Dining in Iceland

We have a lot of great local seafood in Iceland and enjoy every meal.  The day before our cruise, we dine at Tides restaurant in our hotel (next to the Harpo Concert Hall), starting with 1000 Day Aged Feykir Cheese Salad (with endives, pickled pears, walnut dressing, brioche croutons) and Nordic Seed Salmon Tataki (with angelica, wasabi pickled salad, rye bread, horseradish-dill cream), followed by Lobster Ravioli (lemon and feykir ravioli with north american lobster, bisque), Grilled Artic Char (with creamy beetroot, pickled rasberries, endives, and radicchio), and Cod from the Westfjords (with green pea puree, grilled baby carrots, clams, and white wine velouté).

Feykir cheese salad, salmon tataki

Main courses

Through the week, we enjoy many more great meals and here are a few of the main dishes.

Fresh local plaice

Grilled octopus

Grilled baramundi

Seared ahi tuna

Lamb chops

Clams

Sea bream fillet

And, appropriately, ending our trip simply with traditional meat soup at the Viking World Museum.

Meat soup

We dine truly well in Iceland, with a main theme of fish, supplemented by a few delicious meat dishes.

A Final Spin Through Reykjavik

At the end of our stay in Iceland, we take a final spin through Reykjavik, making several stops on our way to the airport, including a lunch of Icelandic meat soup at the Viking World Museum in Keflavik.  We drive through the city to Perlan (the Pearl) nature exploratorium overlooking the city and climb to the roof to view the area.

Passing by Hallgrimskirkja Church

Perlan, overlooking Reykjavik

Views of the city from the Perlan roof

Volcanic rocks on display

Sculpture outside the museum

"Danger Hot Water" area by the museum

We next drive over to the President of Iceland's residence.  The President position in Iceland is primarily a ceremonial job, the President is the head of state and the Prime Minister is the head of the government with a unicameral (one chamber) Parliament.

President's house

View of Reykjavik from the President's house

We leave the President's house and drive toward the Viking World Museum near the airport, watching the steam from the Blue Lagoon in the distance.

Steam from Blue Lagoon

The Viking World Museum, in addition be being beautifully located on the edge of the water, explains the story and history of the Iceland and the Vikings, with a Viking ship in the center of the museum.  After exploring the location, we have a traditional Icelandic meat soup for lunch.

Greal location

Viking ship

The story of the Vikings

Meat soup

Our fabulous stay in Iceland is coming to an end and we next head over to the airport for the flight home.

Grundarfjordur, Iceland

Grundarfjörður is a small town on the northwest coast of Iceland with a population just under 900 people focused on fishing and fish processing.  It has also recently become a center for tourism due to the allure of the landscape around the town.  Nearby Kifkjufell is considered to be one of the most beautiful mountains in Iceland and the town is also used as a base to explore the Berserkjahraun lava fields.

Our ship pulls into the harbor and we walk on the paths around the edge of town to admire the waterfalls and other scenery.

Fish processing plants

Maps of the town

Directions to places far away

Our ship at the dock

Town gas station

Trail around the town

Town geothermal power plant

Ski slope

Colorful building

As we loop around the edge of town to the other side, we run across many waterfalls and much beautiful scenery.

Waterfalls

Looking back at town

Scenery outside town

Soon we come to the waterfalls at the base of Kirkjufell Mountain , a popular tourist spot with a large parking lot.  Wow!

Kirkjufell Waterfalls

Leaving the falls, we stroll back into town, admire some of the art decorating the buildings, and work our way back to the port to watch fishing boats arrive and unload.

Art around the city

Fishing vessels in port

Unloading

Picnic areas near the port

Another great small Icelandic town, focused on fishing (and, now, tourism)