Day 1 : Singapore to Reykjavik
The day finally came for our Iceland adventure road trip. The four of us, DSis, DBIL, DH and I, left Singapore on a Finnair flight bound for Helsinki on 28 Feb and arrived at Helsinki around 6am on 1 March. DH and I had paid extra EUR50 per pax per SG-Hel flight for the extra leg room emergency exit seats. It was really worth the extra money and I was able to get some decent sleep. It was a new Airbus 350 and the plane was pretty spacious with sufficient toilets. We were next to the toilets and there were hardly any queue most of the time. The toilet also did not have any unpleasant smell. Kudos to Finnair!
My meal on board our flight from SG to Helsinki. Notice the space in front of me….
Our connecting flight to Reykjavik was at 2.20pm. We thus had an opportunity to spend some time in Helsinki that morning. Similarly on our return, we also had some more time to spend in Helsinki. I’ll write about our 2 short Helsinki interludes after I have completed my Iceland story.
We arrived Reykjavik on 1 March at 15.55pm. It was a 3 hour flight from Helsinki, but Reykjavik is 2 hours behind Helsinki, and 6 hours behind Singapore. We were greeted promptly by our guide, Heimir when we exited the secured area.
Before we left the airport, we went to the currency counter to change for some Icelandic Kroners. We had brought Euros with us as we understand that bigger shops and restaurants accept Euros but will give change back in Kroners. But we still felt it was better to change for some Kroners. For the Kroners exchange, we had 2 choices. To change for Kroners in cash or to have our Euros credited to a Currency Card which is a Visa Prepaid card, and use it to pay for our spendings. Iceland like most of Northern Europe is a credit card country. All shops, restaurants and even taxis accept card payment. The advanatge of the currency card is that it can easily be encashed back in any major currency that you want at the airport before you leave. So we went for it. Much easier than carrying cash and coins around. Exchange rate was EUR1 to ISK107. That works out to be about ISK100 to SGD1.30 for us.
We wanted to get a local SIM card too. But unfortunately was not able to find one at the airport and so Heimir brought us to a convenience store. It seems you can only buy this at a convenience store. We bought a local SIM card with 1GB data and 100 min local calls and 100 local SMSs. We paid ISK2,990 for it.
Local prepaid SIM card
Then we headed into the city. Heimir drove us around to give us an overview of the city before he dropped us at our hotel, 22 Hill Hotel. He arranged to pick us up again the next morning at 9am to start our road trip.
We had a simple twin room. Not big. Just enough space for the beds, bedside table and a desk and hanging rack for our clothes. Bathroom had a shower cubicle, vanity and toilet bowl. It was of adequate size. The room and bathroom was clean. Nothing luxurious and it is representative of the rooms for the rest of our stay. Iceland does not really have international brand big names hotels, except one or two in Reykjavik. They mainly have local hotels and guesthouses.
After settling down, we headed out to the bay before going for dinner. The hotel was about 10 mins walk to the bay. The roads had lots of snow as a few days before Iceland just experience one of its heaviest snowfall in history, 51cm in a day! The highest snowfall of 55cm in a day was recorded in 1937. The streets were covered in snow and some parts were icy. First fall casualty of the trip was DH this evening. ?????? Ok, all of us “fell” for it some time or the other over the course of this trip.
The streets were beautiful under the evening light.
Along the way, we came across Hofoi House, the most famous building in Iceland. It is the location for the 1986 summit meeting of presidents Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbatsjov, a historical event that effectively marked the end of the Cold War. It was simply beautiful with its roof and surroundings covered in snow.
By the time we walked to the bay, the sun had set and we had missed the beautiful sunset.???? Further along the shore of the bay, we came to the Solfar Sculpture. Solfar (meaning Sun Voyage) is a sculpture by Jón Gunnar Árnason. It is a dreamboat, an ode to the sun. The evening lighting then was perfect for our photos!
By then it was around 8pm, so we headed up the shopping street in search of a restaurant for dinner.
We walked along the main shopping street in search of someplace to eat. Menus were placed outside the restaurants and we ended up at Meze, a Turkish restaurant. The food looked interesting and price seemed within range by Icelandic standards based on the several restaurants that we checked out. DSis and I had the Lamb Shish Kebab (ISK3900) while DBIL and DH had the Mediterranean style Bacalao (ISK3900) which was a lightly salted cod with lime peel served with mash potatoes and salad. The food were quite good. DH had the local Viking beer (ISK1100) while DBIL had a stout (ISK1200). Just to give you an idea, at the time we were there ISK100 was about SGD1.30 and EUR1 was about ISK107.
After dinner, we took a 10 min stroll back to the hotel to our much needed sleep after our long flight and long day. On the way, we saw some cars covered in thick thick snow! Wow!
A car covered in thick snow along the streets of Reykjavik
Next up: Iceland Winter Adventure – Day 2 (Snaefellsnes Peninsula, the start of our Road Trip!)