The Blue Lagoon

Some of the more iconic tourist attractions in Iceland are the geothermal hot springs that abound across the country. One of the most renowned is the Blue Lagoon. A sign proudly told us it is one of the 25 wonders of the world (per National Geographic).

So far, every geothermal spring that we’ve been to has claimed to have some sort of healing properties. Given that Michael and I are a little skeptical when it comes to the restorative powers of a tourist attraction, we didn’t give these claims much weight until the day after we visited the Fontana geothermal spa. My face had started breaking out at the beginning of the trip, no doubt a combination of packing stress and grimy airplane air. I was obviously disappointed because I didn’t want to look back through all our vacation pics to see blemishes written across my skin.

But, the day after we visited Fontana, my skin had cleared up. I was surprised to find that the lava minerals and geothermal properties had actually made a difference given the brief time my face was in the water. This plus the relaxing nature of hanging out in a geothermal spring led us to spend the late morning and early afternoon of our last full day at Iceland’s most famous geothermal spa, the Blue Lagoon.

The Blue Lagoon is so called because all the water is a beautiful, almost unreal, shade of cyan blue, but what makes it truly unique is the mixture of saltwater and silica that give the water curative properties. This geothermal hot spring, it’s said, is the most healing of them all. Before the spa even opened, a clinic was set up at this site to aid those who suffered psoriasis and the like.

Since my face was still fresh and pretty from our last Monday hot spring visit, I didn’t have as much chance to verify its affects. But I can attest to the smooth skin you get after you cover yourself in silica mud.

Grill Market

After we were nice and lobster-ified from the hot springs, we went back to the hotel to finish yesterday’s blog post. The real exciting part of the day, for us at least, came with our evening plans. While researching for this trip, we stumbled upon a review of several different fine dining establishments in Reykavik. The one that stuck out to us was the Grill Market. Not only did their food look amazing, but they also had a tasting menu option that took you through nine courses of their most popular dishes.

Given our love of a delicious food, we both immediately agreed this had to be on our travel itinerary. We saved it for a last hurrah in Reykjavik. It was, probably, the best meal either of us have ever had, and certainly the best we’ve ever shared.

Fresh bread with volcano salt-ed butter

Spinach, mandarin and slow cooked duck

Crispy traditional dried fish and squid (the dried fish is the green thing)

Grilled chicken wIngs marinated in oystersauce with home-made peanut butter

Grilled pork ribs with apple celery salad and cherry glaze

Fish with shrimp chips

Grilled prime of Lamb with mushroom potatoes, enoki mushroom and apple glaze

Ribeye of Beef

Desert was a mix of fresh fruit, sorbets (blueberry and passion fruit), creme brulee, a chocolate mousse volcano, and some sort of caramel chocolate ball with coffee rice krispies inside