Day One, and Alison has made it into the house

Journey uneventful by my standards I.e.reached my destination country on the correct day. Driving in to the city requires a bit of adjustment, as at first glance it looks like a dump! Flat, lumpy landscape littered in clinker and belching chimneys, looks like South Wales! Then you realise it is lava outflow and thermal vents....

Hotel Brattagata is right in the middle of the old town, couldn't be better, and is in fact a guesthouse so equivalent of sharing a flat in York Shambles. Ingunn is a retired teacher, we sat and had coffee and bemoaned the modern world. She has baked banana bread and I am to help myself!

I have the ground floor to myself as the other room is unoccupied- bedroom, kitchen, dining room, shower/loo and laundry area.


To the rear of the house is an 'elf stone'. Around 60% of Icelanders admit to believing in the Hidden People, who live in stones. This one was in the way of a school development, but couldn't be moved until the Hidden People agreed. The marks from the failed attempts can still be seen on the stone....

As she advised, I made the most of a beautiful sunny day by visiting the harbour and parks, snow capped hills all around. 

First stop, the Settlement museum which houses the remains of a building from 871 or thereabouts. A peaceful, interesting display about how Iceland was settled.

The city is a real mix of quaint old corrugated iron-clad buildings, and ultra modern-style. It looks as if the city was tiny for a long time, then recently BLAM! and whole square miles have been added. An example is in the square commemorating their successful independence from Denmark in 1944.

Over on the coast road, the Harpa building was very impressive, but not very welcoming, with all the viewpoints reserved for closed-off restaurant areas. Met a nice Canadian couple in the 360-degree cinema.

Had a recce around the old harbour, where old sheds have been painted blue and turned in to cafes and gift shops/workshops.

I ate at one of the restaurants near my rooms, as I shattered. Luckily the food was fantastic, you could taste every ingredient, beautiful lemon chicken mmm...