Iceland - Reykjavik

We visited Reykjavik as part of a cruise to Dublin, Iceland and Norway.  

There is a dock in the Old Harbor, however most larger cruise ships can’t dock there, so we were docked further away.  The cruise line laid on a free shuttle service which took approximately 20 minutes to reach the city centre, alternatively we were advised that we could walk but it would take approximately 45 minutes.  As we had booked a full day trip for Reykjavik we didn't actually take either of these options.

Attractions

As we opted to do the 8 hour Grand Circle Tour, we didn't have any time in Reykjavik (other than a glimpse of a few key attractions through the coach window on the journey back to the ship). 


However, most of the attractions within Reykjavik itself are accessible on foot:

• Stjornarradid, Laekjarata:
  Originally a prison in 1770 this is now the offices of the Prime Minister.

• Adalstraeti 10:
  The oldest building in the city.

• Hallgrimskirkja:
  This is a spectacular Lutheran church, which you can take an elevator to the top of the bell tower for fantastic views.

Outside Reykjavik there are a couple of other attractions that we would have like to seen had we had time:

• The Pearl:
  A glass dome situated on top of massive hot water tanks, apparently offers panoramic views of the city from the restaurant and viewing platform.
• The Blue Lagoon:
  This geothermal spa is apparently about 45 minutes drive from the city centre.   If we'd had more time in Reykjavik it's definitely something that I would have liked to try. 

Shore Excursion - Grand Circle Tour

Thingvellier National Park:

We boarded our coach and left the harbor at 8:30am, it was about a 45 minute drive to our first stop at Thingvellier National Park, which is where Europe's first Parliament was formed.

We spent about 45 minutes here, we followed the short boarded walkway to see the spectacular views:

The photo below shows the walkway (which was being worked on while we were there, so wasn't fully accessible). and the shop in the background.  To the left there are toilets, there is a charge of 2 NOK for these, however the tour organizer had paid in advance for the tour groups, so all we had to do was show our little sticker that we were given on board the ship when we were allocated a tour bus.

Thingvellier National Park Gift Shop

Geysir:
This was our second stop, it was about a 45 minute drive from Thingvellier National Park.

Geysir

Sadly Geysir doesn't errupt very frequently, and certainly not while we were there.  However Strokkur, which is a very short walk away, errupts every few minutes.

Strokkur Geysir

Lunch was included in this tour, our group was booked for 11.35am lunch at the hotel, just over the road from the Geysirs.  As we were so engrossed in taking photos of the Strokkur Geysir, we were one of the last ones from our group to arrive at the restaurant and as a result our party was separated as the restaurant was very crowded.  And I do mean crowed.  The tables sat 8 people each, and if you were sitting at the end next to the windows, you could not get in or out unless the other people on your row moved out of your way, as the table behind was that close. 

There are toilets located in the restaurant, but not many so the queue gets very long.  There are many more located in the souvenier shop accross the road, so it's probably quicker to go there.

Gullfoss (The "Golden Waterfall"):

View from the upper car park

View from the upper car park

From the Geysir, it's only about 7 minutes to Gullfoss.  We got off the coach at the upper car park, where there is a shop, toilets and a boardwalk to view the falls.  The coach waited here 15 minutes to collect anyone that didn't want to walk to the lower car park.


However, the walk to the lower car park is fairly short, though does involve quite a few steps (as shown by the photo below).

Steps to lower car park

Make sure you buy any souvenirs from the shop at the top before you walk down the steps as there are no facilities at the bottom.

The path at the lower car park is loose stones and quite steep, it's also wet in places due to spray from the waterfall, so can be quite slippy.

View from the side of the falls

Hellisheidi Geothermal Power Plant:

Our final stop was at the Geothermal Power Plant about 30 minutes away.  It was a short stop, only 15 minutes, but it was all we needed to have a quick look around and buy a postcard.

It took another 45 minutes to get back to the harbor.