Friday 25th July

On Friday, which was our first full day in Iceland, we ventured into Reykjavik on foot, which is about 15 minutes' walk from Loftleidir. It rained most of the day although we didn't mind getting wet and there were plenty of interesting things to see. We ventured down the main shopping street, looked around downtown Reykjavik (see picture - right, with city landmark Hallgrim's Church in the background) and wandered about some shops. We had lunch at a small café in downtown Reykjavik which served some very good fish soup and some interesting, but gelatinous, fish stew. Having got rather wet walking about the greater part of the central area, we headed back to the hotel and tested out the hotel pool and hot tub before wandering back into Reykjavik for dinner.

Dinner that evening was eaten at a restaurant very close to the sea near the main fish trading harbour (behind Sam in the picture to the left). The restaurant was called Jonatan Livingston Marvur, and, impressed by its advertisement in the About Reykjavik guide, and the promise of incredibly fresh fish and superb cuisine, we gave it a bash. It was a total disappointment. The standard of cooking was poor, the cleanliness of the plates and other utensils was severely suspect and the service was curt. We both ate a dish called "Fish Fantasy" which was heavily played up in the menu on the basis of containing seven different fish varieties, along with vegetables and sauces. When these dishes turned up they yielded little more than seven tiny slabs of fish, each no bigger than a very small fish finger, surrounded by two sauces both of which were too strong. Some of the fish was actually raw on the inside. The taste was fairly ordinary with little to recommend it. The next day I had a nasty, sweaty feeling accompanied by stomach cramps and, later, three bouts of diarrhoea which thankfully went away after 36 hours and did not turn into proper food poisoning. The cost of the meal was over fifty pounds which we considered expensive given the mediocre quality.

After the meal we walked back to the hotel, which took about half an hour. Reykjavik (view from landmark Hallgrim's church shown right) is pleasant at night, busy but not rowdy, reminiscent of a small town rather than a capital city. It does only have 175,000 inhabitants however, so this kind of atmosphere is not surprising. Also, even late at night in the summer it is still so light that it is easy to lose track of time as evening wears on. The lack of encroaching darkness as evening progresses can, however, be very liberating and relaxing.

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© Richard Harrison

All photographs are © Richard Harrison and Samantha Coe 1997