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Reykjavik, Iceland
Weather: Overcast
Sea: Calm
We met up with Mum for breakfast this morning. She opted to stay onboard whilst we headed in to explore Reykjavik – the first time any of us had visited Iceland.
The shuttle bus took us into the city and dropped us outside the Harpa Concert Hall. It’s striking building and easily spotted. From here we wandered into the heart of the city. There’s a lot of building work going on in the city with a couple of old apartment blocks being knocked down, no doubt being replaced by the shiny, modern apartment blocks spring up on the harbour front. Some of the architecture in the city was very striking.
One thing we found a little odd, was that all the old traditional buildings were all built out of corrugated iron. Both walls and roof. It must work as the temperatures dropped below freezing over winter and for us looking at them, they didn’t seem that well insulated.
Callum was on a mission to add to his flag collection – he buys a flag for each new country he visits. The first four souvenir shops we went into just had tiny flags. Jon said to buy one and we could buy a larger flag if we came across one later. The very next shop we went into had the right sized flag. Little flag could go up on our letter box outside the cabin … great to help spot where the cabin was!
We found the statue of Ingolfur Arnarson, who is recognised to be the founder of Reykjavik in 874 A.D. From here we could see the BIG church so just headed across in that general direction.
We stumbled across Rainbow Street – the main road that led up to the church and there were plenty of souvenir shops lining this road.
At the top of this road was Hallgrimskirkja, the largest church in the country, and towers over the centre of Reykjavik. Its 73-metre-high tower provides a wonderful 360° view over all Reykjavik, the mountains around and the ocean stretching west to Greenland and the Americas. Because of this, the tower is among the most visited tourist destinations in Reykjavik.
Entry into the church was free but we did buy the ticket to go to the top of the Bell Tower. This was one of the highest points in the city so would get a great view. Signs were everywhere that the bells sound every 15 minutes. We were up there for 1.15pm so the bells did make us jump a little. It was only the little bells that rang on the quarter hour and that was loud enough!
From the top of the tower, we could see the Sun Voyager memorial so we knew which direction to head in as we slowly find our way back to the ship. We had only gone a couple of steps when eagle-eyed Callum spotted a HotDog van. Kristi had mentioned yesterday that the Icelandic Hot Dogs were really good (they were made with proper meat unlike their American counterparts) so Callum just had to try one. It was given the thumbs up.
A little further down, we spotted a pedestrianised street with two Polar Bears outside a souvenir ship (obligatory photo of Callum with one!). Jon then spotted a little café (Sandholt) that served hot chocolate and coffee. Whilst the sandwiches looked amazing, we opted not to eat, but have a drink. Callum and Jon ordered hot chocolates and Jon said it was like drinking melted chocolate.
We carried on walking down to the Sun Voyager statue. This monument was created to celebrate the city of Reykjavik’s 200th birthday, this “dream boat” sculpture represents hope, progress, and freedom.
From here, it was a short walk back to the Harpa Concert Hall to catch the shuttle bus back to the ship.
We were back onboard just after two. We collected mum and went to Raffles for lunch. You can only get food if you order a hot drink – I changed my order to a latte so we got two large tuna rolls to share between us. Callum was still peckish so headed up to the buffet for afternoon tea to get a couple of sandwiches and cakes!
Out on deck to watch sail out of Reykjavik. We needed a tug to help us push away from the quay. A pretty sailout – a shame it was still very overcast.
Dinner in Medina tonight – it was Black Tie night again, rearranged from Sunday so we weren’t sat around in DJs watching the England match. We were lucky enough to be given a table by the window. We were joined by a couple from Sydney, Australia and another couple from Felixstowe that were on the cruise celebrating their 60th Birthdays and honeymoon. The menu was a little disappointing for a Formal night, but that may have been because the Black Tie night had switched and no time to adjust the menu.
We were on a roll at tonight’s Syndicate Quiz. 16/20 with the winners on 17. We should have got two more questions right but we didn’t know the other two.
Hot Chocolate and a second dinner for Callum before bedtime.
