Day 2 - Sun 13 April

Keflavik  to Reykjavik

We actually had a pretty good view during the descent into Iceland.   Talk about flat.  Its beautiful in such a different way.  I think I got a glimpse of the Blue Lagoon as we flew over.

Getting off the plane was pretty simple, straight through immigration, picked up the bags, didn't even have to slow down for customs and we were in Iceland.  Now to find our hire car.  Unfortunately since we'd landed it had actually started to snow and there was already a coating on snow over everything/.  I walked out of the airport and was able to see the car rental office, getting there was another thing though.  We started heading in the right direction but soon lost our footpath and ended up trying to wheel the suitcases over snow covered grass and along the middle of the road. Twas not easy but  we finally made it.  Got ourselves a Kia Sorrento - not quite as big as I had hoped.  Even with the car seats strapped in rather than needing to be packed we could only just fit everything in.

The snow stopped as we started the 50 min drive into Reykjavik.  The sun came out and the views were gorgeous - black lava fields with a background of snow covered mountains, and....what's that....why hello horizon, haven't seen you for a while.

 

Back in my natural environment

No issues finding our hotel  - Downtown Hotel Reykjavik.  Not a bad location, just out of the center of town, but close enough to walk to anything we need.

I had no issues checking myself in with the codes supplied.  Looks like we got upgraded to a one bedroom apartment - very nice.  We all crashed for a couple of hours to make up for our lack of sleep last night on the plane.

About 1pm I made everyone get up - I was ready to start exploring (not to mention I was hungry - we skipped breakfast today).

First stop Hallgrimskirkja.

A beautiful church and probably the most recognizable building in Reykjavik.  On the outside its built to resemble the basalt columns you find all around Iceland. On the inside its very simple - almost stark - but wow what an organ - 5275 pipes.

We took the elevator up to the top of the tower to get a good overview of Reykjavik.

 

Next stop - food - right across the road from the church was a little café recommended by Lonely Planet - Café Loki.  So we stopped in there for a late lunch.

 

 

Andy and I went with the meat soup and a side.  Andy got the smoked Lamb on Pumpernickel flatbread, I got lamb pate on rye bread.  Yum - on all counts.  Kids had pancakes which were more like crêpes. And really, you can't beat the view.

We spent some time driving around Reykjavik (I wasn't going to try and get this kids to walk whilst they were still tired - too much of a hassle).  Down the main street, then into the old part of the city.

We headed just out of town to the tip of the Seltjarnarnes Peninsular.  About a 5 minute drive - but a totally different world. 

At the tip of the peninsular we found a breakwater with beach leading out to lighthouse.

We checked the tide schedule and it said high tide wasn't due till 9pm so we decided to clamber across and check out the lighthouse......

 The kids did a pretty good job rock hopping across, though Josh did slip into the water once.



The lighthouse



view looking north

looking back at the Cod drying racks

We only stayed a short while as we were a bit worried about how fast the tide was coming in.  The return journey was A LOT harder than getting out.  And made even harder by the fact that we had a couple of early teen girls and their mum in front of us and one of the girls was terrified and moving  very slowly.  By the time we finally made it back we all had wet feet!

 

Back to the hotel for a change of shoes - then to the Bonus - an Aldi type supermarket - to buy some food for dinner.  Microwave pizza for the kids - Thai soups for the adults - man were they good soups, not just for frozen meals, but just good in general!