Snippets From Reykjavík

My photo library sent a reminder that we were in Iceland this time four years ago. We spent five days in Reykjavík and another five in the wilderness about an hour away from the city. Since travel is out of the question for the foreseeable future, I thought I’d share a few photos. A bit of sofa travel is always nice. Plus I’ve had this post queued up for over a year and never published it.

Painted buildings and street art added some colour to Reykjavík; a stark contrast to the large amounts of concrete and metal used to construct many of the modern buildings.

I expected to see more timber buildings but a tour guide told us the Vikings cut down huge numbers of trees for construction (boats, homes, warmth etc) and because most of Iceland is formed of volcanic rock, there isn’t much deep soil for them to grow in. We saw a few trees in a conservation and reforestation area called Heiðmörk though.

We walked past this place at night and only “Phallalogical” was properly lit. I said “phallalogical” out loud, trying to figure out what it was. All became clear when I spotted the souvenirs in the window! I don’t know it took so long for the penny to drop. In my defence, I wasn’t expecting to find myself stood in front of a penis museum.

Quite possibly the funniest photo of Scott I’ve ever taken. Ignore the fact it’s a little out of focus.

Kolaportið flea market is where I bought a Danish postcard to translate. We were a bit disappointed because most of the items for sale were brand new and mass produced. The postcard stand was good though.

In my happy place. Not sure why I wasn’t wearing my gloves because my hands look like they were about to drop off. We set off in sunshine and this photo was taken just as a blizzard rolled in (more photos in this post if you are interested).

It was really windy on the night this photo was taken and the ginormous crane next to our apartment was creaking away. I stepped out the back door to check the likelihood of waking up with a crane in our laps and spotted this amazing blue light.

We woke up to snow covered mountains on our penultimate day in Reykjavík. It turns out we had ventured up Esja on the very last snow free day. Talk about good timing.

I’d love to go back to Iceland one day and spend more time exploring beyond Reykjavík. Maybe stay in a wooden cabin in the middle of nowhere, find the plane wreck on the black beach and take a dip in a natural hot spring.