Today I’m going to combine a Fun Photo Friday with a Fun Food Friday featuring a lunch review of the restaurant at Hótel Skógafoss in Skógar, just minutes away from on foot from the magnificent Skógafoss waterfall. We’ll start with a glance at the lunch menu at the Hótel Skógafoss Bistro and Bar:
Hótel Skógafoss Bistro and Bar
But that menu does not show you the full selection available. There were also sandwiches, French fries, and other popular fair:
Hótel Skógafoss Bistro and Bar burger and fries
Mmmm…. Looks good. Let’s take a closer look:
Hótel Skógafoss Bistro and Bar
Something a bit more local, perhaps?
Hótel Skógafoss Bistro and Bar
Or a cross between the traditional and the popular:
Hótel Skógafoss Bistro and Bar
Yes, this is a bar as well. Don’t forget to see what they have on tap to accompany your lunch:
Borg Beer at Hótel Skógafoss Bistro and Bar
Oh, my bad. Wrong Borg. Here you go:
Borg Beer Hótel Skógafoss Bistro and Bar
Now for today’sFun Photo Friday segment of Reykjavik area favorites:
After a busy morning of sightseeing, it was time for the three of us to stop for lunch. We’d seen several possibilities along the, but this rustic place had convinced us to come back and give it a try. So, trekking back into Old Town to where Domstrasse T-bones into Fischmarkt, we found our way back to Gasthaus Burgkeller. The actual address is Fischmarkt 10, in case you’re wondering… or wandering, as the case may be. Whichever it is, we can highly recommend this establishment for refueling the legs and lubricating the joints.
As you can see below, you have a choice of seating options. You can sit either outside or in:
Streetside dining at Gasthaus Burgkeller
Gasthaus Burgkeller’s inside dining option
We opted to dine inside, as the establishment is just so charming:
Ursula and our daughter perusing the menu options
Oh, and there’s the third seating option, which is sitting at the bar:
Gasthaus Burgkeller bar
I started off my joint lubrication with a German wheat beer — a tasty Allgäuer Büble Weissbier:
Allgäuer Büble Weissbier
We then all three opted for variants of the schnitzel, which I will show momentarily. But first, here’s a sample of the salad that arrived with our main meal:
Gasthaus Burgkeller house salad
Now for the schnitzels, which were accompanied by pomme frites (what we call French fries). All three schnitzels were excellently prepared, and the pricing was well within what I consider reasonable by European standards. Here is what we each had, beginning with our daughter’s choice, the Schnitzel mit Pfefferrahmsoße (schnitzel with peppercorn sauce):
Schnitzel mit Pefferrahmsoße (schnitzel with peppercorn sauce)
Ursula opted for Schnitzel nach jägerart, or Jägerschnitzel (schnitzel with creamy mushroom sauce):
Schnitzel nach Jägerart (Jägerschnitzel)
I, of course, went plain with the Schnitzel nach Wiener Art, or Wienerschnitzel — a plain breaded schnitzel accompanied with a quarter of lemon.
Traditional Wienerschnitzel
All three started with a base breaded beef cutlet that was pan fried to near perfection. The sauces were superb, with my favorite being the peppercorn. Ursula preferred the cream mushroom sauce. In retrospect, I would probably go with one of the sauce choices rather than the Wienerschnitzel-style I chose, but even mine was delectible. Those sauces made a great dipping option for the accompanying fries, by the way.
The week after next I will continue this journey with our next destination — Utrecht in the Netherlands. But next is reserved for other non-travel related stuff including a review of a wonderful book by one of my favorite authors. Until then….
We had one full day left on our visit aboard Vision of the Seas, and we were once again in Valencia, Spain. We’d stopped off here nine days earlier, during our transatlantic voyage. This stop was in conjunction with our follow-on Mediterranean cruise. And as we’d been here before (follow this link for the beginning of that series: Transatlantic 2022 — Valencia; Our Next Port of Call), Ursula and I opted this time to just set out on foot, look briefly around, and enjoy the dish for which Valencia is famous, Valencia paella. But, first, let’s look around:
Now it’s time for some Valencian paella. As we wandered the streets near the port, we bypassed the obvious tourist choices along Calle del Dr. Josep Juan Dómine. Instead, we turned north onto a smallish street. Here we discovered a charming little establishment with two outdoor tables. After searching Google Maps, I’m about 95% sure that the place where we lunched was Ca Rakel on Calle del Dr. Llurch. As neither Ursula nor I were particularly hungry (we were, after all, on a cruise ship), we decided to split an order.
As we sat outside awaiting our paella, a lovely couple from I believe Slovenia took the next table. I was a bit concerned when I saw the wife had placed her purse in such a manner that it could be easily snatched (Europe, especially southern Europe stretching from Greece through Spain, is notorious for pick pockets and purse snatchers. I advised her that perhaps she might want to better secure her purse, which she did. This led us all to striking up a conversation that lasted through our meals and a little beyond even though my Slovene leaves a lot to be desired. I hadn’t spoken Slovene since George Santos and I were sent to Station L (Ljubljana) for some late Cold Warwetwork back in the early ’90s.
Just kidding, of course. I’ve never been to Slovenia, and I’ve never done wet work for The Company. Thus, poor George went to Slovenia by himself. That was back when he was a contractor for the 00 Section of MI6 using as cover his Goldman Sachs credentials as an international financial expert. Don’t believe me? I’m quite sure that’s on his résumé. Here’s George on his return from his much-decorated mission to Ljubljana:
George Santos with a few of his post-mission awards
Anyway, I don’t speak Slovene. Not even a little. Rather, it was our charming neighbors who expertly switched over to English. We discussed post-Cold War conditions in the Slavic nations, international affairs, children, careers, places we’ve traveled, and a whole lot more. The time just flew by. But I’m sure your more interested in lunch, so here it is:
Valencia Paella with crusty bread Valencia Paella with crusty bread
Decisions — Murder in Paradise
The Globe — Murder in Luxury
R. Doug Wicker — Author 