By: Samie

Travel Date: May 31st, 2023

Total Honeymoon Travel Days: 3

Day 3

(Rainbow Street, Puffin Watching Tour, Seabaron, Hotdog, Emilie and the Cool Kids)

Our last full day in Iceland was planned to be more relaxing and open. Our list of must-dos was shorter and much more flexible than the previous day’s. We figured our bodies would need a little break after being on the go nonstop for our South Shore Adventure. However, it was in no way a boring day!

One of the big things we did have booked for the day was a Puffin watching tour. We booked the tour for a later morning time, 11:00am, so that we would have the option to sleep in or have a lazy morning if we so chose. While we did sleep a little longer than the day before, we were still up and on the move by 9:00. We were very fortunate with the location of our Airbnb. It was located right next to the main shopping street, Laugavegur, but it was a little off the beaten path from most big hotels, so everything felt more local and quiet.

Since we had a few hours, we decided to do some shopping as we made our way through several of the souvenir shops. We walked through one of the Icewear stores, a popular manufacturer and retailer of wool products, souvenirs, and outdoor gear specifically designed to suit the unpredictable weather of Iceland! We also live in a place with unpredictable weather, so we figured if we found a piece we fell in love with, it would be a worthy and well-utilized investment since high-end products do tend to come at a high-end price. However, this store didn’t have anything that stood out to us, but we planned to keep our eyes peeled!

During this first round of shopping, we did manage to find a pair of wool socks to bring back as a gift for a family member (we had a list of close family members we would be looking for one small souvenir gift from our time abroad to bring home), the cutest Puffin plushie for myself since seeing a Puffin was one of the things I was most excited to do in Iceland, and a small jar called “Drops of Iceland”. It had a few dried out flowers, sand, ash, and soil from the landscape inside.

After shopping for about 45 minutes to an hour, we made our way back to our Airbnb to drop off our bags and memorabilia before heading back out. Then we walked to the harbor where we would meet our tour boat for departure to the Akurey Island, where the Puffins nest. On the way to the harbor, we passed right by the famous Rainbow Street and had enough time to make a quick pit stop to get some pictures. We passed an extremely local kiosk called Vitinn to grab a cup of hot coffee for the walk. They greeted us in Icelandic until we ordered in English. Everyone inside the small shop was communicating in Icelandic, so it had the vibe that everyone knew each other and were close-knit and friendly, which was fun to step inside and immerse ourselves in!

Iceland is considered one of the most LGBTQ+ friendly countries in the world, and in 1999, Reykjavik hosted its first pride event. Reykjavik Pride became an annual event that attracts over 100,000 people now. As part of the event’s celebration in 2015, the street was painted in rainbow colors. It was such a big hit that they painted it for every year until 2019 when they finally made it a permanent symbol in of support for the LGBTQ+ community! After snapping a few photos on Rainbow Street, we continued on our journey to the harbor.

The walk to the harbor was an absolute treat. We got to see more of the city that we might have otherwise missed. One thing we passed was a mural that included vents in the sidewalk that released steam in front of the mural to represent fog rolling across the harbor! We also passed a very famous hot dog stand, and even though there wasn’t anyone in line yet, which was unusual for this place, it was too early in the day for us to eat a hot dog. We also didn’t want to have full bellies right before getting on to a rocking boat, so we made a mental note to stop by on our way back.

We still managed to arrive at the harbor about half an hour early, so we got checked in at the Specialty Tours ticket office and then walked around the harbor while we waited. There were a couple of adorable little families of ducks swimming around in the shallow waters. The ducklings were so painfully precious that I think I would’ve been content to just watch them paddle around for hours. However, 11:00 snuck up on us real b quick and our tour guide, Iris, arrived prepped and ready to take us to see some Puffins. My attention swiftly shifted and there was a hop in my step as I gleefully followed Iris down the dock ramp to the tour boat that would be taking us to see these perfect little seabirds!

The boat was a small enough size that it could quietly approach the island without disturbing the birds and allow us to get as close as possible. However, it was big enough to comfortably fit all of us on the tour, a group of about 20 of us. There was a small area inside the cab of the boat that was covered with seating if we got chilly. Most of the boat was open with benches all around the perimeter and a large box for seating in the middle, which is the spot we chose for the little journey to the island.

Once we reached Akurey Island and our boat slowed, Iris took out a large box filled with binoculars that we could use to get a closer view of the island. She explained the life cycle of Puffins and how they make burrows for their homes, which we could see covering the hillsides of the island with the help of the binoculars. On the first side of the island that we pulled up to, there weren’t a lot of visible Puffins. We could see a couple cresting the top of the highest hill we could see, but they were so far, they were difficult to make out since they only stand about 10 inches tall. The burrows were almost completely filled with birds, but not Puffins unfortunately. Instead, they were being taken over by Great Black-backed Gulls, which will often hunt and eat Puffins, so of course I hated them.

