Today was the day I was most excited about: the Snæfellsnes Peninsula, specifically Snæfellsjökull, or "Sneffels" as Jules Verne referred to it in Journey to the Center of the Earth.
We left early in the morning as it was a 2.5 hour drive to get to the peninsula. We passed through a couple of small villages and a very long underwater tunnel.
Once we were in the Snæfellsnes Peninsula, we stopped in a little town called Arnarstapi to see Gatklettur, a famous naturally formed stone arch. There are several in the area but this one is the most impressive of the ones we saw. We walked along the coast for a while to see more of the incredible views.
A bit further down is Lóndrangar, which looks like ruins from a castle twisting up to the sky. It's actually what remains of ancient basalt volcanic formations. See if you can spot the two hikers walking to the rocks.
And now for my favorite part. Directly behind us this whole time: the entrance to the center of the Earth-- Snæfellsjökull!
"That is Sneffels—a mountain about five thousand feet in height, one of the most remarkable in the whole island, and certainly doomed to be the most celebrated in the world, for through its crater we shall reach the centre of the earth." - Jules Verne, Journey to the Center of the Earth
After entering the national park, we stopped at the Welcome Center for a bit and then headed off to explore the base of the volcano and the sea.
We hiked down trails that led to Djúpalónssandur, the black sand beach.
The sand is actually black lava pearls with volcanic rock formations throughout. They're surprisingly difficult to walk across and we got our share of exercise over the next hour.
On our way back up we came across ruins of an old ship. A sign nearby said they're from a wreck in 1948 from the British ship Epine. Only five of the 19 crew on board survived.
For a late lunch we drove up to a small port town called Stykkishólmur. A couple of food trucks lined the ferry parking lot so we decided to give those a try. I had the lamb burger at Fancy Sheep, a new food truck that had just opened earlier in the month by a Polish couple. Lamb with cranberry chutney, brie cheese, bacon, fried onions, lettuce, and mint mayo. I've never had anything like it. So good!
On the way back to Reykjavík we pulled off the side of the road to get out and walk around a bit. We saw a large lake in the valley and thought we'd go down to it. A few minutes later we realized we were at the top of a waterfall. We hiked down a bit more to get a better view.
Once we were back in Reykjavík we met a couple of horror and weird fiction authors for drinks at Stofan Café, housed in one of the older buildings in Reykjavík. Hildur and Alexander were kind enough to sign copies of their books and give us a copy of the one and only weird fiction magazine published in Iceland.
After that we decided to call it a night because once again we had to get up early to go exploring.
Go to Iceland! Day 4: Reykjavík
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