Day 181 – Back to our favourite bar in Iceland
We slept in this morning and got up in time for lunch. We were chased out by housekeeping, who were trying to clean our room. We are slowly adjusting to the time zone change. We decided to walk to downtown Reykjavik. It was about a 15- to 20-minute walk, but very windy and cold. Fortunately, S had a windbreaker and let J wear his sweatshirt, which had not been worn on the entire trip. She wore about 5 layers, but her hands and head were still cold. The Icelandic locals were not wearing jackets and some were in shorts and T-shirts. The Iceland summer weather was clearly not part of our packing plan.
Downtown Reykjavik was pretty quiet, but otherwise just like what we remember from our last visit in November 2019. There are very few tourists here now, but we did meet a couple from Florida who live near S’ sister, M. Our first stop was the Bastard. We stopped here for a snack (pretzels with hot cheese dip), which J loved the last time we were here. We even got an extra pretzel to soak up all the leftover cheese. J also took advantage of the Thursday drink special and got some excellent Moscow Mules. She also bought a Bastard bar t-shirt, which she had regretted passing on during our last stay (see picture of the painting that is on the T-shirt below).
After that, we headed to our favourite Reykjavik bar, Kaldi. This is the local branch of an Icelandic brewing company. It is a very trendy place but also very relaxed and full of locals. The décor is modern and the bar is compact, but fully stocked with over 140 gins, a wide selection of craft beers, some of which they brew, and every kind of glass you can imagine. We had a nice chat with the bartenders and some of the other patrons, all poking fun at the Will Ferrell Eurovision movie and the mythological elves that keep watch over Iceland. One of the bartenders is the same lady who served us in November 2019 and said she actually remembered J. We were there in time for happy hour and had some nice beer and wine. J liked the sour raspberry beer. J also took the opportunity to pick up a hat and gloves from a shop across the street. She also picked up a scarf, which slid off of her neck a few times on the way back to the hotel. She is going to try and return it to the shop tomorrow as it is defective. Otherwise, it will be lost by the end of the week.
After Kaldi we headed back to our hotel and stopped by a Thai restaurant called Ban Thai as a kebab shop J had had her eye on was shut. It was just a hole-in-the-wall, but nonetheless still pricey. Without drinks, the total came to $50 for two mains and a bowl of rice. Icelandic prices can be worse than Turks & Caicos prices, sadly! This is one of the reasons why we are probably some of the only people going back to the UK through Iceland.
We ended the evening in the hotel bar, taking advantage of our free Executive Lounge drinks. Once again, the hotel bar was packed.
