Our third day in Iceland didn’t get off to the most promising start; we woke up to grey skies and sore heads after one too many shots of Reyka. But like the stoic tourists we are, we grabbed our brollies and headed off to explore the harbour. On the way we stopped by the beautiful Tjörnin pond, next to Reykjavík City Hall.
A stroll around this fairytale lake, ringed by picturesque houses in primary colours, was the perfect tonic to our hangovers. The water was bustling with ducks, swans and geese, which stay around for the entire winter season thanks to a little geothermal heating.
Sadly we weren’t feeling the benefits of the thermal waters, so headed across town to Cafe Stofan to seek refuge from the icy drizzle. This was one of my favourite hideaways in Reykjavik; scattered with cosy antique chairs and velvet sofas, it’s the perfect place to curl up with coffee and a book and watch the world go by.
So it was that we embarked for the Blue Lagoon that afternoon in much better spirits (although I did think Pete seemed a little on edge! More on that later…) The iconic blue lake is the landmark most people think of when they hear ‘Iceland’ and I can absolutely see why.
The contrast between the freezing rocky landscape and the steaming geothermal spa is seriously surreal – there were screams as bikini-clad women (and guys in short shorts!) ran the icey gauntlet from changing rooms to lagoon. Once you’re, the water is bath-tub hot; it’s possible to while away hours in the brilliant aquamarine pools, grabbing a fruit juice or a beer and people-watching on the underwater rocks. Pete and I did just that, pruning up in our determination to watch the sun set over the water.
Eventually we dragged ourselves out and I headed to the changing rooms to try to tame my now Monica Geller-style frizzy hair. Humidity is not my friend. Added to that, the ‘healing’ mud we’d put all over our faces had seemingly aged my skin ten years, so I emerged to meet Pete the most hideous I’d looked during our whole relationship. Which made what happened next all the more surprising! Pete grabbed my hand and pulled me up several flights of stairs to a tiny viewing platform over the now fairylit lagoon. Before I could comment on the spectacular view, he interrupted me with ‘Turn around!’ and there he was, down on one knee! Rustling his speech in my ear, hands shaking too much to be able to read it (and I was too surprised to take any of it in anyway), he skipped straight to ‘Will you marry me?’ To which I burst into tears and just about managed to say yes!
Pretty good day after all, hey?
That night we headed to the Skaholt Bar at Hotel Holt for some obligatory champagne, and then to the incredible Dill where we’d already booked the seven-course tasting menu. I think Pete might have had an inkling that today was the day! Dill is a small fine-dining restaurant that manages to look both rustic and totally chic and contemporary at the same time. The decor is stunning but hinges around very low lighting – hence my sad lack of pictures! Dill is the brainchild of chef Gunnar Karl Gislason and sommelier Olafur Orn Olafsson, and they only use locally sourced Nordic ingredients. Needless to say, it was all absolutely delicious.
I’d really like to be able to show you photos of everything we ate as the presentation was awesome, but it was way too dark to take any good shots (I’ve included the only salvageable one, of our dessert, above). We didn’t go for the matching wines but we did manage to accidentally order a £100 bottle (a combination of the excitement of being newly engaged and mistranslating the Icelandic króna)! Ah well, it’s not like you get proposed to every day…
Did you notice that the (temporary) ring Pete proposed with is in the shape of a horse? Fitting, as the next day we were going out riding across the volcanic rocks on Icelandic horses! We booked with ‘The Icelandic Horse‘ company, who were wonderful; Begga, our host and guide, was funny, knowledgeable and you could tell how much she loves the horses. I thought she was going to throw out the guy who called the horses ‘small’ (they are small. Icelandic horses look like ponies – I’m far enough away to say that safely now!)
Neither of us had ever really ridden before and this was the perfect first start, not just because there was less distance to fall! Icelandic horses are known for being really sweet natured and we were encouraged to call our steeds by name and talk to them as we rode around. Happily Pete got the most moody, teenaged horse of the lot – he refused to keep up with the others and sulked behind the group at every opportunity!
There’s something else that makes Icelandic horses special – instead of just walking, trotting and cantering, these horses have two additional gaits: pace and tölt. Tölt is a four-beat gait where at least one foot is on the ground at any time, but much faster than a walk. This lack of suspension in the gait means it’s a much smoother ride – you should be able to drink a glass of champagne during tölt and not spill a drop! Riding techniques aside, the views up in the rocks were spectacular, all the more so for being enjoyed on horseback. After our trek, we dismounted and the horses all had a good roll around!
We got back in time to take a short trip up the hill to the Hallgrimskirkja, the largest church in Iceland and one of the most striking I’ve seen anywhere in Europe; apparently it was designed to resemble the basalt lava flows of Iceland’s landscape. We ascended to the very top of the viewing tower and enjoyed a panoramic of Reykjavik’s colourful roofs.
All too soon, it was our final day in Iceland. Taking advantage of a tour-free morning, we had a leisurely late breakfast at the hotel and wandered down the waterfront via Harpa, Reykjavik’s concert hall and conference centre. Harpa has won multiple awards for architecture and it’s easy to see why. Bizarrely, I don’t have any photos of my own (what were we doing?) but we made up for that by taking a ton of pictures down the road, of Jon Gunnar Arnason’s Sun Voyager. This massive steel sculpture looks like a Viking ship (actually ‘a dream boat and ode to the sun’). Here’s the best one!
We decided to stretch our legs properly that afternoon with a hike up to The Pearl, which stands at 25 metres high and takes its name from the huge glass dome on the top, below which there’s a 360 degree viewing platform.
Back at the harbour, we passed the last daylight hours at Sky Bar, where we enjoyed Viking beers and a gorgeous final sunset.
