stocking up on snacks from the grocery store. 

Our next mission was to visit Thor’s Power Gym. Steve was very excited about getting some of Thor’s gear at his store and maybe… just maybe getting the chance to meet Hafthor himself. We arrived at about 3:00 (it said it closed at 5:00! Later we found out that just the store closed at 5:00, the gym is open 24 hours for members) Hafthor was not there 🙁 Steve did however talk to Hafthor’s sister who said he was just driving someone to the airport and should be back around 5:00. Steve bought some gear from the shop and we went to check into our hotel. 

Our hotel was excellent “Center Hotel Laugavegar” I would recommend it for location and how lovely it was. It also included a full breakfast which I think is important when food costs so much here!

After we checked in Steve decided he would head back to Thor’s gym in hopes of meeting him and then drop off the rental car.

Steve’s wish did come true! He met Hafthor and his dad, took some pictures, had a chat and got him to autograph his shirts… now we can NEVER wash them…

After he returned the rental car we decided to do a walk around Reykjavik. What a lovely city!

First we found the Irish Pub. If you have been following our travels for awhile you know we try to find one in every place we visit! Now we can add Iceland to the list 💚

I think it must have been happy hour because we ended up with two glasses of wine for about $16 CAD… this is definitely a bargain in Iceland!

Right next to the bookstore we found a book shop that had some very interesting looking books… unfortunately it had already closed for the day so I could only admire them through the window.

Then across the street we found a store with “Icelandic Chocolate”. 

I can not tell you how delicious it was. I got a bar about the size of those thick Cadbury bars for about $6 CAD. It was  sea salt and caramel and perhaps the most delicious chocolate I have ever had!

Next we walked down along the water until we got to the concert hall. What a gorgeous building that is! Architecturally the shape of the building and the materials used were stunning! It is called Harpa and was opened in 2011. It houses the Iceland Symphony Orchestra, Icelandic Opera, Reykjavik Big Band and many other concerts throughout the year. Pretty impressive for a country of only 372,000 people!

Down by the concert hall overlooking the water we saw a beach with MANY cairn/inukshuk/stacked rock things. Apparently this is a controversial issue worldwide with many conflicting viewpoints I won't bore you with here. What I can tell you is that it looked pretty! 😀 The big one in the middle looks like it has a puffin on top!

Next we wandered through the town admiring the shops, street art, interesting houses and buildings. 

This is what typical houses looked like in downtown Reykjavik:

This is the pedestrian shopping street that our hotel was on:

One beautiful building was the church called Hallgrimskirkja. It took 41 years to build this church. It was started in 1945 and completed in 1986! It is 74.5 metres tall and you can see it from almost anywhere in downtown Reyjkjavik! Because it was night time, we were unable to go inside, but you can take an elevator to the top if that is your thing. (And you are there in the day time!)

It had a large statue of Leif Erikkson in front. He was born in Iceland and is thought to be the first European to set foot in continental North America.

There were also stones set up in a circle that are protected as a heritage monument. It isn't clear exactly what it is but appears as if this was a meeting place or type of decision making place.

We finished with a walk down the beautiful pedestrian shopping street back to our hotel. We definitely enjoyed our short visit to the beautiful city of Reykjavik!