I just spent four days in beautiful Iceland. Travelling alone, I explored Reyjavik with plans to see and eat everything but not enough kronas in my wallet. I had an incredible time there.
The main highlight was bumping into one of my lifetime idols - Bjork! She was just strolling down Laugavegur, the main shopping street. I almost fainted and asked her if she was Bjork, even though it was obvious but she ran away across the road! Sadly no photo for me then but still an amazing experience.
The atoms aurora borealis were being lazy and didn't put on a very good display so was rather underwhelmed by that.
It's not as cold as I expected, the days were between 0-9 degrees. It was actually cooler as I arrived back home. Also the just 5 hours of light took some getting used to.
A welcoming, warm and peppery smelling massive greenhouse was another interesting visit made even better by it's home made tomato soup which was undoubtedly the best I've had, and I'm not a fan of tomatoes normally. Rows of the juicy fruit in various stages of growth were on display and pots of basil and scissors were on tables for you to snip into your soup.
The food was hit and miss. Cafe Loki was incredible , the food was delicate and simple, their rye bread ice cream is just spectacular. Cafe Babalu is quirky and cosy with the best chocolate banana crepes, bulging with thick chocolate sauce. Sushibarinn had wonderful fresh sushi and very delicious salmon tartar with avocado, chilli and black and white sesame. Those three are a must if you visit.
I saw a few geysers and waterfalls too but got very lonely out there, despite being used to travelling alone - at 19 I travelled to Greece on my own for two weeks, saganaki cheese..hello!
Perhaps the loneliness was due to the hotel being a fair walk away from the centre and no one else my age staying there, though I'm pretty sure they were all British, which can be disappointing.
I'd recommend younger folk (or those young at heart) to stay at the hostel on Laugavegur as the staff are ridiculously friendly and travellers just hang out in the lobby there, enjoying the live music and other activities.
Here are some photos in no particular order.
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| Lovely soja latte at a restaurant that had no name (popular theme in Reykjavik) |
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| Hotel buffet dinner, soup was so salty! |
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| First introduction to Plokkfiskur, Icelandic fish stew..wasn't expecting this and didn't enjoy. Had the texture of tuna on a jacket potato after being chewed for a while. The bread was lovely, very syrupy |
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| Crepe with maple syrup, flaky and light |
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| Some street art that is prevalent across Reykjavik |
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| Had one of those brownies, they were lovely and the girls here were kind and chatty, recommending the best places for nights out. |
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| At the greenhouse |
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| More art |
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| More tomatoes |
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| The tomato cafe |
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| Lovely soup |
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| More salty vegetable soup at a restaurant out near the geysers |
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| This pecan pie was delicious, great pastry and wobbly sweet filling |
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| Wrapped up enjoying the landscape |
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| Salmon tartare at Sushibarinn |
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| Sushi platter at Sushibarinn |
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| Gorgeous generously filled chocolate and banana crepe at the wonderful Cafe Babalu |
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| Cafe Babalu |
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| The view from the church tower, looks like the edge of the world! |
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| Simple and elegant food at Cafe Loki. Egg and pickled herring on one rye, incredible buttery rich (much better than before) plokkfiskur on the other accompanied by amazing rye bread ice cream |
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| Traditional Icelandic food - Skyr served with cream and sugar. How I didn't get ill I have no idea! |
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| Amazing bakery. Bought some rye bread to take home and it's dense and sour and lovely |
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| Yellow house |
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| Church tower |
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| Seafood coconut soup at Sushi Samba, also had calamari tempura and the most incredible basil aioli |
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| Inside Cafe Babalu |
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| A lovely scene on a beautiful walk |
