DAY 38 – FRIDAY 11TH JANUARY 2019

The weather was atrocious for our last day in Iceland.  Peter and Maria had opted to have a day at home today to give Theo some rest time as they knew the following day would be a long one.

We woke to pouring rain this morning.  We planned to spend the day in Reykjavik today, so were up early and were on the road before sunrise.  It was a long drive to Reykjavik this morning due to the weather conditions, but we arrived in the Capital just after day break. 

Reykjavík is the world’s northernmost capital, with a population of only 123,000, and is quite famous for its vibrant cultural and design scene, with plenty of exciting museums, cathedrals,  galleries, and shops.

We had a couple of places of interest to visit, the first being the famous Hallgrimskirkja Church cathedral.

Hallgrimskirkja Church cathedral.

Hallgrímskirkja is a Lutheran Church measuring a massive 244 ft high making it among the tallest structures in Iceland and it towers over the centre of the city and is visible from almost every angle of the city, so we had no trouble finding it. 

The church, the largest in Iceland, is named after pastor and poet Hallgrímur Pétursson, author of the Passíusálmar (The Passion Hymns). Its architecture is inspired by the beautiful basalt columns of the Svartifoss waterfall in South Iceland. The building was designed by Guðjón Samúelsson, one of Iceland's most well-known architects, and houses the largest concert organ in Iceland. The concert organ is 15m tall, has 5275 pipes and weighs 25 tonnes! The building was opened in 1986.

The church is also free to enter but there is a cost to go up to the top of the tower.  We would have been inclined to do this if the weather was better, but with all the rain and so much cloud coverage, there really wouldn’t have been a view to appreciate.   This Cathedral is not as grand or elaborate inside as a lot of the European churches, but still definitely worth the visit.  I was very impressed by a lot of the art work in the foyer of the church.  It was mainly paper mosaic, but it caught my attention as I also love to play with paper and scissors.

In front of the church and at the end of Skólavörðustígur street  is one of the best-known landmarks in Reykjavik, a statue of Leif Eriksson. He is probably the best-known hero of Viking age Iceland and was the first European to discovered North America in the year 1000, more than 500 years before Columbus. 
The statue of Leif Eriksson was a gift from the United States to Iceland to commemorate the 1000 year anniversary of Alþingi, the parliament of Iceland.

State of Leif Eriksson

By the time we had checked out the church and statue, we were in need of a toilet visit and a hot drink.  We spied a lovely little Icelandic Café across the road from the statue so headed there to get out of the wet and cold and warm up.   It turned out to be a very popular café with good food and good service and we spent a good hour in here warming up and planning out the rest of our day. 

Cuppa time

Pouring over the map and planning the rest of our day...

We left the city centre to drive down towards the waters edge to check out popular tourist attraction Sólfarið, or “Sun Vogager".  We got a little side tracked on our way down to the water front when we came across so brightly coloured buildings in the main part of Reykjavik.  Of course we had to stop and have a wander around and photograph some of them.  

 From here it was back into the car and down to the water front to check out the "Sun Vogager"  This is a large steel sculpture of a ship which is nestled along the seaside close to Harpa Concert Hall.    A popular misconception is that the Sun Voyager represents a Viking Ship. However, that is not quite the case. According to the sculptor’s Jón Gunnar Árnason vision, the piece rather accounts for a vessel of dreams; a premonition of the promise land, a plight for hope, pursuit, progress and freedom.
When the city of  Reykjavik celebrated its 200-year anniversary in 1986, the town council of Vesturbær held a competition for works of exterior art. The Sun Voyager was deemed as the winner, and an aluminium prototype was donated to the city of Reykjavík.

The Sun Voyager

In August 1990, the final piece was revealed at its current location by Sæbraut. Sadly, this was shortly after the death of Jón, who never got to see his masterpiece unveiled.

Just down from the Sun Voyager, we came across the Harpa Concert and Conference Hall which is an impressive glass building situated by the old harbour of Reykjavik. This unique building has an unusual architecture and is made of sheer glass walls, designed by Icelandic artist Ólafur Elíasson, that change colour when the light hits them. There’s lots of seating inside to rest and watch the roof and walls glisten.

