Thanks to all the advice and suggestions for my quick, 2.5 day trip to Iceland, I got to see quite a lot.
Flew Iceland Air from Frankfurt, and landed at 08:40. Flying from Frankfurt, there is no passport control. Had booked the Flybus ahead of time, went out, and we left right away for the 45 min. ride to Reykyavik. Got there about 10:30 and walked from the bus station up to the church, which is visible from almost everywhere. Took a few photos from outside, but by the time I wanted to go up in the tower, they closed because of Sunday church services. So, headed into the city center, walked around, and had a delicious cheesecake with strawberry jam and a coffee. Went back to the church and after waiting for them to re-open, was the 1st person in line to go up in the tower. The weather was lovely and got great photos. The bells rang while up there and that was fun!
Came down and walked over to the Harpa concert hall. It was a lovely walk along the beach, everyone sitting out in the sun cause it was about 20°. The Concert Hall is unique and it was the 1st time I ever used my debit card at a toilet. Had a food tour booked for 15:00 that met out front.
I booked the Reykjavik Food Walk for 104€. It lasted 3 hours and it was fun. Maybe 17 of us? Mostly American. We had one stop with 2 fish dishes that were scrumptious, 2nd stop was 2 lamb dishes that were also excellent, 3rd stop was the Icelandic hotdog, 4th stop was the rotten shark and some kind of viking shot, both of which I abstained from, 5th stop was rye bread ice cream which was way better than you would think. The guide was lively and engaging.
Took a taxi to my guesthouse - the Blue House, which is sort of on a penninsula with a light house. Sadly, I was always too tired to walk out to the beach! It had its' good points and bad points and though the location was good, without a car, it was tough getting into the city and there were no restaurants or stores near-by. The owner was absent and frankly, not my favorite person. If they had given me a refund 3 years ago, I would not have had to pay an extra 75€ to stay here, due to price increases. The bath room was weird. A bath set up under such a sloping ceiling, you could not stand up. Shower was downstairs.
Slept well and was picked up the next morning at 08:00 for my tour to the South Coast run by EastWest. Cost was 122.20€. This was a fantastic tour, in a small bus for 19px. We saw a lot! Waterfalls, the black beach, puffins, a glacier, the town of Vik, and didn't get back to my guesthouse until 20:30. I was exhausted, but thrilled with all the sites we got to visit. Our guide, Adolph, was wonderful, and quite chatty. He did tell us that there was a small percent chance of seeing the northern lights that night and the next. That if we weren't sure and the clouds looked odd, to take a photo with our phone. I though, ok, good to know. Got up in the middle of the night, as one does, looked out the window and thought, hmm, that cloud does look funny, let me try taking a photo. YES!!! It was all green. Took a whole slew of pics and then it faded. The dawn was breaking by then too. Waited my whole life to see these, and though it wasn't quite the same as seeing those massive waves in person, with glowing colors, this was still a very special treat.
Had to take the bus into town in the morning for my next tour, and got picked up at 09:30. This was the Golden Circle Tour, run by BusTravel Iceland for 158.42€. Small bus, but we were only 5. Visited the volcanic crater which was cool and a huge, massive water fall. Then we stopped for lunch at the tomato farm, Fridheimar. Wasn't that excited about stopping here, but quickly changed my mind. This is a really cool place, and lunch here was absolutely delicious. They aren't joking about the wonderful tomato soup, plus I had tomato ice cream.
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