Iceland, Part I: Blue Lagoon + Reykjavik

On the plane to Reykjavik

I'm back from my week-long stay in Iceland! It was everything I thought it would be and then some. Super cold and on the pricey side as I expected but the country's beauty, quirks and peacefulness just blew me away every single day. Alexa and I used the words "unreal" and "I feel like I'm in a movie" on a regular basis. This trip was both the most adventurous (see: glaciers, lagoons, waterfalls!) but also the most relaxing I've had (naps and reading on the bus, long walks around Reykjavik) and I won't be able to stop thinking about it for a long, long while.

This trip was also extra special because it was the first time Alexa and I got on a plane together and took an extended vacation (we've always done weekend road trips!). Not that this should surprise anyone but we're awesome travel buddies. We were both super prepared but I loved our spontaneous moments of just walking and talking around the city, ducking in to every book store we came across, relaxing at the public library and eating ice cream in 20 degree weather. It's so important to travel with someone who appreciates the same things and that you can turn to when you see something incredible, whether it be a glacier lagoon or a Icelandic horse, and understand when you freak out in excitement. I'm so grateful we got to experience Iceland together!

And now, it's on to a lot of pictures and little anecdotes of everything we saw and did. I'm splitting them into three posts and this one will focus on the first two days of our trip!

Day 1

First stop: Blue Lagoon! Our flight landed at 5am and our reservation to the Blue Lagoon wasn't until 10am which meant we had a lot of time to kill. Luckily, the hotel let us nap in the lobby for a few hours (thank goodness!) until it was our turn. So in case you didn't know, the Blue Lagoon is an outdoor geothermal spa where the water is naturally heated. But as I said, it's outdoor so after we showered (a requirement before heading in), we had to run outside in our bathing suits which ended up being a great wake-up call. Once we made it in, it was so warm and toasty and kind of surreal. Honestly, what a way to be introduced to Iceland and it only got better from there.
 

After spending time at the spa and eating lunch at LAVA (our package came with complimentary wine), we headed to Rekjavik to check-in to our Airbnb. Now, I 100% expected us to be too jet-lagged to do much but I was so wrong. Because we didn't want to fall asleep, we decided to do some exploring and once we caught sight of the water and distant mountains.. well, we ended up seeing a bunch of things we had planned for the next day! It was impossible to not want to take in the sights once we were out.

As we started walking, we noticed all the brightly colored houses, which we loved and immediately got ourselves some coffee at Reykjavik Roasters. Then we stopped at the Sun Voyager and Harpa Hall, which is a beautiful concert hall that also had shops, restaurants and ice cream. After that, we picked up dinner at Cafe Loki to bring home and relax for the night (aka succumb to jet lag). 

Day 2

We started off the day with a delicious breakfast at Prikid (details and pics coming in a later post!) and went to see the Hallgrimskirkja Church. It's the tallest church in Iceland and has amazing views of the city. 

Next we started shopping and stopped by at least 4 different bookstores, all in the downtown area. Icelanders certainly loved their books! And I managed snag a copy of Anne of Green Gables, which I was extremely happy about. 

Then we grabbed a quick dinner at Baejarins, a famous hot dog stand, and picked up a ton of pastries from Braud & Co. (I highly recommend both!) We even went to the supermarket Bonus (again, very popular place) because we basically wanted to stock up on snacks for our tour excursions and because we tried to see the Northern Lights that night. Try being the operative word. Neither of us expected to see them though so we weren't terribly disappointed. 

RECAP

Where we went | Blue Lagoon, Sun Voyager, Harpa Hall, Hallgrimskirkja, 

Where we ate | LAVA Restaurant, Cafe Loki, Reykjavik Roasters, Prikid, Baejarins, Braud & Co

Where we shopped | Eymundsson, Mál og Menning, Bonus

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That was our first two days!

Check back on Wednesday to hear about days 3 and 4!

And make sure to see Alexa's Iceland Diary, Part I.