The Harpa Concert and Conference Hall on the Harbour front.

I had read a lot about the famous Laugavegur Street.  This is the primary commercial artery of downtown Reykjavík, and one of the oldest shopping streets. Laugavegur, which means ‘Wash Road’, was once the route to the hot springs where many Icelanders took their clothes to launder.

Iceland is known for it’s creative and artistic culture, and the street art around the city and there is a lot to be seen in this street. There are endless displays of colorful street art on the fences and sides of buildings with more popping up all the time.   I was on the lookout for two giant trolls I had seen in reviews on Iceland, and they were supposed to be in this street.  Maybe it was because of the weather, or maybe they no longer exist, but for us they were no where to be found. 
We were also impressed with the many colourful little wooden buildings and homes in this part of the city, and of course stopped to photograph several.  

Laugavegur Street - Reykjavik, Iceland

After driving through Laugavegur Street, we drove around Lake Tjornin, which is the lake right in the centre of Reykjavik and is the lake that the locals call “the pond”, as it’s very shallow (an average of depth of just under 2ft). In the winter it sometimes freezes over and people ice skate on it.  It wasn’t in a solid state whilst we were there.  

Lake Tjornin

 We drove out along a peninsula to check out some of the beaches in Reykjavik, but it really was to wet and blowy to get out of the car.   We did notice though along here one of the famous Turf houses, although I missed an opportunity to photograph it. 

Grassed roof

 Driving back into Reykjavik, we stopped to check out the geese and swans, and they all headed straight to our car, obviously looking for a handout from us.  They were disappointed as we had nothing to offer them.

 We then drove back into Reykjavik for one more look to see if we could spot the giant trolls that were supposed to be in Laugavegur Street, but again we had no such luck in finding them.  However we did come across another rather spectacular church which we photographed instead. 

By now it was getting closer to sunset, so thought it was probably time we started to think about heading home.  As we got back into Reykjavik, we noticed a large dome on top of one of the hills and as we seemed to be heading in the direction to head home, thought we would detour and check it out. 

Perlan Dome

What a treat was in store for us.   Perlan Dome sits on top of Öskjuhlíð Hill  and is one of the most visited attractions in Iceland. A landmark building composed of an immense glass dome that sits on six hot water tanks. Perlan was first opened to the public in June 1991 and became the home of the largest nature exhibition in Iceland in 2017. At Perlan’s top floor, you can enjoy a cup of coffee or a delicious meal with spectacular views from every seat.

Inside Perlan

Perlan is open every day of the week between 08:00 and 19:00 and it is free to enter the building, but there there’s an entrance fee to the exhibition and the observation deck.  It was a real pity we hadn’t realized what a great place this was, as by the time we arrived, it was a bit late in the day and we really didn’t have the time to check out all the amazing attractions here.  Perlan houses a first class Planetarium, first man made ice cave (100 metres long), Glacier exhibitions, high tech and interactive, water exhibitions, high tech and interactive, Immersive Forces of Nature Show, , Cinematic Ocean Experiences and then the 360° Viewing Deck.   This is definitely a place we would come back to visit if we make it to Iceland again.   You could easily spend the most part of a day here.  

There was a gift and souvenir store on the second top level and we paid a visit to it too.  Most of these souvenirs we had seen at other tourist attractions we had visited, and they seemed slightly more expensive here so we didn't indulge. 

We did however end our day by having a hot chocolate up in the Café under the large glass dome before leaving.  Quite magical and we were quite sad when it was time to leave.

The beautiful dome of Perlan

Ending our day in Reykjavik with a hot chocolate at the top of Perlan Dome

We had a good trip home to Hestjall, and the weather was much better on the drive back.  Pete and Maria had dinner cooked for us by the time we arrived home.  There really wasn’t any time for game playing tonight as we had to pack our suitcases and get ready for an early departure in the morning.