We slept pretty well last night. We got downstairs around 10:00 am and enjoyed a nice breakfast while we considered how we might spend the day.

Breakfast.
Breakfast.

We left the hotel around 11:00 am and headed out into Reykjavik. We walked to the Harpa Concert Hall, located near the old harbour. This concert hall is a beautiful building that we drove past last night (and it looks especially impressive at night).

Harpa Concert Hall.
Harpa Concert Hall.

We then walked further along the shoreline to the Sun Voyager sculpture.

Andrea, at the Sun Voyager sculpture.
Andrea, at the Sun Voyager sculpture.

We left the shoreline and headed uphill to see the Hallgrimskirkja church. The very distinctive church is visible from all over the city. We went inside to admire the church and decided to head to the top to look out over Reykjavik.

Hallgrimskirkja church.
Hallgrimskirkja church.
Looking out over Reykjavik from the Hallgrimskirkja church.
Looking out over Reykjavik from the Hallgrimskirkja church.
Looking back up Skólavörðustígur to Hallgrimskirkja church.
Looking back up Skólavörðustígur to Hallgrimskirkja church.

From the church we walked through a few of the very pretty streets in Reykjavik. Walking around is a nice way to see the town given that it is quite small (with a population of only about 120,000).

Skólavörðustígur.
Skólavörðustígur.
Andrea, at Tjörnin ("the pond").
Andrea, at Tjörnin ("the pond").

Next up we decided to hop in a taxi and head to Perlan (which translates to “pearl” in English). Perlan is situated on the top of Öskjuhlíð hill. It was originally a cluster of hot water tanks, but in 1991 it was converted to a public building that houses a planetarium (which is currently closed for renovation) and an exhibition. A glass dome and viewing deck at the top provide nice views of the city. We enjoyed our visit, especially the detailed exhibits on the volcanic formation of Iceland.

Views over Reykjavik from the top of Perlan.
Views over Reykjavik from the top of Perlan.

Also, there is an indoor ice cave, which was good but too cold to linger in.

In the ice cave at Perlan.
In the ice cave at Perlan.

But it wasn’t too cold for us to indulge in an ice-cream at the cafe!

Keith enjoying an ice-cream!
Keith enjoying an ice-cream!

After our visit to Perlan we caught a taxi back to the hotel. It was nearly dinner time by this stage. We decided to go to a quirky Japanese restaurant called Sushi Social, just a short walk from the hotel.

On the walk down Bankastræti to dinner.
On the walk down Bankastræti to dinner.

We had a very nice meal, washed down with a nice Icelandic beer.

Dinner at Sushi Social.
Dinner at Sushi Social.

After finishing dinner we headed back to the hotel, via the parking garage where we had left our rental car. The car park does not open until 7:00 am each morning, and we plan to be in the car by 6:00 am tomorrow to head to the airport. So we got the car out of the garage, found a self-service petrol station to fill it up, and located a street car park not too far from the hotel.

With the car organised, we walked back to the hotel to pack (again!) and get to bed in anticipation of our very early trip to the airport to catch our flight to London.