After flying from Akureyri, we spent the final three days of our tour in southwestern Iceland, based in the capital city of Reykjavik (pop. 140,000).  At 248,000 for the region, it is the most populated area of Iceland.

Known as one of the cleanest, greenest (environmentally friendly), and safest cities in the world, I can tell you from personal experience I can see why it has that reputation.  It was a great city to ramble around!

Following our arrival, we visited Perlan, a new and modern interactive museum that features Iceland’s unique natural wonders.  One of the fabulous movies we saw featured amazing video footage of the 2021 eruption of Geldingadalir Volcano, which was the first volcanic eruption in the region in 800 years.  Another movie, “Arora,” was Perlan planetarium’s 360-degree film of the northern lights.

We weren’t prepared for one of the other featured exhibits, but it sure was fun!  It was an ice cave, constructed of 350+ tons of ice!  It took four years to build, and it’s 328 feet (100 meters) long.  The temperature was 5 degrees inside, and I was wearing just my down vest, figuring I could leave my other gear on the bus while we were indoors.  (Thorunn had never been there, so she didn’t know we could walk through an ice cave!)  Oh well; we made a run for it!  It was so cold that we spent the first trip through dodging people just to get out the other side.  Once we warmed back up, we made another trip through, and we were lucky to have the entire tunnel practically to ourselves.  We paused for some quick photos, including one on a beautiful chair they had carved from ice.  (Thankfully, they lined it with a sheepskin rug!)

(For all pictures, click on the image to see full screen view.)

The top floor of Perlan (which translates to “Pearl”) was a glass domed restaurant, bar, gift shop, and patio.  We were able to walk completely around for a view of the city, harbor, and beyond – a good introduction to what we would be seeing next.

Haflidi drove us downtown to the harbor for our group lunch, which was one of our best meals of the trip; perfectly prepared local wolffish.  This was followed by Thorunn’s walking tour of the city – a city she knows very well, since it is her home!

The first stop was just next door to where we had lunch:  Harpa Concert Hall and Conference Centre, a spectacular modern glass building on the harbor front.  Designed by Danish-Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson and Henning Larsen Architects, the glass façade was inspired by the basalt landscape of Iceland.  Construction had started in 2007; however, it was put on hold during Iceland’s financial crisis in 2008.  It was only half-built, so the government decided to fully fund the remaining construction costs. The concert hall was completed, and it opened in 2011.  In 2013, Harpa won the European Union’s Mies van der Rohe award for contemporary architecture.

One step inside, and my head was on a swivel, marveling at the architecture and plotting my next photo angle.  It was so inspiring!  We ended up returning the next day, when it was sunny, to shoot more photos.  These are my favorites from the two visits:

Our walking tour continued to the parliament building and other city highlights.  From what I gathered during our walk, Reykjavik is a very cosmopolitan, hip, and artistic city; and I looked forward to seeing more.

Following are photos I shot during our walking tour as well as during our free late afternoons the next two days.  I left out the murals though; they are the subject of my next post!

Next up: Memorable Murals of Reykjavik

Note: If small group travel is of interest to you, I highly recommend Overseas Adventure Travel (OAT). Although Bruce and I travel together, they do not charge a single supplement for those who travel on their own. Singles also get their own room at hotels. If you book, you can get $100 off your trip by providing my name and customer number (Elaine Krugman, #3018126) as the person who referred you. I will also get $100 off future travel– a win-win!