Day 1: Reykjavik City Center

The first leg of our trip was Reykjavik. We arrived early in the morning. It was pitch dark as we shuttled from the airport to our hotel in Reykjavik. We arrived on December 21st, the shortest day of the year, when the sun rises at 11:20am and sets at 3:30pm. We left the hotel at 10am to find light slowly creeping into Reykjavik, revealing Mount Esjan to the North of the city.

We walked alongside the road heading into the city, and passed all the shops and cafes. We stopped for breakfast at the “Cafe Paris”.

After breakfast we headed down to see the famous church, Hallgrimskirkja, which is visible from most parts of the city.

From here, you can take the elevator up to the Church tower. It costs about 600ISK and was well worth it for the view.

Reykjavik is a small city, but not tiny. The old town has tons of hip cafes and bars, as well as trendy Scandinavian design stores, while the suburbs have office buildings for tech companies and other companies.

Reykjavik has all the signs of a modern Scandinavian city. It’s clean, safe and full of cheery blond-haired, blue-eyed families.

Night comes early, but the city quickly livens up. Icelanders take Christmas lights seriously, and mostly every apartment or house is lined with simple Christmas lights. Inside the bars and cafes are lively. I stopped off at a sports pub to watch soccer, while my wife read in a cafe across the street. It didn’t take long until an Icelander, and an Icelandic-American started talking to me at the bar.

The walk back to our hotel was cold, but the hotel cozy. We rested up for an early departure out of the city the next day.