We weren’t in a rush this morning because we only had around a half-day of driving to the Happy Camper drop-off in Keflavik. We took photos of birds at the campground, which was a pleasant spot with a view of a green, wide valley. We left at around 10:30 for a leisurely drive taking more photos along the way.
We stopped at a very busy gas station in Bogarnes to fill the gas and look around the gift shop (I bought a knit hat 😉). We thought about getting lunch there, but opted to eat up more of our food supplies instead.
The final approach to Reykjavik was a dramatic road, on the south edge of the Akranes peninsula at the foot of a seaside mountain, then across a long bridge at the head of the Hvalfjör∂ur fjord. (On the map the approach to Reykjavik is shown as a tunnel, but I don’t remember a tunnel.)
We dropped off the van at around 2:30 pm and were there for about an hour while we waited our turn to get checked out. Happy Campers gave us a ride to Blue Car Rental at Keflavik Airport. They had to switch out the car they initially gave us because the trunk opener switch didn’t work. The car was a Kia Rio.
We arrived at Freyja Guesthouse after 5pm. We were initially puzzled about how to get into our room as the office was closed. In the end, we found a phone number on the door and we called to get the door code. Our keycards were inside. A beautiful sitting room and kitchen served the four rooms on the first floor. The large shared bathroom was great, with a big shower. We didn’t have too many conflicts, but we could go upstairs to use that bathroom too.
We wandered around the downtown area: Hallgrímskirkja, the painted storefront of the excellent bakery Brau∂, down to the water’s edge and the Sun Voyager sculpture (Solfar in Icelandic), Harpa concert hall, the rainbow-painted street. Then we headed back to “our” home area and dinner at Cafe Loki, traditional Icelandic food. We had fish of the day and plokkfiskur.
The Hallgrímskirkja bells rang every quarter hour during the day. It was only a couple of blocks away, so it was easy to keep track of time! If we lived there, it might get to be too much to hear the same tune all the time. On Sunday morning, the bells rang magnificently for several church services.
