Reykjavik

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Dyched
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Reykjavik

Post by Dyched » Fri Mar 08, 2019 9:12 am

Anyone ever been? Any tips, etc?

Just done the old Search everywhere on Skyscanner and £60 return has me interested.

ŽižkovClaret
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Re: Reykjavik

Post by ŽižkovClaret » Fri Mar 08, 2019 9:18 am

Cheap to get there it may be, but it costs a fortune once there so cheap break it aint

Imploding Turtle
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Re: Reykjavik

Post by Imploding Turtle » Fri Mar 08, 2019 9:18 am

My name is etched into a statue in Reykjavik.

Goobs
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Re: Reykjavik

Post by Goobs » Fri Mar 08, 2019 9:19 am

Imploding Turtle wrote:My name is etched into a statue in Reykjavik.
why do people always have to vandalise property with profanities

Bosscat
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Re: Reykjavik

Post by Bosscat » Fri Mar 08, 2019 9:21 am

Imploding Turtle wrote:My name is etched into a statue in Reykjavik.
I've seen that Turtle....
images.jpeg
images.jpeg (8.98 KiB) Viewed 2505 times

Blackrod
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Re: Reykjavik

Post by Blackrod » Fri Mar 08, 2019 9:26 am

Imploding Turtle wrote:My name is etched into a statue in Reykjavik.
Did you not agree with it ?
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theroyaldyche
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Re: Reykjavik

Post by theroyaldyche » Fri Mar 08, 2019 9:32 am

Cold
Expensive

Sounds like.manchester on a sat

IWOODLOVETT
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Re: Reykjavik

Post by IWOODLOVETT » Fri Mar 08, 2019 9:33 am

Expensive. It might be too light for seeing the Northern Lights. There are some other things to see - swim in the Blue Lagoon, go to the ??? Waterfall. I don’t think there will be any snow at this time however. Reykjavik is basically one long high street plus the old quarter and docks areas, so you can cover it all in a weekend. Try writing to JBG!

Walt
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Re: Reykjavik

Post by Walt » Fri Mar 08, 2019 9:48 am

It is expensive but well worth a few days in my opinion. Not a huge amount to see or do in the city, a few museums. The golden circle trip is a full day and a must. As mentioned the lagoon is also good.

Our hotel bar had a 2 hour happy hour every day so we made sure we used that before heading out for the evening meal. If you like fish it's top quality.

Imploding Turtle
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Re: Reykjavik

Post by Imploding Turtle » Fri Mar 08, 2019 9:55 am

Goobs wrote:why do people always have to vandalise property with profanities

It's not vandalism, it's art.

And i guess it's not really a statue, more a monument that is in part a monument to me.
Last edited by Imploding Turtle on Fri Mar 08, 2019 9:58 am, edited 1 time in total.

sox8595
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Re: Reykjavik

Post by sox8595 » Fri Mar 08, 2019 9:55 am

The golden,circle tour is a must, the Perlan Center is well worth a visit, and visit the old docks plenty of small very friendly cafe type eateries. But yes very,expensive.One point worth mentioning, you can buy duty free at the airport upon arrival. I bought enough beer to last the week (we stayed in an Air bnb).
The Grotta lighthouse is a wonderful place to visit with a high possibility of catching the Northern lights (quite a long walk though.)

SirAlec
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Re: Reykjavik

Post by SirAlec » Fri Mar 08, 2019 9:57 am

There is an app called appyhour tells you when and where all the happy hours are which is very useful. Me and a friend cycled around the ring road last summer and had a few days in the capital, we stayed in a hostel which was reasonably priced. We wild camped or used camp sites for about £12 a night the rest of the time. Hire a car and go for 10 days would be my recommendation, the capital was ok but not that much to do.

thatdberight
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Re: Reykjavik

Post by thatdberight » Fri Mar 08, 2019 9:58 am

ZizkovClaret wrote:Cheap to get there it may be, but it costs a fortune once there so cheap break it aint
Expensive if you want to eat in restaurants and drink.

Exploring the city and getting a hire car and going out into the country isn't dear.

IanMcL
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Re: Reykjavik

Post by IanMcL » Fri Mar 08, 2019 10:04 am

Expensive

Worthwhile

Golden Circle trip will make the trip.

People great

Pstotto
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Re: Reykjavik

Post by Pstotto » Fri Mar 08, 2019 11:31 am

What do I think of Raykjavik? Not so bad, but keep away from his brother, Roy. :-)

Sproggy
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Re: Reykjavik

Post by Sproggy » Fri Mar 08, 2019 11:50 am

+1 for AppyHour. Still not a cheap night out but at least you won't need trauma counselling when you see what's left in your wallet the next morning.

