Iceland's Blue Lagoon & Reykjavik - Day 4&5

After 3 days of non-stop adventure, we slept, had a lazy morning and only made our way out around 11:30 to get picked up by the bus and head over to the Blue Lagoon. A quick tip, if you want to spend a good amount of time there, which is definitely recommended and easily doable, book your time slot as early as possible. This place is popular and for good reason so get your bookings in. Now, there are a fair few options available which you'll see on the website and I think each one of them caters to exactly what you're after. If it's a budget half day spent at the spa the standard / comfort will do just fine. It you don't want to be carrying your towel and things, premium works well and if you want to go all out the luxury is surely the answer.

For the longest time we couldn't figure out the actual difference between premium and luxury but since my friend hadn't been to a spa for a while we decided to splurge and take that option. Now I think the site actually doesn't do the experience much justice. The luxury option has a lot more to offer than just your private shower, which is stocked with the well known blue lagoon products, you get your own chill area, your own little private section of the lagoon, which is the same water as outside, so when you end up there on a windy, hailing, winters day (as we did) this covered private lagoon area is amazing, plus you get a complimentary fruit platter and your very own butler to order anything from the cafe. With all of this I do wish they'd give you more than just 3 hours in there. So yes the luxury option was luxurious and you do get that picture perfect spot to take your photo from the outdoor balcony. The steam, sauna and two facials are great as well and you can easily spend a full day here. After our 3 non-stop adventure filled days, this break was much needed and was doubly appreciated.

Following this, dinner was at Tapas Barrinn where we spent more on our cocktails than on our food (alcohol is expensive so buy bottles at duty free), but nonetheless a good night out.

The next day was kept for exploring Reykjavik. Once again having got the hail the day before we got super lucky with clear blue skies in the morning. Taking advantage of this we made our way to the Hallgrimskirkja Church to get up to the top for the beautiful view of Reykjavik.

This was one of the easiest ways to get to the top of a church, with a lift taking you almost to where you need to be, very spacious and modern, unlike some of the older churches in Italy that I've had to climb up. Stunning clear views of the multi-coloured houses that make this city super unique.

We then head over for a morning coffee to the much talked about Reykjavik Roasters, where I get something I haven't seen before, a cappuccino plus and espresso, just in case two shots in the cap aren't enough, my kinda place :)

Reading the local newspaper my friend picked up on her first day, the Reykjavik Grapevine and sipping on our coffee, we rest before walking the streets again. It's a small city and there's one Main Street for shops and galleries, cafes and bars - Laugavegur. And so we walk along it for a while and after some window shopping (the city is frightfully expensive) we head over for a quick sandwich lunch and over to the spot for our free walking tour that stars from the parliament.

Now this is when I learn a lot more about Iceland - they don't have last names just one long name and so most have nicknames, usually their name and then their fathers name so a phone book only has first names in it, since it's self proclaimed the most feminist country in the world the younger generation are wanting to keep their name with their mothers name, many of them still do believe in elves and there are still people who claim they can talk to elves, they aren't quite sure how far back the city started so the museum is called 871+-, there is a massive debate about whale food, they do eat horse meat but only the baby :(, their horses are smaller in size but don't tell a farmer it's a pony, they were one of the first countries to allow gay marriage, they don't have an army, their only line of defence is two naval posts, the only place that has security with guns is the American embassy, all their education is free, they are recovering from the crisis, 32 were prosecuted for the financial crisis I believe there was 1 in the US, the famous statue on top a the hill of the Viking who apparently found Iceland now had red lipstick after a gay parade and the country's decide to leave it!

It's basically a cool country right? I'm thinking this and right then it outdoes itself. While we are walking around the part that's the old town, we are in a city, there are cranes and construction is going on and there you have it, not just one but two fully formed rainbows over the Harpa, their concert hall. It's absolutely the most amazing rainbow site I have ever seen and so even when you're doing a city tour in the rain, you have to stop and take a deep breath cause this country just keeps on reminding you how beautiful our planet actually is.

Now since this is our last night in the city we have to go out with a bang and so we decide it's the night to party, starting at 5:30 right in the middle of happy hour (which is normally 4 - 7pm literally the only time you want to spend money on drink) we begin our beers, they carry on till 8; followed by a quick dinner, only one of my friend's can recollect where and what we ate, onwards to another bar where we catch up with friends from London. Have a few drinks and then decide we want to have just one more and oh of course boogie. And so it goes on and we have a crazy fun dancing night out even though we know we need to be up by 7am to pack and head for the airport. But it was worth it, the next morning was painful but we did everything we wanted in Iceland and even though our holiday was continuing in Denmark we were so sad to leave this stunning country.

Clearly if by now you haven't decided to book your ticket I'm not sure what will. Go!