Reykjavik's worth a detour, but I'm glad we didn't stay there

And finally, to the capital.

It might be the capital city of a European nation, but it feels more like a fishing village on the Northwest  coast of America.  It's charming, the views over the bay are striking and residents enliven the place by painting buildings in festive colours.  But I found that once I was in "civilisation" I was far more aware of how grey, oppressive and chilly the weather was ... whereas out in the country it just added to the dramatic backdrop.  If I returned I might stay here a night to explore a bit further, but I'd want to spend the bulk of my time in the great outdoors.

The tourist heart of Reykjavic is a few streets surrounding the main harbour and running up a hill above it.  The harbour is, unsurprisingly, full of signs for puffin and whale watching tours.  Most striking to my eye is the modern sculpture a few hundred yards down the tourist promenade that evokes the spirit of an early Viking ship.

There are government buildings, a theatre and a grand hotel, mostly in a late 19th century style.  The main shopping district ... just a couple of streets, really ... offers you a mix of cute cafes, shops selling traditional woollen goods, plenty of outdoor clothing/sporting goods purveyors, a few trendy clothing boutiques and a surprising number of silversmiths.

The most obvious thing to visit is the cathedral, looming prominently above a town where most

buildings are just two or three stories.  There are exceptions to every rule, and this building challenges the one that says brutalist concrete buildings are ugly.  This one is striking, with its concrete poured in thin spires pointing heavenwards.  Inside you'll find a clean, elegant nave of gothic arches and bright, modernist stained glass.  Outside, a far more traditional statue of Leif Ericson looking towards the American continent he visited long before Columbus got credit for discovering it.

But the visit that almost every tourist in Reykjavik makes, with good reason, is to the Baejarins Beztu Pylsur hot dog stand.  Now that I'm married to a half-Dane and have family in Copenhagen, I recognise the Icelandic hot dog thing as a carry-over from their Danish days.  The Danes are obsessed with this version of street food and you'll find a stand about every 200 yards in the capital.  Baejarins Beztu was the only stand I spotted in Reykjavik, but it's in every guidebook.  The queues testify to that!  The dog was very similar to the Danish variety.  Soft meat with a pleasing bite to the casing, served with both raw and those magnificent crunchy fried onions.  But the Icelanders do a trio of sauces ... sweet mustard, mayo and a tomato-based ... and their buns are much softer.  I have to give them the slight edge in the Scandi dog wars.  Given the relative expense of the country, a hot dog and a soda for £3 is also the best bargain you're going to get here.

After our brief wander around town, it was back to the airport for our late afternoon flight home.  Keflavic has come a long way since its early days.  Many Americans of my generation will know and remember it from the '80s, when Iceland Air offered the cheapest way to get to Europe, but you had to touch down in Iceland for a few hours.  Then, is was a tiny, bleak terminal building with a shed selling sweaters and Royal Copenhagen porcelain.  Now, it's a gleaming, modernist terminal with a high-end duty free mall ringing a restaurant and bar area with tables, chairs and leather armchairs to sink into.  Very civilised.

And that's a great metaphor for Iceland overall.  Civilisation carved out of dramatic, wild nature.  It's a truly unique place, and I hope I get back.

In closing, a few random travel tips.

• Do consider using a specialist.  We had a few problems with Discover the World, but we could have avoided those had we been a bit more diligent about chasing them and reviewing their work.  Overall, however, I think we got a much better experience going with people who knew the place, with a package price that was a bit better than we could have done on our own.
• Pack some lightweight clothes.  It seems counter-intuitive.  But the geothermal heating is so good that once you're inside, it's generally toasty.  The layered look is essential; make that last layer a thin one.
• From a London perspective, it's not as expensive as you'd think.  Lots of people are warned off Iceland because of the cost, but I found it not so different from home.  Dinner, if consumed a la carte, would have been about £40.  The wine list started at £25.  It cost just under £60 to refill tank of our rented 4WD (It was 3/4 empty.)  Not cheap, certainly.  But I didn't have the sticker shock here that we had in Copenhagen.
• If you stay in accommodation outside of Reykjavik with a kitchen, buy your groceries on the way through the capital.  Your chances of finding shops once you're beyond it are slim.
• I expected the woollens, but not the hand-crafted silver jewellery.  If that's your thing, be ready to shop.
• Iceland lets everyone shop duty free, even members of the European union.  Rather than avoiding it as an expensive location, it actually makes Reykjavik a credible Christmas shopping spot.