Stalbansclaret
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Re: Reykjavik

Post by Stalbansclaret » Fri Mar 08, 2019 12:44 pm

Brilliant place for a night out based on my experience a couple of years ago. Plenty of bars, sociable people and Friday and Saturday nights out go on and on and on. Prices akin to Central London but better than in , say, Sweden or Norway.
Agree with those advising you spread your wings beyond just Reykjavik as Iceland is magnificent. The stuff on the Golden Circle tour is impressive, particularly the Gulfoss waterfall but it's worth getting a car and driving round the "ring road" a few hours to Northern parts of the Iceland. Akureyri, the second city, is worth a stop-off and can vouch for the Lake Myvatn area fro some tremendous volcanic scenery and atmosphere. Went whale-watching from Husavik on the Northern coast too and that was a great day.

bfcjg
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Re: Reykjavik

Post by bfcjg » Fri Mar 08, 2019 12:51 pm

Expensive, worth a visit and a tour, smells of sulphur.

Sproggy
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Re: Reykjavik

Post by Sproggy » Fri Mar 08, 2019 1:35 pm

bfcjg wrote:Expensive, worth a visit and a tour, smells of sulphur.
You've just described my wife.
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Bosscat
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Re: Reykjavik

Post by Bosscat » Fri Mar 08, 2019 1:39 pm

:shock:
Sproggy wrote:You've just described my wife.
Its International Womens day today

gsyclaret
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Re: Reykjavik

Post by gsyclaret » Fri Mar 08, 2019 1:39 pm

It's the only place I've been where you smell worse after a shower than you did when you went in. Went at Easter, the whole place seemed like it was closed. Lagoons okay though.

ontario claret
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Re: Reykjavik

Post by ontario claret » Fri Mar 08, 2019 6:49 pm

I stopped over on a flight from Toronto to Copenhagen once. The airport is absolutely beautiful. all done up in teak. You can take a ferry there now, but you have to go through Denmark and the Faeroe Islands. Might be worth it, if you feel adventuresome. (The ferry loads at Hirtshals, Denmark and goes to the eastern tip of Iceland.)

ontario claret
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Re: Reykjavik

Post by ontario claret » Fri Mar 08, 2019 6:51 pm

Iceland, like the rest of Scandinavia, closes up tight at noon on Saturday. At least it did when I lived in Denmark in 1980. Some strange notion that retail workers needed the weekend off, too.

Pimlico_Claret
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Re: Reykjavik

Post by Pimlico_Claret » Fri Mar 08, 2019 6:56 pm

ontario claret wrote:Iceland, like the rest of Scandinavia, closes up tight at noon on Saturday. At least it did when I lived in Denmark in 1980. Some strange notion that retail workers needed the weekend off, too.
1980? Nearly 40 years ago now. Burnley closed down for two weeks early July, Wakes weeks, struggled to get a pint of milk. Thankfully times have changed, Denmark, and Burnley too.

ontario claret
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Re: Reykjavik

Post by ontario claret » Fri Mar 08, 2019 7:03 pm

I haven't been back since 1989. I'm sure it's loosened up since then. They only had one TV station and two radio outlets in the whole damn country. That was alright. I couldn't understand a word they were saying, anyways.

ontario claret
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Re: Reykjavik

Post by ontario claret » Fri Mar 08, 2019 7:06 pm

And I remember taking the day excursion from the northern tip of Jutland to the German border in order to shop the duty free shops. The duty was about 3/4 of the price of booze. No wonder there was no pub culture in Denmark.

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Re: Reykjavik

Post by IanMcL » Fri Mar 08, 2019 7:48 pm

Icelanders have had tv from the US and elsewhere, for years.

I remember meeting a family, with a little boy, who spoke great English. I asked how he had learnt the language so well. I was told...He watched tv lots, before school age and just spoke after a time!

ontario claret
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Re: Reykjavik

Post by ontario claret » Sat Mar 09, 2019 9:06 pm

I was speaking about the Danes. It's the same all over Scandinavia. It's too expensive to produce their own programming (Denmark has only just over 5 million people. Sweden, the most populous, has 9 million), so they import most of their TV, and subtitle everything. The last time I was in Denmark, in 1989, we watched "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" as the main programming on Saturday night. I already knew most of the main lines ("Who are those guys?"), and at the end my mother's cousin compared it to a spaghetti western. I almost blew my mind! (I've always hated Sergio Leone.)

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