Reykjavik, Iceland
Day 3
We were up this morning for Breakfast at Grai Kotteri which was right around the corner from the Hotel 101. It was a place that had strong recommendations on trip advisor and through the Lonely Planet guidebook. It is reportedly a favorite of Bjork (the musician) if you’re into that sort of thing. It was a small authentic hole in the wall place that only had about 6 tables or 12 seats. It did a brisk business putting out tasty breakfasts.
I had an Icelandic salmon bagel with argula, red onion and salad. It was super tasty and really hit the spot.
We then hit the FlyBus back to the airport to pick up our rental car from Hertz. We were picked up around the corner from the Hotel 101 and it was another 45 minutes out back to the airport.
We ended up not bothering with the rental car shuttle to the Hertz building 500 meters away from the airport. We trucked it out there, only to find out that it was a return it only depot and that our car was actually waiting for us at the main airport terminal building. We hiked back in the rain and picked up our Nissan Qashqai (Diesel no less!) and headed off for our Blue Lagoon adventure. After denying all sorts of unusual insurance coverages (wind and sand protection?!?), I was surprised to see that the Iceland version of the Nissan Qashqai actually has a heated windshield, something that I’d never seen before.
The drive from the Keflavik airport to the Blue Lagoon was through some rugged terrain that was quite desolate.
We drove about 20 minutes from the airport through ever changing weather to the Blue Lagoon. Visiting the Blue Lagoon requires a pre-reservation of a booking time (if booking direct). We booked at about 9 days out and the morning slots between 10-12 PM were already taken by that time.
We were a bit early so we went on the blue lagoon walk near the entrance. The walk featured a pass through the nearby natural blue lagoons which were strange colored next to the natural rock. It was a great way to get excited for the experience ahead.
Arriving to the main reception at our appointed time, we queued up for our “Comfort” package. As with everything else, there were 3 price points; comfort (base level) wasn’t cheap at $91 CAD, ($70 USD) offered an additional face mask, slippers and robes, and sparkling wine (only if dining), whereas the spa package offered a treatment.
We picked up our reservation by showing our ticket (which I forgot to bring and downloaded to phone off the free lobby wifi). We headed to a well equipped and mostly clean locker room and out to the Blue Lagoon.
The place was busy but not overly crowded. I snapped some photographs before returning the camera to the locker.
The admissions included a free drink at the swim up bar so we indulged in a Gull beer and a Prosecco for MrsWT73. We swam around enjoying this.
We then ventured over for the free Silica Mud Mask that is also included with all admissions. A friendly attendant doled out white mud that was self-applied over your face.
This was a bit traumatic for me so I had to have another Gull beer in order to deal with having this on my face for 10 minutes. I felt like the blue falcon from the Muppets show; unable to move or express any smiles as the mud formed a crust all over my face.
We took the mask off (using nearby fountains) and enjoyed the rest of our stay at the Blue Lagoon. We ended up staying at the Blue Lagoon about 2.5 hours all in.
We drove ourselves back to Reykjavik via the shopping mall. There wasn’t much there that wasn’t on Lagauver in town and remarkably, the retail prices for clothing were pretty much the same. The grocery prices were much a bit cheaper and we were able to stock up on some items.
We ended up back at Hotel 101. For our last evening, we ended up at the Egill Jacobson Kitchen and Bar. While it was pretty much your average pub fare, it was tasty, well prepared and the whole place appeared clean with friendly service. All in all a great but expensive stay in Reykjavik!