This is an overnight stop, 0800 21 June to 1800 22 June.
It could be crowded:
Norwegian Star arrives 0600 departs 1600 on the 21st.
Star Pride arrives 0800 departs 1700 on the 21st.
Carnival Legend arrives on the 22nd 0800 departs 2300 .
We've passed through here by air in the past, actually three times. Each time, we've stayed in Reykjavik a few days on the return leg. So we've seen many of the attractions. But we haven't returned since 2002, so things will have changed.
The major attraction in the city we haven't toured is the Hallgrimskirka church. We're doing the Highlights of Reykjavik tour, so we'll see that and other places.
The ship tied up, port side to the pier, astern of Norwegian Star. We were cleared by 0830. Since our tour starts at 1230, we're in no rush. We did take a hike to the Cruise Terminal to see what's there. Nothing. Only a shuttle bus to the Harpa downtown area. And it's cold, due to the wind. We returned to the suite to wait for our 1230 Highlights tour.
The 1230 bus Highlights Tour took us to two Highlights and one I-dunno. In order, they were the Open-Air Museum, Perlan, and the city's prime auditorium / civic center.
The open-air museum was really nice. A blonde blue-eyed docent took us around a 10-acre tract of land onto which numerous early-year buildings had been placed. Only one was originally on the site. Each of the old buildings had its history on a sign adjacent.
The docent chose to have us huddle out of the wind in the 1840's Lutheran Church, a tiny small thilng. It's still in use for weddings, confirmations, and baptisms. The docent told us who would sit where and why, according to the custom of the age. Many of the buildings had corrugated-steel siding that she said was placed on the building at the time of construction.
We went on to Perlan (below), a circular dome edifice on top of five hot-water tanks on a hill. The tanks store water sent to houses for heating. There was a good exhibit on Iceland's origin and development. We looked at the fifth-level rotating restaurant in which we dined 25 years ago or so, when we took the kids to Scotland for spring break.
The tour went on, passing Hallgrimmskirka with out stopping, to the civic center. We didn't bother to go in.
Back at the ship we had wine in the Lounge, then a few nibbles. Then to a light dinner in the Lido since neither of us was really hungry.
We intend tomorrow to take the shuttle to the civic center, then the HOHO bus to Hallgrimmskyrka. Then we'll see what else we can do on a Saturday.
After a light dinner in Lido we retired to the suite and relaxed.
Photos Link
What to do, what to do? The weather forecast is 80% showers all through the day and cool. I think we'll go on with our plan, modified to go inside somewhere when raining.
So we dressed with raincoats and went to the shuttle stop. Cold breeze, light rain. Yuk.
The shuttle was full to the walls as it went down the waterfront to the city's Civic Center, named Harpa. We walked ten feet to the HOHO bus sign. Darned if the bus didn't come along about two minutes later. We procured decent seats at the top of the stairs. The bus took off after loading fifty or so passengers.
The HOHO did its circle in 16 stops; we rode the circle once, then got off halfway the second, at Hallgrimmskirka. At the door we were turned away - it being closed until 1630 for some reason not given.
We hiked down the street opposite the church, looking for a place to get a drink and maybe food. Next to Icewear was Kol. We went in and were seated in the most distant corner. The brunch menu was given. The place was almost full. D ordered Eggs Benedict and mimosa. O ordered an IPA and a Croque Monsieur. The bread foundation in both dishes was out of this world. What O thought was ham-n-cheese turned out to be four layers of bread with cheddar and thin ham interspersed. It was lovely. We sat a bit, then asked how to get a taxi; they called one for us.
The taxi very efficiently carried us to the pier. We boarded, entered the suite and relaxed. Got out the books.
Photo Link
The Captain's voice message just before pushing away from the dock was that we might get moved around tonight in 12-foot seas with 50-knot winds close to the center of a low-pressure area (L). But he'll be doing 18 knots to get to Stornaway on time and he'll have the stabilizers out to hold down the rolling.
Nothing on the MDR menu attracted us, so we did the Lido's Swedish meatballs and salads. Back to the suite to type this and move photos around.
The entertainer this evening is a John Denver imitator. Maybe but probably not.
