Weekend photos: Report from Iceland (Reykjavik)

I may go back to editing the photos from Montana before I continue with the Icelandic reports, but I do have some shots from Reykjavik, where I spent the first two days of my recent Iceland vacation (feels like a very long time ago, but it was, in fact, Sept. 4 & 5).

I arrived at Keflavik airport at 7 a.m. on the 4th, after a lot of flying and no sleeping. 

Just before landing we popped out of the clouds and I got my first look at Iceland.

 

The airport is about an hour from Reykjavik by direct shuttle bus; less when there's no traffic, a little longer as we got caught in the morning commute. I walked from the bus station to my hotel, where I was able to store my bags and head out for a tour of the city.

One of my first stops was the tower of Hallgrimskirkja.  The Lutheran church was built over 40 years, from 1945 to 1986, and the exterior mimics the columns of basalt that are seen throughout the country. For a fee (one soon realizes in Iceland that *everything* is for a fee) you can ride an elevator up the tower for a great view of the city, which helped me orient myself.  

Looking past the statue of Leifr Eiricsson (we learned it in school as Leif Erickson or some such spelling) over the heart of the city.

The interior is plain, as befits the Protestants, but shares the vaulted spaces of traditional cathedrals. I caught just the end of either an organ recital or just organ practice.

Iceland is a very LGBTQ+ friendly country. The rainbow street in the pedestrian section of downtown Reykjavik is famous, but I found similar streets in other, smaller villages as well.

 

I found myself some lunch, but not long after it started in to rain with some enthusiasm. Since it was late enough to get into my hotel room, and since I was well over 24 hours with no sleep, I found a grocery, picked up some food for my dinner, and retreated.

The next morning the weather was fine, and I made good use of my 2nd and last day in the city. I started with a walk along the waterfront.

Petey Possum came along for the adventures! Here he's reading about the sculpture "Sun Voyager" by Jon Gunnar Arneson.

A little farther along the waterfront is the Harpa, the giant concert hall that juts out into the harbor. 

Like the cathedral, the facade of the Harpa seems to mimic those hexagonal columns, this time in glass so they also reflect the city and the sky.
 

I thought this might be DNA, but the label said that it is an aeolian harp. In an irony I only fully appreciated after 3 weeks of wind, there wasn't enough air movement to make it sound.

 

I continued around the harbor, making my way toward the Maritime Museum and seeing all the interesting things along the way.

Even big boats need repainting sometimes. Look closely for a pair of legs sticking out of a hole in the side.

 

After visiting the museum (interesting, if heavily focused on cod), I wandered back up into the town, enjoying some of the more Icelandic-feeling buildings.

 

I also enjoyed some of the public art, including the statue of the Unknown Bureaucrat I shared a couple of weeks ago, and this piece with an all-too-relevant quotation dating from the 18th Century.

Since it's hard to read the plaque in the photo, the work is "The Black Cone, Monument to Civil Disobedience." The quotation included is from the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen (1793): "When the government violates the rights of the people, insurrection is for the people and for each portion of hte people the most sacred of rights and the most indispensable of duties."

I found a huge relief map of the country in City Hall, and spent some time looking at the places I'd be going.

Looking at the east coast, from the NE.

A more conventional statue of Ingolfur Arnarson, who with his crew was one of the first settlers in Iceland, and named Reykjavik ("Smoke Cove") for the steam rising from vents all over the place.

 I got a touristic lunch, as well, enjoying a bowl (with free refills) of lamb soup, served in a loaf of bread. It was a little too salty, but otherwise really tasty, and I stuffed myself. The waffles and jam were free.

They use the same trick with clam chowder in sourdough loaves in San Francisco. I think the thick cream soup works a little better; this one really soaked the bread. On the other hand, that made the bread seriously yummy.

Eventually I again wended my jet-lagged way back to my lodgings and made some dinner and crashed, knowing I had an early morning ahead of me--a bus to catch at 7 a.m. to get to my next event, a 5-day hike I'll cover in a post or two once I get the photos edited. 

Nothing fancy, but the rooms did have a tiny kitchen, allowing me to handle my own breakfasts and dinners, as I was way too tired to eat out.

 

You can probably tell I'm not hugely a city person, and don't actually enjoy many of the things that draw people to cities. I did spend time in a couple of interesting museums, but have zero interest in the night life, particularly when sleep-deprived and jet-lagged! I'm not sorry to have spent a couple of days in the town, though. 

I suspect that I'll swing back to my Montana adventure for the next few photo posts, as those pictures need to be edited as well! This all should keep me busy for the winter, so you can look forward to lots of "Weekend Photo" posts!

©Rebecca M. Douglass, 2025   
As always, please ask permission to use any photos or text. Link-backs appreciated.


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