{"id":326,"date":"2015-05-23T20:53:12","date_gmt":"2015-05-24T03:53:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.asideofsunsets.com\/?p=326"},"modified":"2015-05-23T20:53:12","modified_gmt":"2015-05-24T03:53:12","slug":"icelandic-adventures","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dev.asideofsunsets.com\/index.php\/2015\/05\/23\/icelandic-adventures\/","title":{"rendered":"Icelandic Adventures"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]When WOW Air<\/a> started their crazy flight deals from Boston to Reykjavik, I didn\u2019t hesitate.\u00a0 Knowing I would already be in Boston for my brother\u2019s college graduation, it seemed like a simple choice to take the entire week off and spend the first part of the week in Iceland.\u00a0 The flight from Boston to Reykjavik is actually shorter than the flight from San Diego to Boston!<\/p>\n

We left Boston around 7am and landed in Iceland around 4am.\u00a0 We were about an hour drive to Reykjavik where we had a hotel waiting for us.\u00a0 Many of the hotels are used to these early arrivals so you can pay a lower rate and check in bright and early.<\/p>\n

Where to Stay:<\/strong> We stayed at a hotel called Room With a View<\/a>.\u00a0 It was a pretty simple hotel but had what we needed and was in a great location.<\/p>\n

What to Do:<\/strong> Since we were only in Iceland for a few days we made Reykjavik our home base and did day trips from there.[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]Wander around Reykjavik.<\/strong>\u00a0 After we woke from our redeye\/jetlagged naps we found some lunch and Icelandic beers and then wandered around the city, checking out the windy waterfront, the church Hallgrimskirkja for some great views of the city, and popping into shops full of Icelandic goodies.[\/vc_column_text][vc_media_grid grid_id=”vc_gid:1503330549813-05ba0960-c913-0″ include=”353,328,352″][vc_column_text]South Coast Tour<\/strong> \u2013 We booked this through IG Tours<\/a> – it was an all day tour of, you guessed it, the south coast.\u00a0 We stopped at Seljalandsfoss and Skogafoss waterfalls, Reynisfjara black sandy beach, the village of Vik (don\u2019t get too excited about what you\u2019ll be eating for lunch here) and Myrdalsjokull, Iceland\u2019s fourth largest glacier.\u00a0 You also have the option to do a glacier hike or snowmobile tour as a combination tour but we did not.[\/vc_column_text][vc_media_grid initial_loading_animation=”fadeInDown” grid_id=”vc_gid:1503330549816-aa0e0732-9992-6″ include=”334,333,329″][vc_column_text]Snorkel Silfra & The Golden Circle Tour<\/strong> \u2013 We booked this tour through Local Iceland Tours\/isango!<\/a>. While the entire trip was one highlight after another, this was definitely one of our favorite activities.\u00a0 We put on ridiculous dry suits and wandered down to the Silfra Fissure in Thingvellir National Park and hopped in the water.\u00a0 You snorkel through some of the clearest water in the world, in between two tectonic plates \u2013 in 32-degree water!\u00a0 Where else are you going to do something like this?\u00a0 The water was SO BLUE.\u00a0 After snorkeling, we made our way to the Geysir geothermal region and Gullfoss waterfall \u2013 also pretty cool sights to check out![\/vc_column_text][vc_media_grid grid_id=”vc_gid:1503330549824-e1a4529c-2ec1-4″ include=”357,358,356″][vc_column_text]Blue Lagoon<\/strong><\/a> \u2013 while it\u2019s definitely a tourist hot spot, it seems like a trip to Iceland isn\u2019t complete without a visit to the Blue Lagoon.\u00a0 It\u2019s much closer to the airport than to Reykjavik so you\u2019ll definitely want to try and schedule your time there on your way to or from the airport.\u00a0 We spent about an hour there on our way to the airport and it was really quite amazing.\u00a0 You can book add-on massages but we just enjoyed relaxing in the steamy water.[\/vc_column_text][vc_single_image image=”359″ img_size=”large” alignment=”center” style=”vc_box_rounded”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Our days were so long and full of activity that the only other thing left to do was EAT!<\/p>\n

Where to Eat:
\n<\/strong>Grillmarkadurinn<\/a> \u2013 A trendy restaurant located right off the main drag.\u00a0 A warm and cozy ambiance, and like many restaurants in Iceland, they featured a lot of seafood, but had a great selection of meat as well.<\/p>\n

Fiskfelagid<\/a> \u2013 another trendy restaurant close by, we sat down in the basement level at a bar area and had our fill of delicious seafood recipes.<\/p>\n

Bakari Sandholt Reykjavik<\/a> \u2013 This bakery was located down the street from our hotel and was our daily morning stop for breakfast and coffee.\u00a0 If you\u2019re all set with breakfast, I highly recommend stopping in here for a treat later in the afternoon!<\/p>\n

While we were only there for a few days, I’ve heard great things about driving the Ring Road, so if you have the time it’s definitely worth considering![\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]When WOW Air started their crazy flight deals from Boston to Reykjavik, I didn\u2019t hesitate.\u00a0 Knowing I would already be in Boston for my brother\u2019s college graduation, it seemed like a simple choice to take the entire week off and spend the first part of the week in Iceland.\u00a0 The flight from Boston to Reykjavik […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":329,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22,2,6],"tags":[113,171],"class_list":["post-326","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-europe","category-featured","category-places","tag-iceland","tag-reyjkavik"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.asideofsunsets.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/326","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.asideofsunsets.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.asideofsunsets.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.asideofsunsets.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.asideofsunsets.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=326"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dev.asideofsunsets.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/326\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.asideofsunsets.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/329"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.asideofsunsets.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=326"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.asideofsunsets.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=326"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.asideofsunsets.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=326"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}