However, as we continued to make our way around the island, large colonies of Puffins began to appear. I switched back and forth between using the binoculars and my DSLR camera to watch the charming and delightful little birds. Many of us stood up to get good views and pictures, but it seemed like very few of the tourists knew how to stand on a floating boat. They would lock their knees and lose balance quickly, so a majority of them ended up retaking their seats or supported themselves with railings. I knew the importance of keeping your knees bent and rocking with the boat, so I was able to stand during the entirety of our time circling the island and was able to get some pretty decent pictures! My favorites were the ones I got of the Puffins mid-flight (yes, they fly and are quite quick) as they swooped down to the water near us. They even got close enough to make out the bright and distinctive colors of their beaks.

Luke began to feel mildly seasick, so he leaned in the doorway of the cab to steady himself a bit, and instead captured photos of me having the absolute time of my life watching my probably forever favorite bird. I can be seen donning the biggest grins and lost in the magnitude of this whole surreal and wonderful adventure.

On our way back into the harbor, we passed by the iconic Sun Voyager Sculpture and unique Harpa Music Hall. While the Sun Voyager resembles a Viking long-ship, it is a common misconception that it is a Viking ship as this was not the artist’s original intention. Instead, Jon Gunnar created it as a dream boat and an ode to the sun. “It represents the promise of undiscovered territory and a dream of hope, progress and freedom.” Jon Gunnar was very ill with leukemia during the sculpture’s construction and unfortunately died a year before it was placed in its present location. Many people believe that Gunnar would have been preoccupied with the idea of death during the time he conceived his sculpture, so it should be seen as a vessel that transports souls to the realm of the afterlife. The Harpa Music Hall has a stunning glass facade. The shapes of the glass panels is inspired by the basalt landscape of Iceland, and the reflective colors resembles fish scales!

With our feet firmly planted back on solid land, it was time for some food! Another big thing on our list was right next to where we stepped of the dock ramp. We made our way over to The Seabaron, a restaurant home to the world renowned lobster soup. It was served with a basket of warm bread and creamy Icelandic butter.

Neither one of us had ever eaten lobster before. We learned later that Iceland has a special kind of lobster, but we were both pleasantly surprised by the freshness and taste of the lobster chunks. However, the broth is what really stole the show in this soup. After a brisk boat ride for an hour, the warm and perfectly seasoned liquid absolutely hit the spot. It warmed every ounce of our mouths, throats, and bellies as it flowed into our bodies. In doing so, it also fully warmed our spirits and souls.

Luckily, soup isn’t completely filling, so it was time to make our way back over to the hotdog stand to try one of these Iceland hotdogs people are raving about. It was now around 1:15, and the long line that can usually be seen leading up to this hut was now fully formed. We were willing to wait, however, because we didn’t know if we would be over in this area again or have another chance, and it was another thing we for sure wanted to do. We only ended up waiting about 20 minutes before it was our turn to order. Since we had just consumed a huge amount of remarkable soup, we decided to only order one hotdog with everything to split. When you order it with everything, it comes with both raw and fried onions on the bottom, remoulade, ketchup, and sweet mustard on top. In the end, we could have definitely each ordered our own because it was very good and definitely worth all the hype!

Once completely full up on Icelandic food, we made our way back to Rainbow Street and stopped into some more souvenir shops we passed along the way. We were able to find gifts for 3 more of our family members, some patches for Luke’s personal collection, and another Omnom chocolate bar to try, this time coffee flavored.

We arrived back at Rainbow Street and continued to pop into a couple more shops. We came across another Icewear outlet, and we decided to slip in for our continued search of a quality Iceland clothing article. This time, I had a stroke of luck and found a lighter jacket that I absolutely loved. It was thinner, but made of a waterproof and heat-containing material. The length was perfect for my preferences and came down past my bottom until it almost reached the back of my knees. Many of the previous jackets I had tried on were made for more petite people, and I have a curvier frame, so they didn’t sit comfortably around my hips when zipped. This one, however, was more free-fitting and fit comfortably. Lastly, the color of the jacket was the best one I’d seen, a lovely light, dusty pink color. Luke was also able to find a belt within the same store.

While finishing our shopping adventure, we found another gift for a family member and a Rainbow Road sticker and pin for us. Finally, it was time to head back to our Airbnb to relax for a little bit. Meal time rolled again once more, and we walked over to a cafe called Emilie and the Cool Kids where we ordered coffees, (hot for me and blended for Luke), a bagel sandwich, and a chocolate chip cookie. We collected our goodies and returned to our temporary home with our delicious treasure. We ate and began to wind down for the night in preparation for an early morning to catch our flight to Oslo, Norway. We got all our things mostly packed up. Then we made sandwiches to use up our extra ingredients we had gotten at the store two days before. We had a quick panic about whether or not we would be able to save our chocolate to bring back home. Lastly we watched another stand-up special from the same comedian we had watched our first night before calling it a day.

Needless to say, Iceland quickly became one of the favorite places we had ever visited. To think, we hadn’t even intended to spend much time here but instead just use it as a stopover on our way to Norway. We are forever grateful we decided to spend a few extra days in this spectacular country. Although we did get to spend some more time here again before returning back home, we will definitely be making another trip back here in the future!