we had a full day in reykjavik, and we didn't really know what to do.

of course we knew we should take a look at the church (which was right in front of our doorsteps), harpa concert hall, the sun voyager…shop a little and eat something fancy before we would go off to the countryside.

equipped with my journal and off we went to hallsgrimkirkja. it was a huge, modern chuch, so modern that i have never seen such churches before (like i've been to so many churches) there were not a lot of tourists, travellers around. i supposed iceland was not of a popular destination as new zealand or switzerland, especially during this season.



the day was overcasted, which was just the perfect weather to take photos in town. we strolled along skolavordustigur street towards the city centre. we saw many lovely shops and cafes which looked seriously tempting to make a brief stop. unfortunately, nothing was yet open. these shops would be open at either ten in the morning or noon. where could an early person like me go?

so we kept strolling, observing and taking photos.


until, at some point, we reached a little te og kaffi, i assumed later it was an icelandic version of starbucks (since i haas not once seen a starbucks during the trip) the atmosphere was lovely and it made me wish i would get a chance to work at a coffee shop too. and they sell muffins from the muffin bakery! i actually marked this bakery on the map and i couldn't find it (how come? i don't know) but their muffins are good and they looked really really mouthwatering.

so get the muffin from there, and don't forget to let them pop it in the microwave for a few secs, it would enhance the texture of the muffin significantly.

we just wandered around the main shopping street, laugvegur, and had a look at shops (which finally started to open) which sold cool things at unaffordable prices. there were so many cool icelandic cds i wanted to buy but they were no less than 2,000 isk.

talk about music, this trip made me feel so connected to of monster and men in some ways, by seeing all the places in the country and listening to their music. they just connected. and i was so sad we were like half a month too late, otherwise i would at least get a chance to see them live in the harpa. imagine how amazing would that be!

anyway, the other thing i liked about this small capital city (it was hard to believe a capital city could be so small) was cafe-bistro-mixed style of cafe which served coffee, cake, breakfast, brunch and also burgers and easy meal for lunch and dinner along with beers. like cafe stofan and the laundromat cafe. i didn't even know how the food there tasted but the atmosphere won my heart over. too bad i didn't get to visit both places as it wasn't my dad's kind of thing. (but next time when i'd here alone….i wouldn't miss them for life!) i first discovered and fell in love with this kind places when i was in germany. these cafes just reminded me so much of my german life.

i picked up two lovely little local hand-picked maps for food, sleep, souvenirs and activity. it was a rough, illustrated map of the whole island which contained some hidden shops and restaurants, cosy hotels and things like that. i love local-made travel guides so much so i kept the map it became my little helper as we drove around iceland. here is where you can find all three different handpicked maps :)

we ventured out a little to harpa concert hall just when the wind started to get aggressive and it became really cold. so the minute we entered the warm harp, it was a paradise.


i liked harpa a lot more that the church. even when they were building something in the surroundings. the architecture of it was much more fascinating. all the pieces of glass, clear and coloured. and when the sun shined at it created patterns on the floor, it was just simply amazing.


i spent quite a while in there, partly because it was could outside, and partly because it was beautiful inside. at the end, after several photos and videos were taken and the breakfast we had was all digested. we left and go find some place nice for lunch.

we agreed on the fish company. lunch was more expensive than dinner and the menus were different. at that time, we thought it was an expensive place. but after we drove around the ring road, we agreed that the meal at the fish company was the most valuable one we had.

we had a bowl of fish soup, two fish dishes (it was arctic charr and cod i guessed) and a dessert. they were splendid and we were full, only 7000 isk for three persons! (yes, only. wait until you experience iceland by yourself and you'll understand)

the service was also fabulous and again i was tempted to work in a restaurant like that. let alone that all the waiters there were good-looking guys. it was the best restaurant we visited when we were there.

we didn't really do much in the afternoon. just some grocery shopping (to prepare ourselves for the coming week in the countryside…) and we visited the sun voyager, which wasn't that spectacular. also, they didn't make it like it was an attraction and it was inconvenience to cross the street to get to the sculpture.


we went to micro bar in the evening and had a pint of beer. there was a group of english speakers inside and it reminded me so much of my beloved couchsurfing meeting in nurnberg. the beer was nice. we had gaedingur weissen, kaldi and a very strong stout from gaedinger. it was during the happy hours but not all types of beer was 600 isk. the prices were 600, 1000 and 1500 isk respectively. i personally thought the prices were really really high. but hey, it's iceland.

then we went to tapasbarinn, which disappointed me. i have had some really good tapas when i was in germany, and was excited to try icelandic tapas (which was quite famous in iceland) however, i found the price to be very high (even considering the fact that we were in iceland) and the food was nothing special. nothing compared to our lunch.


or maybe i just ordered the wrong dishes.

we hung around the church at dust, waiting for the light to be lit up. our only day in reykjavik ended and the new kind of day was about to begin. a day out of town.