Mental Detours: Iceland

Tuesday morning we had a buffet breakfast in the hotel restaurant. I tried some skyr, an Icelandic dairy product similar to Greek yogurt, but not the same. It was good. After breakfast we returned to the room and prepared for a day of sightseeing on the Snaefellsnes peninsula.

We headed out of Reykjavik and turned north toward Hvalfjörður (Whale Fjord). We opted to skip the 6km tunnel that spans the fjord and instead made the 60km or so drive around the fjord. The scenic drive was definitely worth the extra time.

After completing the fjord drive we continued north around the top side of the Snaefellsnes peninsula, stopping at our first 'named' waterfall, Kirkjufellsfoss. In fact we saw a number of waterfalls before even getting to Kirkjufellsfoss. Some impressive enough to be worthy of a name if they did not have one.

We stopped for fuel and lunch a little ways past the waterfall, then proceeded around the tip of the peninsula as we entered Snaefellsjokull National Park. Our weather had been good up to this point, but as we headed south along the western end of the peninsula a heavy mist pervaded the air. To our left was Mt. Snaefellsjokull, an active volcano capped by a glacier. This is the location that served as the entry to the subterranean world in Jules Verne's Journey to the Center of the Earth. I hoped to get a picture but it was shrouded in the mist. We stopped at Djúpalónssandur for some pictures of the black sand beach, then headed to the Vatnshellir cave. The hour wait for a tour turned us against staying since it was getting late and we had more stops to make.

Moving on we saw the Londrangar cliffs with hundreds of nesting fulmars. There were also supposed to be puffins, but we did not see any. We continued on to Arnarstapi to see more cliffs and the arch. We also saw the stone sculpture of the troll man Bárður. Finally we started back towards Reykjavik. This time we took the Hvalfjordur tunnel, saving some time but costing some cash.

We got back to Reykjavik in time for a late dinner at a restaurant next to the hotel. Janet enjoyed some fish & chips, and I had Icelandic meat soup with a salad. I washed it down with a mojito made with Brennivin. Tomorrow we visit the south coast.