Iceland Stopover – Highlights of Reykjavik

The last day of our Iceland Stopover was spent in Reykjavik, just wandering and enjoying this charming, vibrant city.

If you haven’t yet, catch up with Iceland Stopover Day 1 and Day 2. We stayed at a cute little apartment AirBnB in Reykjavik with these amazingly cozy down comforters, perfect for your girl fighting the cold, and perfect for hitting downtown first thing in the morning for coffee.

I had been eyeballing Café Babalu since our layover in Iceland on the way to England, and it did not disappoint. Very eclectic décor, amazing coffee, and a full menu for breakfast.  But we took our lattes to go because we had some exploring to do.  Reykjavik is a really cute, colorful city, and I loved being able to walk and explore. 

Hallgrimskirkja

We headed to Hallgrímskirkja, the largest church, and the tallest structure in Iceland.  It is a very identifiable Icelandic landmark, and sits up on a hill, so is visible in most parts of the city.  The view is incredible, and the inside is picturesque like most European churches, with a grand organ aligning the back wall.

Kitty-corner (or…caddy corner?) from the church is a fabulous little breakfast spot, that does serve fermented shark, but I was not feeling that adventurous and opted for the smoked trout on homemade rye bread, and a little Icelandic coffee, with Brennivin (the local spirits) to warm me up. A fair warning to all that are planning an Iceland trip, it is expensive, and we spent $50 just on breakfast, for the boozed up coffee, trout on rye, a breakfast sandwich and a plain coffee.

Street views

Our morning was spent strolling around town, loving the peaceful, calm vibe of the city, the colors and the people. 

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Sun Voyager

One of the coolest things to see is the beautiful steel sculpture resembling a Viking long-ship, called Solfarid or the Sun Voyager. Sun Voyager is situated along the waterfront and the view of the bays and Mt. Esja are stunning on a clear day. The artist viewed his work as an ode to the sun, symbolizing light and hope. We love that!

Bridge Between Continents

We had just a few hours left on the rental car, so we headed out to see the Bridge Between Continents.  Iceland is the location of the meeting of the Eurasian and the North American tectonic plates, and is the only place you can see the meeting of these two plates above ground.  Be a bit of a geological geek here and understand how cool this is.  There are also scuba excursions to see them underwater (I didn’t do this, because, um, duh prehistoric sharks could eat me).

ssn – at the center of the bridge, Midlina, you can straddle the continents. The two sides are marked “Welcome to America” and “Welcome to Europe”. The visitors center will give you a certificate to commemorate your walk from Europe to America.

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Random thought

And because this hasn’t been discussed yet, I feel like we have to talk about the moss in Iceland.

Moss covers most of the landscape.  And the country of Iceland, government and people, have asked repeatedly that the moss not be touched or stepped on, it takes years for it to grow back, and thoughtless tourists have been known to trample on it, or pick it to take a souvenir home.  Do not do this.  Just leave the countryside the way you found it.  It is a beautiful part of the landscape.

ssn – we hated to leave this beautiful country but this Iceland Stopover deal is too good (and they are in no way sponsoring this post) not to come back. Imagine if you were able to stop in Iceland for a day or two each time you traveled between North America and Europe? You could see so much of this magical island! We do still want to do the golden circle and get up to the northern part of the country which would take more than a couple of days, but each trip could bring a few more amazing adventures!

• Iceland Stopover – Day 1
• Iceland Stopover – Day 2