Icelandic Street Food

One of the highest rated Reykjavik restaurants by TripAdvisor is Icelandic Street Food.

It's located on Laekjargata in the center of town. If you take any tours, it's near Stop #3.

Seafood Soup--ISK1390 or ISK 1890, if served in a bread bowl. This was quite rich and had plenty of shrimp and mussel.

Lamb Soup. This was also very tasty. Very different from the Lamb Soup at Restaurant Reykjavik. This didn't have tomatoes.

The owner is very gregarious and engages his customers. It's no wonder he gets such high ratings. It's also very good soup and reasonably priced, especially since you can have as much refill as you want. There is no liquor license, but the owner will write a note for you to get a free beer two doors down at his bar. He also had free coconut macaroons and lemon cake for dessert. When we were there, he had fermented shark for people to taste. It smelled like ammonia and I couldn't bear to put it in my mouth. I did watch others try it and gag.

2018 01 24

Arbaer Open Air Museum

Another museum covered by the City Card is the Arbaer Open Air Museum.

It's outside of the city center and it's easiest to take a bus, which is also covered by the City Card. Pick up a bus map from the TI. From the city center, we took Bus #6 to Artun then transferred to Bus #5. It stopped at Baejarhals. From there, we walked down the street and followed the signs to Arbaer. Cross the main road using the underground pass. We had hoped to take Bus #24, which appeared to stop in front of Arbaer but it didn't seem to stop at Artun.

Admission to the museum is ISK1600. I thought this was quite a good museum and worth the price of admission if you don't get the City Card. If you're short of time in Reykjavik, you may not have the time for it since it is harder to get to the museum. The museum is near the Laugardalslaug Pool so you could hit both. Plan on spending at least 2 hours here.

It's an open air museum. Representative Icelandic buildings have been brought from all over the island and installed here. Actors in period costumes tell the story of Icelandic culture.

Near the entrance, this entire building is dedicated to Icelandic culture. I found the section on Iceland through the decades in the last century particularly interesting.

2018 01 24

More Sights in Reykjavik

Other sights around Reykjavik:

Graffiti is prominent everywhere in Reykjavik. Most of it is very artistic.

A sportsbar doubling as a husband daycare center in the center of Old Reykjavik.

There are sculptures everywhere.

Surprisingly, there are a few green parks in town. This was a Christmas tree with a puffin ornament in one of the parks.

Park Austurvollur in the center of town.

Trolls are prominent in Icelandic folklore and you'll see statues of them throughout town.

Culture House--another museum covered by the City Card. This one can be seen in 30 minutes if you don't stop to read the signs. 

Domkirkjan--the Reykjavik Cathedral. It's located near the TI.

There are free concerts on Tuesday nights from 8:30-9 pm inside the cathedral.

Another austere interior.

2018 01 24

Breakfast at Sandholt

Another popular place for breakfast is Sandholt. They have a bakery for take-out but also a sit-down area.

Sandholt is located at Laugavegur 36, on the main shopping street.

Pastries are pricey but not out of the ordinary for Iceland.

Our breakfast included pretzel sandwich with lox--ISK1390, Ham & cheese croissant--ISK650 & Cinnamon Roll with Brown Sugar--ISK465. All were good but the cinnamon roll was the best deal.

2018 01 24

Bergsson Mathus

Bergsson Mathus has a 2 for 1 special if you order takeout between 4-7pm.

Meatballs with Tomato Basil Sauce. It included a small green salad, vegetables and coleslaw.

Tandoori Chicken, with the same green salad, vegetables and coleslaw.

Each dish was ISK 2390--a tad pricey but at 2 for 1, it was a great dinner.

2018 01 23

The Afternoon Tour

After lunch, we walked along the Inner Harbor,

then south past the Raohus and Lake Tjornin

to see the statues at the south end of the park.

This was a statue in a traffic circle.

We headed to the National Museum. It offered an excellent overview of Iceland's history and culture. It was definitely worth the price of admission of ISK 2000, if you don't have the City Card. The museum takes about 2 hours to tour. Don't miss the tiny bronze figurine of Thor (it's about 3 inches tall).



2018 01 23

Saegreiffin

Saegreifinn is located on the waterfront, near the Inner Harbor.

Order at the counter and find a table.

They're known for their lobster soup, ISK 1350. This was a rich soup with many pieces of Icelandic lobster. The lobster is more like crawfish.

You can also pick skewers of fish and have it grilled.

I ordered a skewer of monkfish--ISK 1950. The fish was very fresh but it wasn't quite as lobster-like as some other monkfish I've had.

2018 01 23