I love sunshine and warm weather when on holiday but I happily made an exception for Iceland in late February 2016 hoping to see the Northern Lights. In the event the boat trip booked to see the Northern Lights was cancelled because it was too cloudy that evening. It would have been nice to see the city at night from a boat!
However Reykjavik had many other attractions. It was sublimely beautiful. The snow-capped mountains looked particularly so on a sunny day under a bright blue sky, even though it was cold. There were artistic sculptures and iconic structures everywhere and some of the houses were so colourful!
Hotel Odinsve
For our stay, my friend and I stayed at Hotel Odinsve in Reykjavik. It was so near to everything! Most importantly it was served by Flybus and Grayline for airport transfers, pick-up and drop-off for tours.
I could see Hallgrímskirkja Church from the window of my room. It’s a short walk down to the Harbour to visit the beautiful Harpa Concert Hall. It’s also a street away from the main road with lots of shops and restaurants.
There’s a great bakery just one block away selling lovely pastries and rolls. It was not a cheap hotel, but then nothing in Iceland was!!
The winter colours of Iceland
The colourful buildings
Hallgrímskirkja Church
Hallgrímskirkja Church is a modern structure so refreshingly different from other churches!!
We took the lift up to the top which afforded a great view of the city. On a clear sunny day the colourful houses make great photos!
Solfar (Sun Voyager) Sculpture
It’s modern, it’s artistic and it’s free. It’s an iconic symbol of Iceland by the harbour. It’s a great icon for those holiday photos in Reykjavik!
Perlan (The Pearl)
It’s nothing special to look at from the outside but the viewing deck on the 4th level gave a fantastic 360 degrees view of the city. Had we had time we would have loved to have a coffee in the café up there too!
Harpa Concert Hall
It was one of my must-visit places in Reykjavik. It’s modern and asymmetrically pleasing on the outside. It was great to take a pit-stop there for a coffee and to admire the interiors. The view of the port from it was interesting too.
Golden Circle day tour
To complete our visit to Iceland, we took a Golden Circle day tour to go outside Reykjavik. It covered all the worthwhile sights: the Geysir, Gullfoss Waterfall and Thingvellir National Park.
Geysir Hot Spring Area
Gullfoss waterfall
The waterfall looked spectacular when frozen with the snow-covered surroundings.
Thingvellir National Park.
Finally
Got the fridge magnets! 😁
