Day 5 -- Last Day in Reykjavik

My mom and I woke up relatively late again since we had already explored much of Reykjavik on Day 1.  We got our complimentary breakfast once again at the Reykjavik Lights Hotel--same food as last time for me: salami, cheese, and cucumber sandwich and some fruit.

We decided to tour a bit more of town since we weren't getting picked up by the Flybus until 1 PM.  Today is a national holiday for the first day of spring in Iceland, so hours were a little thrown off for restaurants and shops.  I wore my Icelandic sweater in anticipation of cold and wind, and of course it was neither of those.  We walked down the same strip of cute shops and cobblestone roads as on Day 1, but wanted to explore the Old Harbor more (more westward in the city).  

Bernhoftstorfa houses (left) and chessboard (right)

We came upon an older handful of houses called the Bernhoftstorfa houses, which were named after the T.D. Bernhoft bakery--the first bakery in Iceland.  All of the houses were restored to their original form after a fire in 1977.  The row of buildings that make up the Bernhoftstorfa are an important landmark for architectural history in Reykjavik.  Part of the Bernhoftstorfa houses can be seen to the left in the adjacent image, along with an open-air chessboard that was installed in 1981 near the buildings.

We then walked down to the Old Harbor and looked at all of the docked boats.  We saw an Icelandic Coast Guard small ship; my Mom said she heard that the Icelandic Coast Guard is supposed to be one of the most reputable coast guards in the world.  This wasn't too surprising after looking at all of the signs (at least a dozen) for various  shipwrecks around the coast of Iceland--whether from trying to dock on the rocky coast or from combat.

Landakotskirkja Catholic Church in Reykjavik

Finally, we needed to start heading back to our hotel; we went back a different route and found ourselves on another charming, cobblestone web of buildings and roads.  We also passed a Catholic church, which wasn't as massive and architecturally profound as the Lutheran Church we saw on Day 1;  this is likely a result of Iceland's religious history, including the period when Catholicism was outlawed under the Danish rule (around 1550).

Finally we arrived back near our hotel.  We got food from an Icelandic Chipotle-like restaurant.  I got a classic quesadilla, which had similar contents to what I would get in a burrito at Chipotle (so good!) and my mom got something similar to a burrito salad.  We then waited for and got on the Flybus back to the Keflavik International Airport.  Overall, we had a fantastic trip, and agreed that we would both eagerly return in the future!