Last night we chose a campsite just outside Reykjavík so that we could be in the city center early. Parking can be a little tricky as most places require payment and/or limit your parking time, but we were lucky enough to find one empty parking spot at the beautiful Hallgrimskirkja (not positive its legal to park here for the day, but it was free and we did without any issue). Hallgrimskirkja is an amazing structure of a church, and though technically not a cathedral, it towers over the town of Reykjavík and can be seen from almost anywhere within the city limits.
Reykjavík is a cute little town with a hipster vibe and their cafés match this. There are a few different well-known coffee shops in town, and I’m sure all of them are great, but we chose Reykjavík Roasters for an early morning cappuccino. We enjoyed the coffee, but also appreciated the vinyl record playing in the background.
After my quick pick-me-up, it was Joey’s turn! He doesn’t drink coffee, but he can never say no to sweets. Our next stop was less than a block away at the infamous Brauð & Co. bakeshop. If you’re in Reykjavík this is a must! Their bread and pastry selection was huge and neither of us have had a cinnamon roll as good as we did here. They even use a sprayer that would normally be used to apply paint in order to maintain a perfectly even coating of glaze on their rolls…phenomenal!
After our sugar and caffeine jumpstart, we began to explore Reykjavík. Even starting with Brauð & Co., we immediately began to see the bright colors that fill the small city of Reykjavík. We spent the majority of our time around the main street of Reykjavík, Laugavegur. Laugavegur was an awesome area, and I’m sure we could spend over a week just in and around there. The numerous tourist shops, restaurants/bars of all varieties, and even cute little boutiques that are only found along this road keep even the reluctant shoppers entertained.
After getting a couple memorable trinkets and souvenirs for family, we began our food adventure! I’m not sure how many of you know this, but Reykjavík is pretty well known for their hotdog scene, aka their pylsurs (hotdogs in Icelandic). We had four on our list, which sounded like a lot, so we decided to get one at each location and split it. Our first dog stop was to Pylsuhúsið, which ended up being our favorite…possibly because it was our first Icelandic hot dog (yes there is a difference all you naysayers nonverbally condemning our decision making). Tip: Make sure to order the “Icelandic hot dog with everything on it.” Some places will ask what you specifically want on it, so make sure to ask for crispy onions, fresh/raw onions, remoulade/mayo, ketchup, and Icelandic sweet mustard…aka the best condiment ever!
Pylsuhúsið is in a small square on Laugavegur , and just off of Laugavegur, around the corner was our second hotdog, Bæjarins Beztu Pylsur. This shop looked like more of what we’re used to in New York City, a true hotdog cart. The toppings were exactly the same, but we tasted a difference in both the dog itself and the bun.
The third hotdog tasting, Reykjavík Sausage Company, was a bit out of town and took about 5-10 minutes to get to by car. We heard great things about this one, so we didn’t let a little distance get in the way…after all, we just spent 8 days driving over 2,000 miles around Iceland, what’s another 10 minutes, am I right? This dog wasn’t even in the same league as the first two, so it’s hard to compare. The first two dogs were almost identical in price, just under 500 Icelandic Krona, or about $4.50 USD. This one was about double that, but the quality was also about double the first two. Reykjavík Sausage Company makes their own sausages and use only fresh ingredients with no preservatives…it was delicious!
Last, and probably least, was the 4th hot dog of the day from Aktu Taktu. I’m not exactly sure how to describe Aktu Taktu, but the easiest comparison is to a McDonalds. This dog was good, and we probably would’ve enjoyed it if we had it first, but after the other three this one was pretty average.
It took us until the second or third hotdog to figure out what the big difference was between American hotdogs and Icelandic hotdogs. Sure the hotdog itself might be of different quality, but it was something else…the secret ingredient we finally uncovered was this Icelandic sweet mustard that people kept referring to as sinnep. We’re pretty big foodies, so naturally we had to go to Bonus (local supermarket) and buy a bottle of it to bring home (make sure it’s the SS brand). If you’ve been to Iceland, you probably know how magical it is (Joey doesn’t like mustard, but said he would drink this like soup), but if you haven’t you now have a couple friends with the secret ingredient in New York City, so come on over!
After our hotdog adventure, we poked around the city of Reykjavík for a bit longer. We admired the beautiful Sólfarið, or Sun Voyager, statue along the coastal road of Route 41. This is considered a dreamboat and an ode to the Sun for the promise of undiscovered territory as a dream of hope, progress, and freedom.
We also made our way down towards the fishing piers/docks to visit the locally famous Omnon chocolate factory. This chocolate is to die for and many of their chocolates have been recognized globally, so we had to get a few to bring home. Their factory was on a bit of a summer hiatus, but the person tending the shop was very informative and provided samples of whatever we wanted to try.
For an early dinner, we decided to have our last fish and chips at Kaffivagninn, which is the oldest restaurant in Reykjavík! They are known for their fish and chips, and being so close the water, they bring in fresh fish on a daily basis. It was one of the best fish and chips we’ve had in all of Iceland (except for the grass roof restaurant in Arnarstapi along the south coast of the Snæfellsnes peninsula).
After dinner, we began to head south towards our campsite for the night, but not before a quick stop for a milkshake at Ísbúð Huppu. This has been on our list (they have multiple locations), but this was our last chance to have a little more Icelandic ice cream, so we couldn’t pass that up!
We plnned to stay at Tjaldstæði Campsite in the southern town of Grindavik because tomorrow we’re going to the famed Blue Lagoon bright and early on our last day in Iceland! We originally chose this campsite because of its proximity to the Blue Lagoon, but it ended up being one of the nicest campsites we stayed at along the entire Ring Road. It was well maintained, had nice facilities and grounds, areas for kids, and even a little communal kitchen and eating area. Tomorrow is our last day here in Iceland and we’re spending the morning and early afternoon at the famed Blue Lagoon before we head out, so make sure to stay posted!