In many European cities, you can find a guide in a red t-shirt running free tours to the most important downtown sights and monuments. Reykjavik is no different.

From mid-May through September, you can meet Jonas outside the main tourist office at 1pm for an easy-going, free walking tour. There's no cost, but of course it's nice to tip your guide based on how much you think he (or, in other cases, she) deserves.

And you might be surprised at how highly you value the tour.

There's nothing like being taken from place to place by a local, especially in Iceland, where they genuinely want you to have the best vacation - not just spend lots of money in their country.

Jonas casually and conversationally leads groups around Reykjavik, explaining the importance of public squares, why homes are designed the way they are and where to find the best coffee in town.

But more entertaining is the number of people he knows along the way. He'll point at a government building, then acknowledge a passerby, saying, 'and this is so-and-so and he's a doctor,' as if it's perfectly normal to know half the people who pass by on the street.

He might also hook tour-goers up with a special beer discount, if he happens to take your group past a pub at the right moment.

At the end of the tour, Jonas asks if there are any questions. He has been very thorough all afternoon, so I can't come up with anything he missed. Instead, I ask him why "Reykjavik" is spelled without the A on his t-shirt. 

"I think it was a mistake and the boss just didn't want to order new shirts!" he says.

This answer makes me pretty confident he was being honest in everything else he told us, too.