Friday 6 February 2015

Day out in Reykjavik

We had an excellent nighs sleep in the Hlemmur Square hotel waking about 08:00 it really is dark outside at that time.

We loafed around for a while and eventually got dressed and showered,  leaving the hotel around 09:15 it was still dark but lightening.

Walking along Laugavegur we stopped at the Sandholt Artizan Bakery & Coffee House for a breakfast of toasted sourdough with cheese, Danish pastry, a Skyr yogurt , coffee and orange juice. Really tasty.

The sun was now pretty much up now with a little gloom, looking north over the coast the views are fantastic.



We continued into the old part of town and after a mooch around went to the RReykjavik 871+-2 exhibit. A turf Viking era hall excavation that can be accurately dated due to a layer of ash from a volcanic eruption. The exhibition is great, you can get right up to the turf walls and there are loads of artefacts with ddetails in both Icelandic and English, plus some great interactive displays.

We then walked up to the Harpa a beautiful modern building serving as concert venue and conference centre, all glass and steel, but looking great in the landscape. It is spectacular at night so more shots of that later.


Ready for some refreshment we found a coffe shop, I had a tea while Victoria a coffee, we shared a Kleina, an Icelandic twisted donut that looks a bit like a yum-yum and we found heavy and rather greasy.



Looking at the map we decide to walk to Keinglan Mall to pick up a mains adaptor, as we seem to have lost ours somewhere along the way!

We pass the Hallgrims-Kirkjaradlestin cathedral on the way, an impressive concrete structure.


Although there is a lot of snow and ice about, the pavements are quite easy going as they are gritted with volcanic ash and have hot water pipes running underneath. I decide that Reykjavik is the home of the lost glove. The streets are littered with forlorn soggy articles.

We eventually reach the Keinglan Mall and I pay quite a lot for a european adaptor.

It's getting on so we have lunch at Hradlestin an Indian street food resturant I have a veggie thali and Victoria a veggie naan wrap.



We walk back to the Hlemmur Square and my pedometer says 18,000 paces so I think I deserve the couple of pints I had in the bar.

We go back up to the room and I updated the blog with yesterdays post then we get ready and head to downtown Reykjavik.

There is a snowboard event going off in town so we watch the boarders doing their jumps and tricks for a bit.





Now back to the Harpa, as I said it looks stunning at night.


Next stop is the Laundromat Cafe where we both have a Latin Avocado Sandwich



It's eyes bigger than our bellies time though and we are both defeated


A slow walk back to the Hlemmur Square and crash out in bed.









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