Iceland IX: Snaefellses peninsula - Aug 20/26

We got up early and headed out. We were located in the NE part of the Snaefellses peninsula, north of Reykjavik. Our goal was to drive around the peninsula counterclockwise, stopping for various sites along the way. The peninsula is often called "Iceland in miniature" because it has a little of everything - lava fields, black sand beaches, waterfalls, basalt columns, etc.

The first stop was a waterfall only a few minutes away from the guesthouse we were staying in, Grundarfoss. It was easily visible from the road and a walk along a road and a creekbed led us right to it. It was a good reminder that despite the poor quality of the guesthouse, at least the location could not be beat.

Next we drove just past the village of Grundarfjordur to the Kirkjufell mountain - the most photographed mountain in Iceland. Apparently it was featured prominently on Game of Thrones. Right across from it is a waterfall, Kirkjufellfoss. Apparently you can climb this mountain, but it seemed somewhat difficult and we didn't have time, so settled for photos.

We saw another of Iceland's interesting post-modern churches in the town of Olafsvik. 

We made a brief stop at the "Well of the Irish", and the nearby "Shelter of the Irish". The well supplied water to the area. There were some Irish settlers in Iceland around the time the Vikings arrived but no one knows exactly why it called this.

We made another stop down a very bumpy gravel road (that was a trial in our budget car) to see a lighthouse and golden sand beach, which is different than the black sand that you normally find here. Massive black cliffs lined the shore and it nice to relax here for a while, despite the cool weather.

Slightly down another every bumpier and narrower road was another lighthouse directly in a lava field, with some interesting formations along the shore.

Back on the main road ringing the peninsula, we stopped at a volcanic cater, Saxholl. It was busier than the other things we'd seen so far, as there are shallow metal steps bringing people up the crater rim. Other collapsed volcanoes were visible from the crater rim.

We next stopped at a black sand beach with cool rock formations (and the remains of a fishing trawler still spread all over the beach), Djúpalónssandur. A short walk from the parking lot led us down between the basalt and to the beach. 

We made a brief stop to observe two other famous basalt columns, Lóndrangar, not getting as close as I would have liked.

For the day highlight, we stopped in the town of Arnarstapi and walked on a trail to the town of Hellnar a couple of km away along the shoreline. This took a couple of hours and afforded great views of the shoreline and more cool rock formations lining the rocky, mossy cliffs.

Continuing east now, a brief stop at the Bjarnafoss waterfall and a famous black church at Budir followed.

We next stopped at Ytri Tunga, "Seal Beach". I did not have high hopes for actually seeing any seals but there turned out to be many, though they were simply lounging on the rocks of the beach. Jude's camera came in handy here.

The final stop were the stark basalt cliffs of Gerðuberg. It was a quick hike up the cliffs but they looked more impressive from the ground. The road to get here was the worst we'd seen in Iceland and the car barely made it. Despite my best efforts I did bottom out the thing on the way there. Due to that we decided not to drive further on the road to a short crater hike.

We headed off the peninsula to a long drive to our lodgings, an old postman's house converted into a guesthouse near Borgarnes. We picked up some groceries so we could have a hot meal (frozen lasagna and garlic bread). The stairs to the second floor, where our room was, was basically a ladder! The place was very charming though.