Reykjavik - Iceland
Apr. 13th, 2025 09:55 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tiggymalvern
Reykjavik is by far the quietest capital city I've been in, which is no surprise since it's also the smallest. But it's weird to be in a capital that you can wander around on a Sunday morning and the streets are empty or have just one or two other people hanging out. It certainly makes it pleasant though!
This photo post is all out of order, because I spent several days in the capital with wildly varies weather. Some of the photos are in date order, some are of the same place in different conditions. The only logic to it is my logic! But there are a lot of photos...
We arrived in Reykjavik on a bland grey afternoon.
Nephew, sis and me on Rainbow Street (my niece was behind the camera)
Murals and colourful buildings are popular in Reykjavik. I suspect that's a natural reaction when the winter is very long and very dark.
Laugavegur, as seen on the sign above, is Laundry Road. It was the route through the town to the nearest hot springs, where people used to take their laundry to wash it.
This house was pinkish with a floral garden painted along the lower section by the basement windows.
A colourful shop illuminated at night.
The dramatic Lutheran church, Hallgrímskirkja, seen from an unconventional angle on a very dull day. Complete with scaffolding at the rear, because when was the last time you went to see a large famous church that didn't have scaffolding?
Looking downhill from the church to the water and the mountains across the bay.
The church looked a lot more impressive from the front, and at night :-)
A couple of days later and about an hour earlier, at dusk.
The old part of Reykjavik near the harbour.
Austurvollur square with government offices and Reykjavik cathedral.
Tjornin Lake, known colloquially as The Pond.
Reykjavik Junior College (high school)
Every city has to have an Irish pub, right? Reykjavkik has at least two that I found, though only one with a name like The Drunk Rabbit!
Fish detail on one of the old buildings.
Reykjavik has a long seafront promenade with lovely views across to the mountains. Light on a still, flat sea and wet road.
There are a number of landmarks along the seafront road. Hofdi house, best known as the meeting place for the 1986 Reykjavik summit between Reagan and Gorbachev.
One of several sculptures along the route.
The most famous is the Sun Voyager longboat sculpture. Not so impressive when we first saw it.
A lot more scenic in better weather a couple of days later with a partial rainbow behind. A much windier day kept the clouds moving and the sea bumpy.
Male common eider off the sea wall.
I may have mentioned that Reykjavik seems quiet. 8.30am rush hour on a Monday morning in late February. Cars cluster at the traffic lights, but otherwise the road is clear.
My last day in Iceland, it finally snowed enough and was cold enough to stick. Another dawn photo from my hotel room window.
And another stroll along the seafront before I had to go to the airport. It really was perfect - snowy, sunny and wind-free.
Now she looks like she's voyaging to the sun!
Final view from the Fosshotel Baron as I packed up the last bits.
Iceland was an absolutely amazing trip.
This photo post is all out of order, because I spent several days in the capital with wildly varies weather. Some of the photos are in date order, some are of the same place in different conditions. The only logic to it is my logic! But there are a lot of photos...
We arrived in Reykjavik on a bland grey afternoon.
Nephew, sis and me on Rainbow Street (my niece was behind the camera)
Murals and colourful buildings are popular in Reykjavik. I suspect that's a natural reaction when the winter is very long and very dark.
Laugavegur, as seen on the sign above, is Laundry Road. It was the route through the town to the nearest hot springs, where people used to take their laundry to wash it.
This house was pinkish with a floral garden painted along the lower section by the basement windows.
A colourful shop illuminated at night.
The dramatic Lutheran church, Hallgrímskirkja, seen from an unconventional angle on a very dull day. Complete with scaffolding at the rear, because when was the last time you went to see a large famous church that didn't have scaffolding?
Looking downhill from the church to the water and the mountains across the bay.
The church looked a lot more impressive from the front, and at night :-)
A couple of days later and about an hour earlier, at dusk.
The old part of Reykjavik near the harbour.
Austurvollur square with government offices and Reykjavik cathedral.
Tjornin Lake, known colloquially as The Pond.
Reykjavik Junior College (high school)
Every city has to have an Irish pub, right? Reykjavkik has at least two that I found, though only one with a name like The Drunk Rabbit!
Fish detail on one of the old buildings.
Reykjavik has a long seafront promenade with lovely views across to the mountains. Light on a still, flat sea and wet road.
There are a number of landmarks along the seafront road. Hofdi house, best known as the meeting place for the 1986 Reykjavik summit between Reagan and Gorbachev.
One of several sculptures along the route.
The most famous is the Sun Voyager longboat sculpture. Not so impressive when we first saw it.
A lot more scenic in better weather a couple of days later with a partial rainbow behind. A much windier day kept the clouds moving and the sea bumpy.
Male common eider off the sea wall.
I may have mentioned that Reykjavik seems quiet. 8.30am rush hour on a Monday morning in late February. Cars cluster at the traffic lights, but otherwise the road is clear.
My last day in Iceland, it finally snowed enough and was cold enough to stick. Another dawn photo from my hotel room window.
And another stroll along the seafront before I had to go to the airport. It really was perfect - snowy, sunny and wind-free.
Now she looks like she's voyaging to the sun!
Final view from the Fosshotel Baron as I packed up the last bits.
Iceland was an absolutely amazing trip.
no subject
Date: 2025-04-13 06:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-04-13 07:13 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-04-13 09:18 pm (UTC)My biggest regret about our trip is that in planning the schedule in advance, I failed to leave any time for exploring Reykjavik, so all I saw of the city was what I caught as we were bussed or taxied in and out of the place, or the square near it with the convenience store (a href="https://www.google.com/maps/place/Radisson+Blu+1919+Hotel,+Reykjavik/@64.1485262,-21.9391876,18z/">our hotel (which I now realise was right around the corner from the Penis museum, and yet we failed to visit it :( ). Big fail on my part.
No photos of their amazing concert hall? Can't beat that position! Those sculptures are so beautiful and I love the murals. Thank you for sharing (and kicking myself all over again :( )
no subject
Date: 2025-04-14 12:29 am (UTC)I did take some photos of the concert hall and then I deleted them because they were so meh. It's an imposing edifice, but it's so huge it's next to impossible to frame well, and in close up shots, you never get the light catching the walls the way it looks in reality.
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Date: 2025-04-15 03:55 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-04-15 04:58 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-04-15 06:45 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-04-15 11:48 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-04-16 03:24 am (UTC)I've never seen a Lutheran church that big before. It's very impressive, yet simple in design.
Absolutely love the painted buildings.
no subject
Date: 2025-04-16 02:50 pm (UTC)