Days 1 & 2 of our trip have blurred together – I think I have been awake about 28 hours at this point – including a fitful nap on the flight over.
We departed Portland about 4:00 PM on the 29th. We had an uneventful flight over but none of us managed to sleep much.
The views from the plane were stunning at times and included lots of cold looking water, snow, and ice as we traveled north.
Our flight landed early at 6:00 AM Iceland time on the 30th and after a some negotiating at the rental car pickup we were on our way to Reykjavik. It took a few kilometers to figure out our rented GPS but we finally got all those K’s and P’s to be recognized as the street where our Airbnb is located. Our host was waiting for us and we spent a few minutes settling in.
We ventured out into the neighborhood to find a snack an ATM and do a little grocery shopping then returned home.
We had about two hours to kill before our food tour. Everyone unpacked and took turns in the spaceship-style shower in our very groovy bathroom. Note the LED lights over the toilet…
At 12:30 we met our guide and six other tourists for our highly anticipated food tour. We spent the next three and a half hours walking Reykjavik tasting samples of the “modern Icelandic cuisine” because as our guide explained, “no one wants to eat traditional foods like soured fish and salted/fermented everything”.
It was an absolutely incredible tour with amazing food at every turn. We kept thinking we were done and then she took us somewhere else! We managed to extend our stomachs and try everything.
Here is an overview of the tour…
Stop #1 – The Icelandic Bar for Traditional Lamb Soup. It tasted like a traditional beef and vegetable soup – but with some of the best lamb, I have ever tasted.
Then we walked through town to the Ostabudin deli for a cheese and meat tasting. The cheeses were all cows cheese and amazing – Gouda, a Brie-type cheese and a very salty blue cheese. We followed that with two samples of cured beef and a smoked goose with raspberry sauce. The meats received mixed reviews in our group as we are not used to the texture of beef that is similar to Lox.
We hiked up a hill past the Hallgrimskirkja
and tucked into a little place called Cafe Loki. There we sampled their one of a kind “rye bread ice cream”. It was ridiculously good – crunchy bits of rye bread frozen in rich ice cream – with real whipped cream and rhubarb sauce.
This was the first point when I thought we were done with the tour – dessert is last right? Oh no – I was wrong.
We headed down the hill and gathered under a tree (it was pouring rain at this point) where our guide pulled samples of Skyr from her backpack. Skyr is a traditional yogurt/cheese product that Icelanders have eaten forever.
While she was telling us the history of Skyr a man walked by carrying a simple backpack. She stopped mid-sentence and said in a bit of a shock “that was our prime minister”. She seemed a bit shocked herself and we all watched him walk down the street. She then mentioned that she didn’t really pay attention to the recent election because she has been watching soccer like everyone else. Seeing the prime minister walk home – unescorted by any security – with a simple backpack really puts things in perspective about this little country.
The next stop turned out to be a hot dog stand. Now for some reason, hot dogs are something of a legend in Iceland. Traditionally they come with sweet mustard, ketchup, herbed mayo, fresh onions, and fried onions. We all jumped in and had the traditional dog. It was nothing short of amazing. I think we will be eating many more of them while we travel the roads the next few days – apparently, every gas station has them.
Oh – and Bill Clinton visited this stand every day when he was in Iceland – but he had his with mustard only. So if you want just mustard on your dog you can order the “Clinton”…
We were all feeling pretty full – and super jet lagged but to our surprise, we soldiered on to yet another stop on the tour! “Saegreifinn” is a fish restaurant known for their lobster soup and grilled fish skewers. You can choose your fish skewer from the case and they will grill it for you.
Our guide said their Lobster soup is legendary so she ordered that for us – and to our surprise, she also ordered a small sample of the grilled whale. We had been having discussions all day about the controversy of eating whale in Iceland and I think she wanted us all to get over it. The soup was a delicious lobster broth with a little hint of coconut. They use langoustines here which are a smaller lobster.
The whale? It was a Minke whale and absolutely amazing. It tasted like a really fine cut of beef. Everyone was a little hesitant when it arrived but we were all really glad we gave ourselves the chance to experience it.
Once again we were sure the tour was over – how could you top this one? An amazing dessert at Apotek is how. Apotek is a restaurant that specializes in pastry and cocktails. We had a Skyr and strawberry dessert with coffee – and we all managed to find a way to clean our plates!
We were all grateful that the tour ended in such a delicious way. We took a short walk back to our apartment and are trying to stay awake a few more hours. It is 6:00 now and we are pushing for 8:00. It won’t get dark here though-so if we go to bed early and everyone is up at 4:00 the sun will be in the sky and we can start our adventures any time. We are planning for about 8 hours in the car tomorrow with many stops. Icebergs, hot springs, hiking, waterfalls, and fishing villages are on the agenda. We are all having a hard time believing we arrived only 12 hours ago – it feels like it has been a week already! I know that time will fly by though so we have to make the most of every minute. We can sleep on the plane!