Things to do in Iceland, Reykjavik

Iceland

I travel to Iceland for 10 days in December 2018, I had accommodation in Reykjavik and from there I visited the island doing excursions. 

Iceland is an amazing place, with a lot of wild nature to see. In this post, I will talk about the things to do in Reykyavik, that deserve also to be visited.

Reykjavik

It is Iceland's capital and the biggest city, but anyway a small town compared to European's capitals, 130000 inhabitants, my hometown Vicenza has 115000. It is a typical city of the north of Europe, it has everything you need from a modern city, and I felt safe and welcome while I was there. If you go visit Iceland, for sure, you don't do it for Reykjavik, but for the nature that the country can offer.

  

Hallgrimskirkja

It is a Lutheran church, situated in the city centre and it is the landmark of Reykjavik. It is the largest church in Iceland and the tallest building in the country. 

The design reminds me of the trap rocks, mountains and glaciers of Iceland's landscape. In one of the next posts about this trip, there will be pictures from one of the most famous beaches in Iceland, Vik, and there you can recognise this pattern. 

On the other side

This is the street in front of Hallgrimskirkja, the church is behind me and that's why everybody is looking at me. I like the symmetry of the picture and the pink cloud that somehow breaks it.

On new year's eve, we were here for the countdown and the fireworks, and from here we knew other people and went partying.

Over there

On the right of the previous picture, there is this street that brings directly to the ocean, which you can see between the buildings with also the Engey island. These mountains that end directly into the ocean are amazing, and in winter with the snow are even more beautiful.

Street art

Going down to the street of the previous picture I saw this building when I took this one I didn't know what it is, I just liked it, I discovered that it is a bakery shop at the end of the trip when I checked the pictures. I thought it was a B&B or a hostel, then online I understood what it is.

Anyway, the building is the only one in the street with this style, the others are quite anonymous.

 

Sun voyager

Another symbol of this city and country: the Sun voyager is located near the concert hall and the harbour. It is described as a dreamboat, the artist wanted to share the idea of undiscovered territory, a dream of hope, freedom.

I think that the artist reached his goal with it and, about the picture, I like that the cloud follows the direction of the boat and the balance between blue and pink.

Water and sky

How many shades of blue can you see? I chose this picture mainly for this, a lot of blues and a bit of pink and white. 

Reykjavik have a nice short walk, near the Sun voyager and the concert hall, with this view of the Atlantic ocean. In winter the weather is not the best and the daylight is short, but nature is anyway amazing.

 

Light side or Dark side?

Icelanders say: "If you don't like the Icelandic weather wait 5 minutes". I think this picture is quite representative of it, I remember that in 20 min we passed from cloudy to rain, and after to sunny. 

To explain to you how short is the day in December in Iceland: the clouds are pink because it's the sunset, at 3 pm.

Harpa

It is a concert hall, opened in 2011, and it is a symbol of the city because of the distinctive coloured glass facade, inspired by the basalt landscape of Iceland.

We went there because it was raining, but also because we knew the building was special and an opportunity to test our photographic abilities. And, as you can see, my photographic abilities was nothing special. 

The cellist

In front of the Harpa, there is a sculpture of the cellist Erling Blöndal Bengtsson, it's surrounded by water and it was nice to play with reflections and the fog was coming up from the water, of course, I was not able to catch this fog, but the pink clouds from the sunset yes. You can also see the black cloud running away.

Lake Tjörnin

Not far from the Harpa there is this lake, and the city hall overlooks it. As you can see the lake is not frozen, Reykjavik is not really cold, neither in this period of the year, because it is on the south of Iceland and for the Gulf stream. Anyway, it is really windy, as you can see it from the waves in the lake, a really cold wind.

The north

On a rainy day, we decided to go to a hot spring in the city, but before we decided to see the landscape from the Perlan, a landmark in Reykjavik. It is situated on a hill and before to be a public building it was a cluster of hot water tanks, now it hosts an exhibition, an observation deck and a restaurant.

From there you can have a 360 degrees view, and, if the weather is better than the one I found, have the opportunity to take nice pictures. What you can see, especially in the bottom picture, is a typical city in the north of Europe, and what I like about this one is the mountain (probably Videy or Engey island) behind the clouds.

On the Upper one is clearly visible the Hallgrimskirkja church, and it is a surprise to realise how big it is compared with everything else in the city.

Lines/Lights

One night, that means 8 pm in Iceland in December, we did an aurora hunting excursion outside the city. We didn't see it, because it was really cloudy, but we experimented with night photography, I can't say it was successful, but I learned something. 

I took this picture just putting the camera on the ground trying to point the sky. I don't think this is a nice shot, an aurora picture for sure could be better but is the best I got from that night.

Waiting for

On the last night of the trip, with the other volunteers, we tried to catch the aurora going to the harbour, and we were unlucky again in bad weather. The day after the weather was perfect and one of us was able to get nice pictures. I think that this picture represents really well the wait for it and the annoyance, we walked a lot and suffer from the cold, what a pity.