Reykjavik

The bay of smoke - Reykjavik. Rather 'the bay of steam' would be suitable. Meanwhile the steam is used to heat the entire city. No smoking chimney, nowhere!

Can it be difficult to go out of the harbour with a small camper van? Answer: it can! Above all if there are customs official. A lot of paper war and with the aid the friendly captain of the 'Bruarfoss' the ominoese port gate is passed after one hour. Meanwhile the drizzle transformed into a pleasant sunshine. The first thing is drive up the hill to the church of Hallgrímur (Hallgrímskirkja).

Reykjavik itself counts approximately 150'000 inhabitants. More than half of all inhabitants of Iceland lives in the region of Reykjavik.

After the rain the view from the bell tower leads far. The coloured roofs are beautiful even if they are mostly built of corrugated iron. The view to the city center.

How does Reyjavik differ from other European cities? One thing is that the people wish themselves a real 'city', but Reykjavik is more a large village. Also traffic is little dramatic: the only queues are at traffic lights. It can occur then 20 to 25 cars wait in front of a red light...

On a beautiful day all people are out in the fresh air. The city lake Tjoernin has still an outstanding water quality. All Iceland is very clean. Also the ship hostess Julia (herself from Iceland) noticed this fact in comparison to other countries. I agree with her completly.

A little bit more of the 'smoking bay'?
Panoramic picture of the city center and lake Tjörnin (93kb)