Friday, August 9, 2013

Ice-land Baby - Day One, Reykjavik

In November of 2010, my girlfriend Janine and I decided to take a trip to Europe. Icelandair offered the irresistible deal of having a free stopover in Iceland on the way. To me it was a no-brainer, spend a few days in Iceland on the way to a bigger European trip. What a mistake. Iceland is not a layover. It’s a destination.

View from atop Hallgrimskirja.
From the moment we landed at 6:45 a.m. on Saturday until our Tuesday morning departure, Janine and I went nonstop, yet barely scratched the surface of all Iceland has to offer. Most people choose to hit the Blue Lagoon with the FlyBus on their way to/from the airport. But since it didn't open until 10 a.m., we headed straight into Rekyjavik to explore the world's northernmost capital city. We checked in at the tiny Metropolitan Hotel, which I would highly recommend for location, comfort and price. After napping for a few hours, we went out to see as much as we could of the city before heading to the Blue Lagoon. We began at the Kolaportid Flea Market, Iceland's only flea market in fact. It was packed with the bizarre and fascinating, from packaged horse meat to giant masks, paintings of the Icelandic landscape and second hand clothes. We then stopped to take in the view of Lake Tjornin before heading to the Hjartagarðurinn (Heart Garden) to look at the giant graffiti murals. We walked to the shore to catch a glimpse of the Solfar (Sun Voyager) Sculpture, doubled back to hit the shops on Laugavegur, and made our way up to the observation tower of Hallgrimskirja Church for a 360 view of the city.

The Blue Lagoon at dusk.
With dusk approaching, we made our way to the Blue Lagoon, an absolute picture-perfect time to be there. Despite being man-made, expensive and touristy, it was still a sight to behold. Of course it was freezing at that time of year, so I can only imagine how much more crowded it must be in the summer months. The Blue Lagoon struck me as much smaller than it appears in pictures, and to be honest, it wasn't hot enough for me. I noticed that the baths around Iceland were more on the "warm" side than scalding hot the way we have them in America. This made it really hard to get into. One of the funniest memories I have of the trip was when Janine and I tried to enter the water despite the freezing cold temperatures on our body. Even though they have a tunnel that allows you to enter the Lagoon from the indoors, it was still brutally cold, the kind of cold you can't really get used to. And something to keep in mind as you visit the Blue Lagoon is how much money you're going to drop. Not only is there the $55 entry fee, but the temptation of the swim-up bar is strong, and those drinks aren't cheap. And then there are the towels, which you have to pay to rent. Two people renting towels could easily spend $20, so I would advise packing your own.

Even the parking lots are stunning in Iceland.
As the sun set on our first day in Iceland, it was time to check out the nightlife. A sleepy town by day, Rekyjavik really comes alive at night. Well, more like at 2 a.m. On the weekends. We had heard about their infamous pub crawl, the rúntur, and even though we had been going all day on almost no sleep, we made a go of it. We hit the bars at 10 p.m. - and they were completely dead! They really didn't pick up until 2 a.m. This made even New York City's nightlife seem tame. Alcohol, like everything else in Iceland, is ridiculously expensive, so you'll want to pre-game in your hotel room. We bought some booze in the duty free shop, but I'll go you one further - just buy it at a local liquor store and pack it in your checked luggage. You, and your wallet, will thank me later.

One thing I loved about the bars in Reykyavik was the music, which seemed totally random. One minute you're listening to an Icelandic pop song you don't recognize and the next, people are dancing and screaming to "Twist and Shout" and "I Will Survive." The soundtrack reminded me of something straight out of one of my junior high dances.
And the traffic lights are happy to be there too!

That first day in Reykjavik ranks as one of my all-time favorite travel days. Sure, we could have taken it a bit slower and not done as much, but sometimes cramming so much experience into one day leaves your heart full and your mind blown in ways you can't describe. The next two days we would be on tours through the Icelandic countryside, so on this day, we took in as much of Reykjavik as we possibly could. The smell of sulfer soothed us to sleep, and we'd get up and go at it again in just a few short hours.




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