I arrived in Reykjavik around 7:30 and as my room wasn’t quite ready, I dropped off my bags and set out to explore the town. In my typical style, I had a few sights in my head to walk by, but prefer to just organically explore and see where my instincts and the fates may blow me.
Reykjavik is not huge, but it is by far the largest city in the country and over a thousand years old to boot, so it has quite a developed central core. Being Sunday morning and rather early, unfortunately most of the attractions and shops were closed, but I did get to explore and come up with a wish list for visiting next trip. Among them the Icelandic Punk Museum, which was most appropriately located in a now closed underground public toilet — I’ve got to make it back to see this some day. I also spied a bevy of other interesting museums including the Saga Museum, which with my love of Norse Mythos is also a must-visit some day, and the Penis Museum. Ah yes, the Penis Museum, clearly denoted as being tastefully done, not sure how close that one is to the top of my to-visit list, but knowing its there is well . . . something. I also spied the Maritime Museum with a very interesting brewery right next to it, opens in three hours good to know . . .
At this point I was on the city’s waterfront and could spy off in the distance a lighthouse that I knew was the Grotta Island Lighthouse from my pre-trip research. The weather was pleasant (50’s and clear) and since everything else was closed I figured it was time for a nice hike. The lighthouse is actually about 5km away, well outside of the city proper at the end of a peninsula that juts out into the Atlantic. The temperatures were nice I strolled along the waterfront all the way there along a dual use cycling/walking trail and enjoyed scenic overlooks with benches carved out of logs and bird sightings along the way. The lighthouse is actually on a small island connected to the end of the peninsula by a small bridge and the whole area is a wildlife reserve. Unfortunately the island was as closed to foot traffic due to bird nestlings at this time of year, but I still got some great views of the lighthouse and noticed that the trail continued around the peninsula past the lighthouse, and I decided to just keep following it. The walk was beautiful and quiet and I really enjoyed getting out to see some of natural Iceland. When I decided to make this one day excursion to scout out Iceland, I was bothered my the fact I was going to be stuck in town and not get to explore the natural wonder that is really a highlight of the country . . . So this excursion was well worthwhile. The far side of the peninsula houses a golf course with amazing views.
I stuck to the trail around the outskirts of the golf course. A little less quiet as I had to keep waiting for golfers and keep a keen eye on their lack of accurate shots. I watched a few bounce near me and was only surprised once when I heard a ball bounce on the trail behind me. Having survived Iceland’s best golfers, I made my way back off the peninsula and into town « coincidentally » walking by the Brewery a few minutes after they opened, and felt obliged to test their beer and food. Fresh Atlantic Cod and Sweet Potato Chips go well with an Icelandic Porter on the back deck of the Maritime Museum on a beautiful day. Maybe too beautiful, even with a hat on I may have gotten a little red, pretty noteworthy at this latitude.
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