Sadly, today was our last day in Reykjavik, and we were already dreaming of our next adventure in Iceland. But before we left, we had one more attraction left on our list. Reykjavik 871 +/-2 The Settlement Exhibition.
Be sure to read about our other adventures in Iceland including The Blue Lagoon, Golden Circle, Day in Reykjavik, South Coast Tour, and The Secret Lagoon.
The Settlement Exhibition
Reykjavik 871 +/-2 The Settlement Exhibition is exactly what you expect it to be. It is a settlement exhibition for Iceland. It is a small museum with one large room and costs around $11, but it was very interesting and worth the money. [Basic entrance fee to Reykjavik 871 +/-2 The Settlement Exhibition = $11]
The main focus of the settlement exhibition, and what takes up the entire center of the room, is the remains of a hall dated between 930 and 1000 and was excavated in 2001. On the north side of the hall is remnants of a wall which were obviously built before the year 871. How do they know that? Well, in 871 there was a major volcanic eruption in Iceland, and the remnants of this wall is below the sediments from this eruption meaning it is older. Scientists have been able to pinpoint the timing of the eruption to within 2 years based on the layers of a Glacier in Iceland, and that is how this museum got its name. Reykjavik 871 +/-2 The Settlement Exhibition. But, back to the hall. It is one of the oldest man-made structures that has been discovered in Iceland so far which is pretty cool considering it is on plain display in the center of the museum.
Besides the hall, The Settlement Exhibition has various artifacts from the earliest settlements of Reykjavik. They are pretty interesting to look at, but what makes it really cool is that the artifacts were found at the place where the very first settler lived in Iceland. There are also a couple interactive computers that show how the hall would have looked and where the Icelandic language, animals, and culture came from.
Pro tip: They have free lockers to store backpacks.
Lunch in Reykjavik
I couldn’t leave Iceland without trying their famous lamb stew, so I made that a requirement for our lunch location. After visiting the Reykjavik 871 +/-2 The Settlement Exhibition, we had some time, so we wandered around to the different shops and found ourselves near Hallgrímskirkja, and Erik, our tour guide from the free walking tour, mentioned that there were a few great cafes in that area. After looking at a couple of them, we decided on Cafe Babalu. The cafe has an eclectic assortment of decorations ranging from a toy stuffed moose head wearing glasses to a collection of money from all over the world. The staff was friendly in their cupcake aprons, and it provided a cozy retreat from the cold drizzle outside. And best of all, their lamb soup was out-of-this-world delicious. I now understand why Icelanders claim that Icelandic lambs marinate themselves by eating all the berries and herbs in the mountains. It was so tender and flavorful!
Heading Back to the USA
Shortly after lunch, Melissa had to head to the airport. I had a few more hours to walk around the city, take in the sights, and look at the street murals, and then I had to catch my own bus to the airport. I wasn’t flying home that night, but since I had an early flight the following morning, I wanted to stay at the hotel within walking distance of the airport. And this is when all the disasters started happening.
As soon as my mini shuttle bus pulled into the large bus station, it started to pour. Luckily my bus was already waiting there, so I quickly threw my bags in the luggage compartment underneath the bus and climbed on-board. There were 4 of us on the large bus heading to the airport (I guess most flights are earlier in the day), and an agent came and collected our tickets. Then another agent came to collect our tickets and it took a while to convince her that we had already given our tickets to someone else. Then I noticed our driver was asking another driver how to change gears since this bus was manual. Doesn’t everyone know how to drive manual in Iceland? Apparently not because we pulled over multiple times on the way while the driver tried to figure it out. I don’t think we ever made it out of 1st gear the entire trip. But we eventually made it. We got off the bus and the driver handed each of us our completely drenched luggage. Ugh. So I carried my sopping wet bags to the hotel ready to just relax and have a nice dinner.
But, the hotel lost my reservation. I booked through TripAdvisor who I guess uses another company to make the reservation. The receptionist took my printed out confirmation email to a back room and left me standing for about 10 minutes. She still couldn’t find my reservation. By this time, there were a couple more people waiting to check in, so she assisted them before getting back to me. She asked to see the actual email, so I pulled it up on my phone even though it was exactly the same as the print out. I asked her to call the customer support number so I wouldn’t be charged international rates, and she tried 3 times but said it never connected. She then took my phone and papers, and again left me just standing there. When she finally gave me my phone back, I’d been standing there for almost an hour, so I said screw it to the phone rates and tried myself. I got someone on the first ring who immediately confirmed my reservation. The hotel manager then came out and suddenly found my confirmation on the computer… hmm.. It was a pain, but at least I got a room! And they upgraded me for my troubles to a double room with a view of the airport! Wohoo! I got to my room and proceeded to unpack my neatly organized but soaking wet bags. Instead of having a nice dinner, I spent the evening drying my clothes with a hair dryer and repacking.
By 5:45 am the following morning, I was walking to the airport ready for my flight home. But my flight home ended up being delayed, and I sat in the airport for around 5 – 6 hours. On the bright side, the flight to JFK was good with lots of movies to choose from and a surprisingly delicious lunch of roasted veggies and cheese stuffed baguette and a side salad along with plenty of free booze.
And then I sat in JFK for hours. More alcohol was required.
23 hours later, Nisheet picked me up from Tampa International with a bag of Cheetos and life was good again. It goes to show you that sometimes traveling can be a pain, but it all evens out in the end.
Since this is my last post on Iceland, I thought I would sum it up by saying that the trip was awe-inspiring and I would encourage everyone to go before it gets too touristy. Iceland still hasn’t quite hit it big with the tourists (especially from the US) but I can definitely see this spike up exponentially in the next 5 years. Go there before it’s too late!
