May contain traces of advertisement.*
Mid of June in Reykjavík
In the last two years my better half had visited Iceland in June for hiking and had participated in the celebrations for the Icelandic National Holiday on June 17th. This year I wanted to see these celebrations, too. So we decided to visit Iceland for this weekend, and my husband wanted to go hiking afterwards on his own, while I travelled back to Germany.
Actually we had planned to spend a quiet weekend in Reykjavík: Arrival on Friday evening. Take a walk through the city on Saturday, take a bath in one of its pools. And on Sunday we wanted to go to the celebrations for the national holiday.
But then my husband had the idea to ask some restaurants, whether they would invite us for a meal, when we write about them in our blog. In the past we already had written about Icelandic restaurants. Why not extend this section?
We selected restaurants of different kinds, restaurants, which we had heard good things about, from which we had seen great food fotos or which sounded interesting for any other reason. We hadn't expected any reaction, but in fact we got a lot of invitations:
So we got the possibility to try 6 different restaurants within this weekend. Different kinds of restaurant. Meet many interesting people, who love and live Icelandic cuisine. And my husband could try two further restaurants after his hiking tours.
We had a really great weekend in Reykjavk: Of course we participated in the celebrations for the national holiday.
And we also found some time to go swimming in Suðurbæjarlaug in Hafnarfjörður.
But our main focus was: Visiting restaurants.
On Friday evening we had our first dinner. It was great. We could fall asleep at the end of the day of arrivel - exhausted, but well-fed and happy.
On Saturday we started with swimming in Hafnarfjörður before we had our breakfast in a book cafe.
For lunch we went to Grandi Mathöll, the newly opened food hall in Reykjavík. It is located in an old fish cannery at the old harbour of Reykjavík
Dinner was served for us in a dignified restaurant in a historic house of Reykjavík. This is also a location for many cultural events, and we got not only piano music to hear, but also a guided tor of the house.
On Sunday we were busy because of the national holiday. When it started to rain in the afternoon, we luckily had an invitation for coffee and cake in a cat cafe.
At our dinner we met a TV chef in person. He was not only cooking in his restaurant, he had also had an own show in Icelandic TV and written a cook-book, which I had often used.
On Monday I flew back, but my husband went on a hike. In the evening he visited a geothermal bath with connected restaurant. Bath and restaurant have openen a few months ago, just next to the biggest hot spring of Iceland. So my husband could relax in the spa, before he got a great dinner.
After the hiking week, on his las evening in Iceland, my husband was invited for a 7-courses meal in Reykjavík. A great end of the trip.
Reports about our experiences with all these restaurants will follow within the next two weeks. I'm just writing on them.
* Legal note:
Formally this article can be graded as advertisement, since we had been invited for the meal. Anyhow, we have chosen only restaurants, which we had heard good things about and which we estimated as interesting. Accordingly we're really delighted, and if we fall into words of praise, these are meant honestly.