This is my final post about our trip to Iceland (promise!). I have to share some highlights from our final stop on our 10-day trip: Reykjavík.
We decided to end in the capital city since we figured we might have had enough countryside and waterfalls by the last few days. I'm not sure that was the case, but it was still great to check out the city and have some more urban adventures.
We spent three nights and two days in the city, exploring on foot. We didn't take a stroller on the trip, so we could only cover so much ground, but Willa did a great job walking both days. Two days was plenty to take in the city, but at the same time, Reykjavík had a lovely relaxing atmosphere the we probably could have enjoyed for even longer. Some things we enjoyed most:
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Our Air BnB
We rented a loft quite close to the city center. The owners both work in the arts, and as a result the place had a very unique vibe. The kitchen was great for cooking, and there were plenty of toys for the kids to play with. The one negative was that it had several skylights with no shades, so sleep was a challenge. The kids were up until almost midnight most nights!
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Bakeries
When researching restaurants in the city, I came across a blog post by David Leibowitz about bakeries in Reykjavík. I'm not sure there are many bloggers I'd trust more about baked goods, so we made plans to hit up several of the places he mentioned. They did not disappoint.
^^Our first stop was Bernhöfstbakarí. According to Leibowitz, this is the oldest bakery in Iceland. We were the only non-locals there for a time, and we (I) kind of froze when it was time to order. Everything looked so good! And everything we ordered was. The breads looked great, but we stuck to the pastries.^^
^^The next morning, we stopped in to Brauð og Co. on our way to the top of the hill to see Hallgrímskirkja church. You could tell just by walking by that this bakery was a place to be. There were both tourists and locals lined up out the door, and the smell was overwhelmingly delightful. Once inside, the combination of people and baking activity made it quite warm...I wished I wasn't wearing my coat. You could see the bakers working all around you, and clearly cinnamon rolls were the product of the moment. Dan ordered one, but I made the "mistake" of getting a pain au chocolat...it was excellent, but didn't rival the cinnamon roll, in my opinion. I was so remorseful that I'd "ordered wrong" that Dan stopped in the next day before our flight home to buy a few cinnamon rolls to go. Unfortunately, they weren't the same! The second day they were made out of a flaky croissant dough instead of the more bread-like dough shown above. Still good, but a reminder that sometimes moments cannot be recreated.^^
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Hljómskálagarður Park by Tjörnin Pond
Fueled by our Brauð go Co. pastries, we walked through a residential area of the city to make our way to a playground by Tjörnin Pond. The pond was beautiful and offered magnificent views of the city, and the playground was great fun for the kids. It was a fantastic place to pass an hour in the sunshine. This playground was like most we saw in Iceland: fenced in. It's nice for both parents and kids to have boundaries, right?
Long story short: we had a great trip to Iceland. I highly recommend it as a family vacation spot.
Thanks for reading!