Iceland Day 1

 Nov 2, 2025

Hotel Von, Reykjavik

Our Iceland trip comes under the “Wander” category — a week of travel to see early winter sights. The three of us (Ed, Natalie, and Sarah) landed at the Keflavik airport around 6am, feeling sleep deprived but eager to see Iceland. We made it thru customs and immigration, collected our rental car in the morning darkness (a manual shift Dasia Duster with 4wd), and headed for the Blue Lagoon, a spa and thermal pools not too far from the airport. 

Lava flows went over the road a few years ago when there was a volcanic eruption, and the new road wound thru an area of volcanic rock that still has steam vents sending up clouds, very atmospheric. We arrived as the sky was getting light, changed into our swimsuits, and entered the pool. It was fairly busy but large. We explored the pale blue waters for a couple hours, putting on silica masks and laughing at all the people with masks on, going under bridges, peeking in the attached sauna, sipping our complimentary beverages. It was a great way to relax after our long flights. 

From the Blue Lagoon, we drove into Reykjavik and checked into our charming hotel in the walking area, navigating the street parking apps. We had only an hour before our Reykjavik Food Walk walking tour. We deliberately had booked it to try to avoid giving in to the desire for sleep, and we hoped it would help us adjust to the time difference. It was not easy to get moving, but it was delightful. We had almost no wind (unusual), and we walked past the Sun Voyager sculpture and the In A Crevice plaque to the front of the glass-clad Harpa Hall where we met our charming guide, Kathryn a native of Iceland. There was a lot of public art, something perhaps to explore more at the end of our trip.

We were a group of 9 visitors, all Americans, and Kathryn. We walked to 5 different locales and sampled Icelandic dishes: fish with roe, a creamy pulled mutton, pan fried Atlantic Char and cod, each with different sauces and vegetables, an Icelandic hot dog (at the same stand Bill Clinton had visited many years ago), mutton soup, fermented shark, Icelandic beer and a liquor similar to aquavit, and finally an ice-cream seasoned with rye bread crumbs and topped with berries and carmelized rhubarb sugar. It was a great introduction to the country with lots of stories and socializing. Fun fact: every Icelander is in a national database which tracks relationships between Icelanders past and present. Kathryn could enter the name of the very first settler and trace her heritage back to him thru 31 generations! People also use it to make sure when they date someone that they aren’t too close a relation.

After the tour we bought some picnic foods for tomorrow from a local grocery store. We didn’t stay awake long! Per our tracking app the aurora was good, but there’s too much light pollution in the city to see it.