Iceland Day 19 – Reykjavík

Saturday September 13, Barolo and Pizza in Reykjavík

This is the second of two posts about our 19th of 21 days in Iceland. The prior post was all about our day from the beautiful farm on the Hvitá River where we stayed last night to our arrival in the capital, and includes photos from our visits to the big sights on the Golden Circle, the infamous tourist loop in southwest Iceland. This story picks up just as we find our apartment right smack in the middle of downtown Reykjavík, a location that is hard to beat.

Hallgrímskirkja From our Apartment

Two issues stem from having an apartment downtown right in the middle of everything. First, the downtown streets near Hallgrímskirkja on a late Saturday afternoon require a driver's head to be on a swivel to avoid striking the tourists blindly walking out into the narrow streets, often head down in their phones. Second, parking is downtown is scarce, pretty much like any big city anywhere. It is funny to call Reykjavík a big city; it is no bigger than our own town.

We intentionally booked a place with rare parking and were surprised that our B&B owner's advertised “free parking" was a blatant misrepresentation. Liar, liar, pants on fire! Street parking nearby was both expensive and limited only to four hours. We needed a place where we could leave the car for the night, all day tomorrow, and for half a day on Monday until we were ready to head to the airport in Keflavík.

Fortunately, I found a paid spot just across the street from the apartment that let us unload our bags and take some time to find long-term parking. We concluded ultimately that a parking garage was our best bet and located two near us. We drove to the first to find that it was also hourly parking limited to four hours.

The second, four or so blocks from the apartment and an easy walk was just the ticket. It was not clear how to pay for the garage, but the license plate reader at the gate checked us in to the Parka system and checked us out when we left, the roughly $50 for about 44 hours automatically billed to our credit card. It could not have been easier. We shot a couple photos on the walk back from the garage.

Gorgeous Garden in Downtown

Mural Across from our Apartment

Luggage and parking dealt with, we decided that we wanted to celebrate the closing of our vacation with a decent bottle of wine, not the lackluster offerings from the Vínbúðin. A quick internet query turned up a somm-led wine bar not three minutes away, so off we were to find the Port9 Wine Bar. Locating it was a tad more complicated than it appeared from the map, because it is down an alley, left into a smaller alley, left behind a building, quite tucked away. You would never find it if you were not looking for it.

Creative Encouragement:
"Just a few steps further..."

Unassuming Port9 in a Courtyard Off an Alley
Behind a Building

Our impression so far of Reykjavík was that it is, like Portland, a place for young people. That is all well and good, but we were looking for a chiller more adult vibe away from the hipster-feeling downtown bar scene. We found just that in Port9 and a decent bottle of Barolo.

While enjoying the wine, we looked for a place to have coffee tomorrow morning. One potential place is coffeehouse/bakery by day, pizza joint by night. The photos of the pizza looked outstanding so we decided to drop by the store, BakaBaka, on Laugavegur, the main shopping street, on the way back to the apartment.

Already a circus when we walked several blocks of it back from the parking garage earlier, pedestrian-only Laugavegur was wall-to-wall with people out meandering and people watching, their walks pierced by drunks screaming from bar patios. I was getting a bit of a Bourbon Street vibe. Originally a path leading to the hot springs where locals would do their laundry, Laugavegur has evolved into Reykjavík’s busiest commercial street and tourist hangout.

Laugavegur Storefront

Crappy Cell Phone Shot of People, Including Me,
Snapping Sunset Photos Down Laugavegur 

BakaBaka

The crew inside BakaBaka was really chill and they shot the breeze with us as we waited for our to-go pies, one ‘nduja and one mortadella. By American standards, the 25 minutes we waited was lengthy but the wait was worthwhile. Although a bit misshapen, these were among the better pies we have ever had. Pizza boxes in hand, we walked back to our apartment, downtown now lit up after dark and the drunks howling all around.

Waiting on Our Pies

Our Destination Tomorrow for Dinner

Mortadella Pizza

'Nduja Pizza

I forgot to mention a third downside of having an apartment in downtown: proximity to bars. It proved difficult to get a good night's sleep on a Saturday night on which people seemed hellbent on partying until dawn.