The little blog of Reykjavik

Without stating the absolute obvious, it was pretty chilly! Normally just below freezing point with only 4-5 hours of sunlight a day at this time of year. Was lovely getting all cosy and wrapped up though.

The Harbour. We stayed at Reykjavik Downtown Hostel which was just a few minutes walk from here.

There is some really amazing street art all over the city. This was one of my favourites!

Back to the very important hotdogs – here is John with his. Well chuffed!

The Icelandic didn’t seem too crazy on their chocolate and cake, and the deserts menu was often small but always lovely. Chocolate brownie with strawberry salsa and caramelized lollypop. Again from Grillmarkadurinn. The interior design of the restaurant was beautiful and so atmospheric, with inspiration from volcanoes and other natural elements.

Apart from awesome food, architecture and street art – I was also in awe of the cute and quirky shops in the city, especially the antique ones I stumbled across. I don’t know what the film and tv industry is like in Iceland, but if I worked here I know I would have plenty of places to go and source retro props and furniture.

We also ventured a little further outside the city. Here we are at the Blue Lagoon, which is a geothermal spa with water temperatures that average 37–39 °C. This is a pretty strange feeling when the temperature outside is so cold, but it was absolutely fantastic.

We also went on a tour of the Golden Circle, which included seeing the active Geysir and Strokkur at Haukadalur Valley. Boom! The above is Strokkur, and errupts up to 30 metres every 5 minutes or so.

Crazy how a flat, bubbling pools can burst to such heights in a matter of seconds.

Gulfoss Waterfall

Thingvellir National Park

A final few favourites from Instagram (@hellorogue)

An example of how cool and laid back the Icelandic people/businesses are 🙂

My typical day to day tourist attire. Hat, scarf and gloves (majorly necessary!) Doc Marten boots with thermal tights, Drop Dead Clothing parka, Brand Village satchel, and my Canon 1100D.

Olivia and I on New Years Eve! At night I normally changed over to my Motel fur coat (which was so cosy, but made me feel much more dressed up) I took some extra shoes including my Vans (always the holy grail) and Jeffery Campbell boots, but ended up not wearing either of them as the conditions were so cold and icy. But luckily my fur lined Doc’s went with everything and kept my feet warm and dry even in the snow.

My
new SLR did me very well for the trip, and I could have shared so many
more from it but I think I have overloaded you all for now *You might have
seen a few more if you follow me on twitter, flickr or tumblr) I made good use of my ipad too, as the Icelandic have wifi absolutely nailed. It was free and super fast absolutely everywhere! So although I didn’t travel all that way to sit on facebook or instagram, it was really useful for googling locations and directions. Oh and face timing my friends and family when we were insanely drunk. All in all, a wonderful trip was had and I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend Iceland to anyone. I’d love to see more of the country one day, and perhaps in the summer where there are a lot of different things to do and more seasonal things to see. If you ever plan on visiting Reykjavik and want the names etc of places we visited then don’t hesitate to drop me an email.

Well, that’s one more place ticked off my bucket list. What’s next up on yours?

Ayden x