Reykjavík

I wasn’t sure the exact date I could leave for Europe until just a few weeks before my trip, so by the time I started looking for flights, the only ones I could afford were those with fairly significant layovers. I decided I wanted to fly through a place I hadn’t been before, preferably with enough time to actually leave the airport and explore a bit.  IcelandAir offered a flight to Paris with an eighteen-hour layover in Reykjavík, which, I reasoned, would give me an entire day there and plenty of time to experience the city.

My flight landed at the Keflavik International Airport at 6:20am on September 15th.  The airport (Iceland’s largest) is located about 50km southwest of Iceland’s capital, Reykjavík; it’s approximately a 45-minute drive to get from the airport to the Reykjavík city center and there are busses that run every half hour or so between the two points. A good portion of the bus route runs along the coast, and my first glimpses of Iceland – illuminated by the early morning light from the sunrise – were absolutely spectacular.

The bus stopped at several hotels on the way into the city center.  The center was the final stop, and by the time we’d arrived, there were only two of us left (evidently, all of the other passengers were actually staying overnight).  We disembarked on the side of what appeared to be a very busy and industrial road, the driver pointed vaguely in the direction of a bakery where we could get breakfast, and we we were left to our own devices.