Michele

While looking for the Unknown Bureaucrat in Reykjavik we found afternoon tea service at the Apotek Restaurant.

Afternoon Tea is served everyday from 2:30 PM til 5:00 PM. Located Austurstraeti 16, Reykjavik 101, Iceland.

Rent a car. There are a lot of roundabouts and gravel roads so get car renters insurance too. We didn’t go on to the gravel road areas much this trip. We just stayed on the main road. If you are renting a car make sure you check road conditions.

Before we headed to Iceland we planned out what we were going to do. Only staying for 3 days, we didn’t want to become over whelmed. Day 1 we got settled in, day 2 Blue Lagoon and the 3rd day we explored the town of Reykjavik and sought out museums.

Reykjavík has a lovely bakery just a block away from Hallgrímskirkja called Brauð & Co. Delicious fresh bread and croissants. If you are planning to drive to the museums, make sure to visit Asmundur Sveinsson Museum.

The Blue Lagoon is the most relaxing place I have ever been. You need to purchase your tickets in advance because they only allow a set number of people in to avoid over crowding. We spent all day there and ate dinner as well. There are 3 restaurants and a cafe. We had reservations at Lava Restaurant. Everything was delightful.

The locals were really helpful in recommending places to visit too. We only stayed in Iceland for 3 days. At the time (October 2018) it was a really good deal to fly from Iceland to Germany, but now (May 2019) that WOW Airlines no longer exists, I am sorry to say that it is going to be more expense to fly to there. If you have never been to Iceland you must go to the Blue Lagoon at the very least.

The Blue Lagoon offers massages, mud masks, and drinks. I got a massage, but didn’t think it was as good as a “normal” one, but it was relaxing and different. During the massage you are floating in the lagoon with a wet towel on top of you so you keep warm and every so often the masseur dips you into the water. The first mask is free and you can purchase other ones at the mask stations. They provide you with hair conditioner the silica rich water will dry your hair. There is a bar there too, and I believe your first drink is free too.

If you plan on coming to the Blue Lagoon, get a waterproof camera like I did from Amazon. It isn’t the best camera but it’s $30 and takes pretty good pictures and video. I didn’t want to bring in my 70D Canon or phone. I would be so sad if I broke it. I did see some people trying to wrap their cameras up in plastic, but it didn’t look relaxing at all. I am super happy I have all those pictures and videos, but now I really want to go back!

I am a skincare addict.

Kveðjur!

There are actually trees in Iceland, but when you first land you are met with a strange landscape of volcanic rock and moss. It feels very alien. It is one of my favorite places we visited. I can’t wait to go back and see more of its world renown scenery. I am really sad that WOW airline’s business failed. The Iceland economy was booming 6 months ago. I was reading in Bloomberg today how their fishing season was bad this year too. If you have a chance to visit Iceland, go. It is such a beautiful place.

If you like black licorice, Iceland is the place for you. There is a lot of licorice there. I’ve never seen so much of it anywhere before. You have to try some chocolate covered licorice and a shot of there licorice liquor, Brennivín. Licorice is part of Iceland’s history, when the first Scandinavian settlers came to Iceland they needed more calories to survive the harsh conditions and salted fish with seaweed wasn’t enough. They couldn’t plant flowers for honey bees and wheat doesn’t grow in the volcanic soil. Licorice doesn’t flower and the roots are what make licorice. Licorice is also sweeter than sugar.

Iceland also offers puffin, horse and whale. We accidentally bought some horse sausage at the grocery store. Hrossakjöt means horse meat in Icelandic. Remember to read the labels and use Google Translate, it is a really helpful program.