Reykjavik Cool and the Sudurland, Reykjavik, Iceland

This summer Andrew and I took advantage of Iceland Air’s free stopover program and enjoyed a four day layover in Iceland to spend 36 hours in Reykjavík and the rest of our journey in Suðurland, Iceland’s southern coastline. We arrived to the airport in Keflavik, about 30 minutes from Reykjavík where we were greeted by heavy rains, wind, a black ocean… and a van to take us to SADcars, where we would pick up our ’89 Toyota rental car with 339,000 km cranked up on it. We loaded up our rusty red sedan and made our way into the city.

It’s a cool and pleasant looking, modern town abutted to an otherworldly nature, with buildings constructed to withstand weather — all the weathers. Think fishing boat in the middle of the North Atlantic.

Our first stop was at the Kex Hostel, kex meaning cookie and the hostel named for the cookie factory that it once was. A cool, Schillers-esque venue with subway tiling, wooden stools and banquettes along large windows overlooking the bay. Tall ceilings. Industrial lamps. Strips of hunter green paint and maps, maps everywhere. ...... (follow the instructions below for accessing the rest of this article).