Journey to Iceland: How one can have a accountable journey in Reykjavík and past

Reykjavík, Iceland’s capital, is charming, however the nation’s soul lives in its small cities; locations like Stykkishólmur, a four-block fishing village on the Snæfellsnes peninsula, the place I stayed at a monastery-turned-hotel that also operates the area’s solely Roman Catholic church. Nuns and clergymen filter by way of the foyer alongside vacationers in journey gear. That type of unselfconscious collision of previous and new is Iceland in miniature.

Eat regionally, and I imply hyper-locally. At Narfeyrarstofa, a restaurant in a transformed harborside home, I had scallops pulled from Breiðafjörður — the very fjord the city sits on — adopted by Icelandic cod. This constituted one of many best meals of my life, and it exists as a result of this distant Atlantic island has all the time needed to feed itself from its personal waters.

This culinary prowess could be present in Reykjavík, too. Splurge on a meal at Iceland’s first Michelin-starred restaurant, Dill, to expertise the ethos of Iceland’s delicacies: regionally sourced, rigorously crafted and capturing the total taste of the Arctic.

Take time to speak to individuals. Icelanders are famously reserved till they aren’t. Ask an area the place to seek out puffins, which pool they swim in, or the place the fish soup is greatest, and also you’ll get higher intel than any TikTok video affords — and perhaps even an invite.