Touring Reykjavik with Food

Before joining the food tour, John and I did a little touring on our own. We visited Hallgrimskirka - an iconic church of the city - where we had a fabulous view of the town center and harbor areas from its tower. It took 40 years to build and was completed in 1984. We then strolled through a residential area to Tjornin, or as it is more commonly known, The Pond. This park area skirts the governing area of the city with the parliament building and city hall on one end of the Pond. A small round building to one side is a music pavillion where band concerts used to be held on its roof.

Viking Ship Sculpture

We met the food tour guide, Alexandra, at the Hara Concert Hall, a very modern glass structure with many faceted windows from top to bottom. On the way to our first stop we passed Arnarholl Hill where many events happen like Independence Day celebrations or to watch their favorite soccer games. At the Icelandic Bar and Restaurant we dined on meat soup made with lamb, vegetables and seasonings like fennel and rosemary. Stop 2 was the cheese shop, Ostabudin (means cheese) where we tasted gouda, Icelandic Brie and Blue cheese as well as cured sheep filet, cured horse filet and smoked wild goose breast. Stop 3 was at Cafe Loki for Rye bread ice cream covered with whiped cream and caramel sauce. Stop 4 was beside The Pond where we tried Skyr, the Icelandic yogurt much like Greek yogurt but much better. It is very high in protein and calcium with no fat and low calories.

We learned a little history while looking at the Parliament building. Iceland was settled by the Vikings in 900 and ruled by Denmark until 1944. Denmark was occupied with WWII so Iceland took advantage of their absense and just declared its independence on June 17. Stop 5 was at the Kopar Restaurant who served a most delightful Rock Crab soup with sourdough bread slathered with violet liquorish salt butter. Yummy! Stop 6 was a hotdog stand and stop 7 was Apotek, a former pharmacy, now a gourmet restaurant which served us sorbet and chocolat mousse. WOW!
We didn't think we could eat again, but as super time rolled around we were hungry. 21,000 steps on the FitBit today.
Due to technical problems and old age all the pictures are grouped at the end since we can't figure out how to run the app.