Snæfellsnes Peninsula

We began with a drive from the international airport in Keflavík (near the capitol, Reykjavík) up to the Snæfellsnes Peninsula, so named after the volacano Snæfellsjökull, which occupies the central portion of the peninsula. Of literary note, this is the volcano into which the intrepid explorers descended in Jules Verne’s Journey to the Centre of the Earth in order to reach and explore a world within our world. Who could resist the draw of such an icon? Not us.

The primary objective of our visit to Iceland was to witness the Aurora Borealis – hence our winter excursion. We were experiencing a fair amount of trepidation during our drive, therefore, as the day was overcast with thick, low clouds all the way up to the peninsula. We spent two nights on the peninsula, and during that time the weather never varied – except for the part about how sometimes it rained in a sputtering fashion, while at other times it rained a bit harder, although in fact most of the time it simply drizzled a lot.

On our second day we drove entirely around the famed volcano, and as a keepsake I took the best shot of Snæfells that I was able…

Snæfellsjökull

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Although we were disappointed not to be able to see Snæfells, we were able to see a number of other cool things. At the top of this blog is a picture of a waterfall in the town of Ólafsvík. There are a number of waterfalls visible from the road as one drives along – smaller, but no less striking.

We also toured a lava tube. A lava tube forms when the top part of a lava flow cools while the lava underneath keeps flowing. A lava tube is left behind when hot lava underneath the cooling ceiling flows away, leaving an underground cavern behind.

After the tube is formed, a cave-in of a portion of the ceiling can reveal its presence at the surface – that is what happened with the tube we toured. We descended roughly 30 metres underground, and then were able to follow the tube laterally. 

I found the walls of the tube to be particularly interesting. Much of the rock was porous, underscoring the origin of the cave, which I thought was pretty cool. We also saw stalagmites which had grown up as hot lava pushed up through small holes in the floor of the tube, cooling as it rose and creating a vertical passage for more lava. We saw a couple of these, three or four feet high.

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Though we sometimes wondered, while circumnavigating the volcano, what might be lurking behind cloud banks, we spent a far greater amount of time marveling at strikingly beautiful scenes. Scenes that would have been even more beautiful – and more photographable – given some sunshine. Nevertheless, we did come across a few that seemed worth preserving as images…

In days of old, sod roofs were the norm, and from time to time we saw buildings that appeared still to be thusly equipped. Here are two outbuildings we saw that had them. I can’t be sure whether in the modern day this is actually the roof or whether it is simply aesthetic.

It turns out that, at some point, someone committed an Art on the end of this structure.

Our first night on the peninsula, we had a wonderful meal at the restaurant in the Hótel Búðir, which is built near the site of a very old and historically significant chapel. The next day, amidst the cold drizzle and wind, we returned to walk about the chapel and the nearby shore.

I couldn’t help but smile.

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Further on down the road, we came across a few Icelandic ponies up near the fence bordering the road, and stopped for a closer inspection.

The ponies are stockier than their equine cousins, and sport a thick coat in wintertime, though they can be groomed to a sheen in summer. They have changed very little since arriving in Iceland hundreds of years ago.

Riding is a pastime that is embraced by a large percentage of the population; show riding competitions are also a thing. Export of the horses is permitted, but once a horse has left Iceland it may never legally return – a precaution against importing disease against which the domestic stock might be vulnerable.

There are aficionados of these horses in other countries, and international competitions are likewise held. Icelanders regularly compete and, as might be expected, often do very well. But when returning home, the riders are required to leave their oft beloved mounts behind.

Julia doled out some freelance pony scratchies, and suffered no adverse consequences – in contrast to earlier adventures involving non-sanctioned yak touching.

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A large portion of the landscape we have seen consists of lava fields. A great portion of these fields are flat expanses. Strewn with boulders and large rocks, and covered with a thick layer of green moss, the fields remind me of nothing so much as a vast expanse of mint chocolate-chip gelato, if such had been made with particularly chunky chips.

Closer to the volcano from whence the lava originated, you can also observe snake-like lava flows, where tall streams of chunky magma streamed down the slope and across the flat toward the sea.