{"id":2201,"date":"2016-03-04T16:51:24","date_gmt":"2016-03-04T16:51:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/isobaresoffit.com\/?p=2201"},"modified":"2016-03-04T19:07:28","modified_gmt":"2016-03-04T19:07:28","slug":"reykjavik-friendly-people-charming-old-town","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/isobaresoffit.com\/2016\/03\/04\/reykjavik-friendly-people-charming-old-town\/","title":{"rendered":"Reykjavik – Friendly People, Charming Old Town"},"content":{"rendered":"

We made Reykjavik our home base while we were in Iceland and it certainly offered everything that we needed. When we visit Iceland again in the future, and we expect that we will, we’ll probably stay in smaller towns in different parts of Iceland, but for our first trip, we’re glad that we were able to spend time in Reykjavik.\u00a0 We hadn’t been in Iceland for a full day before we had already vowed that we’d be returning and that a week was not enough time to see everything that we wanted to see in this beautiful country.\u00a0 From the very first person that we talked to upon our arrival in Reykjavik (not the airport, that was a different story) to the very last person, every interaction was genuinely friendly.\u00a0 The people were as helpful as in any city that we’ve ever visited and we never once worried about crime while we were there.<\/p>\n

\"Colorful<\/a>
Colorful Buildings of Reykjavik<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Main<\/a>
Main Street of Old Town<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"View<\/a>
View from Hotel Room<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We drove into Reykjavik before the sun had started to rise, which was about 8:00 a.m.\u00a0 After one wrong turn, we quickly found our hotel and were fortunate enough that our room was available.\u00a0 We had requested an early check-in in advance, but were surprised to find that it was available that early.\u00a0 Additionally, our room included access to the executive lounge where we could get a cooked breakfast until 11:00 a.m.\u00a0 After grabbing a quick bite at the hotel, we walked into Old Town, which was about a fifteen minute walk from the hotel, a walk that we would make about eight or nine times over the course of our visit.\u00a0 Reykjavik has a great bus system that will allow you to get around pretty easily, but we chose to walk so that we could see more of the town as well as get some exercise.<\/p>\n

\"French<\/a>
French Bistro Where We Had Lunch<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Statue<\/a>
Statue in Old Town<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Interesting<\/a>
Interesting Building<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The main street of Old Town, Laugavegur, is lined with shops and restaurants.\u00a0 Towering over it all is Hallgrimskirkja, the largest church in Iceland.\u00a0 You can pay to go to the top of it and apparently on a clear day, something we didn’t have, you can see the Sn\u00e6fellsj\u00f6kull glacier, but we got much better views when we drove up to the peninsula.\u00a0 Outside of the church is a statue of Leifur Eiriksson (Leif Erikson) who is the Icelandic explorer that first discovered America.\u00a0 Inside the church, there is an enormous pipe organ that is impressive and beautiful.\u00a0 The church is definitely worth visiting while you’re in Reykjavik.<\/p>\n

\"Street<\/a>
Street with Church Tower in the Distance<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Church<\/a>
Church and Statue of Leif Erikson<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Organ<\/a>
Organ Pipes<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

One of the interesting things that we learned is that the people of Iceland are proud of their beliefs in elves and trolls.\u00a0 The most common things to find in stores are the hand-made wool sweaters, stuffed animal puffins, and figurines of elves and trolls.\u00a0 We even bought a plate that has the images of the thirteen Yuletide Lads, who are supposed to be descended from trolls and are boogeymen that are used to scare the children into behaving at Christmastime.\u00a0 Considering their Viking heritage and the harsh environment that they endure, surrounded by volcanos and harsh winters, who can blame them for believing that there might be mythical creatures hidden in the mountains.<\/p>\n

\"Troll<\/a>
Troll Statue<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Sunrise<\/a>
Sunrise from Our Hotel Room<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Puffin<\/a>
Puffin Sign<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Another feature of Reykjavik are the colorful homes and buildings that line the streets.\u00a0 When seen from above, it is a tapestry of color throughout the town and brings some warmth to the cold winter days.\u00a0 Walking through the streets of Old Town down towards the old harbor, you will enjoy seeing a variety of historic buildings, each housing different businesses all owned by locals.\u00a0 You won’t find any chain restaurants or stores in Old Town Reykjavik.\u00a0 You’ll be greeted by the store owners and restaurant owners, all extremely proud of the goods, services, or food that they offer.\u00a0 Take the time to talk to them, they will be happy to tell you the history of their store, of Iceland, or just to chat with you for a few minutes.<\/p>\n

\"More<\/a>
More Colorful Buildings<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Painted<\/a>
Painted Building<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Historic<\/a>
Historic Building<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We really enjoyed our time in Reykjavik, it is truly a charming little city.\u00a0 The people are incredibly friendly, the shops are filled with interesting goods, and the restaurants are incredible.\u00a0 We also enjoyed the hotel where we stayed, which was the Hilton in Reykjavik.\u00a0 Every evening we enjoyed a couple of glasses of wine in the lounge with other guests, many of whom were from a film production crew.\u00a0 We knew this because they would quietly talk about directors, screenwriters, actors\/actresses, all hushed, but loud enough that we couldn’t help but overhear.\u00a0 We never asked them what they were there to film, we knew that\u00a0Game of Thrones<\/em> was filmed in Iceland, but after we got home we found out that Star Wars Episode VIII<\/em> was being filmed there during the same time as our trip, so perhaps that is what they were there to film.\u00a0 Reykjavik was just one of the reasons that we had an incredible trip travelling to Iceland.<\/p>\n

\"Ornate<\/a>
Ornate Door<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Stores<\/a>
Stores in Old Town<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Our<\/a>
Our Hotel Room<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We made Reykjavik our home base while we were in Iceland and it certainly offered everything that we needed. When we visit Iceland again in the future, and we expect that we will, we’ll probably stay in smaller towns in different parts of Iceland, but for our first trip, we’re glad that we were able … <\/p>\n

Continue reading Reykjavik – Friendly People, Charming Old Town<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":89944846,"featured_media":2266,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"wprm-recipe-roundup-name":"","wprm-recipe-roundup-description":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[7451],"tags":[2290,7117,1098,594157755,5174,16778,436,263853,200,111463],"class_list":["post-2201","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-iceland","tag-architecture","tag-city","tag-culture","tag-iceland","tag-mythology","tag-old-town","tag-photography","tag-reykjavik","tag-travel","tag-trolls"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/isobaresoffit.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/dsc_0157_day2a.jpg?fit=6000%2C4000&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6pbM5-zv","jetpack-related-posts":[],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/isobaresoffit.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2201"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/isobaresoffit.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/isobaresoffit.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/isobaresoffit.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/89944846"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/isobaresoffit.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2201"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/isobaresoffit.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2201\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2274,"href":"https:\/\/isobaresoffit.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2201\/revisions\/2274"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/isobaresoffit.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2266"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/isobaresoffit.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2201"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/isobaresoffit.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2201"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/isobaresoffit.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2201"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}