11/14 Day 13
We had spent the night about 60 clicks east of Stykkishholmur. In the morning we drove to this cute little town with a cool port and nice views over the Breidafjordur islands. We did a little walk up a bluff with a lighthouse that looked down on the harbor and also got a pastry at the bakery in town. This town, with some of its old and nice looking buildings was apparently featured in Walter Mitty.
We continued West along the peninsula past some nice mountain views before reaching Kirkjufell and Kirkjufellsfoss. This is apparently one of the most famous places in Iceland. Kirkjufell mountain is definitely a prominent and dramatic peak and it sits right in front of some falls. But to me, the mountains behind the falls were more impressive.
We continued west to the end of the peninsula and Snaefellsjokull national park. In the center of the park is a small icecap, which we never really glimpsed b/c of the weather. But it is here that Jules Verne got the inspiration to write his famous Journey to the Center of the Earth. This part of the peninsula was really cool. Besides the snow-capped peaks there was really cool lava formations. And on top of that, the coast was really wild with cliffs and just crazy surf. We visited and walked on a sheltered black sand beach and then visited some lighthouses along the cliffs. At some of the viewpoints you could see sea arches and crazy sea pillars being continually smashed by waves. At one place, we were up 50 or 60 feet from the ocean on cliffs but occasionally a wave would hit right and send a spray up above the cliffs. One time, Elisha and I were walking along the cliffs and a HUGE spray came up that went 20 feet past us, inland, and soaked us. There were also some historical sights in the area including a viking grave and a stone well that supposedly had 3 waters: fresh, holy, and ale.
We continued around the head of the peninsula where we climbed a small crater, Saxholl crater for some interesting views over the lava fields. We then headed to black sand Djupalon beach, which had some cool lava formations as well as the sprinkled wreckage of a British trawler. Again, it was a nice place to watch the rough surf crash in to seastacks. At this beach there were 4 stones used to determine the strength of fishermen to see if they could be rowers. The stones weighed as follows: 23kg (bungler), 54kg (weak), 100kg (half strong), and 154kg (full strong). I had no problems lifting the 54 kilo (119 pounds) and I could have lifted the 100 kilo, but didn't want to hurt myself. We then hiked to Dritvik beach, which used to be a busy fishing area, but is not deserted. Some interesting sea stacks on the way to Dritvik which are believed to be a church for trolls.
As we continued around to the other side of the peninsula we made a brief stop at Londrangar where there are 2 giant pillars sticking out of the middle of nowhere. They are believed to be a church for elves. Our last stop of the day was the tiny village of Hellnar where we hiked 2.5 kms to the village of Arnastapi and back. It was a cool hike along the coast and through cool lava formation. Arnastapi has a monument to Jules Verne as well as one of those distance to other location signs except that this one gave distances to other places through the center of the Earth, which was cool.
At this point, it was dark, so we drove on to Reykjavik where we cooked dinner in a grocery store parking lot, got some internet at a gas station and then drove a few kilometers out of town to sleep at Heidmork nature reserve.
11/15 Day 14
We drove to the BSI bus station where we would catch the bus to Keflavik airport. We packed up all of our stuff and returned the van. Elisha then caught her bus to Keflavik to head back to Oslo. I stored my luggage in a locker and walked around Reykjavik a bit. It's a small city and easy to walk around. I saw most of the sights (I was interested in) in the short time I was there. The highlights were the waterfront, a main shopping street that was decorated for Christmas, all the murals on the walls of buildings, and the giant church with it's super tall steeple on top of the hill. I rode the elevator to the top of the steeple, which had some nice views and was pretty wild b/c there was an intense wind storm going on when I made it to the top. It snowed on and off most of the day I was in Reykjavik, and my plane was delayed due to a snow storm that sprang up shortly before we were to depart. It was interesting b/c my plane left at sunset and then followed the sunset almost the whole way until Denver. We lost the sunset as we slowed down on our approach to Denver, but as we landed we got to see the supermoon rising over the airport.
Customs in Denver is easy and before long, I was hugging mom and she was taking me to taco bell, which seemed ridiculously cheap after having been in Iceland.
Overall, we had a lot of fun in Iceland. It was a bit more rushed than maybe I would have liked, due to the short days and the fact that I was delayed 3 days. Definitely would have been nice to have those 3 extra days. The weather was actually probably better than I had expected it to be. Though it would be nice to see it in the summer when the weather is better and the vistas are clearer. Interestingly, they were having unusually warm weather. I thought we'd encounter more snow. A couple of the hikes we did I wasn't sure we'd be able to do b/c of deep snow. Same with some of the passes. But they were just having an unusually warm fall, so everything was still snow free. Normally the ski areas would already be open and one girl we asked said normally this time of year there would have been 5 feet of snow already on the ground. I was kind of hoping for more snow b/c it makes things prettier in my opinion and it's what you think of when you think of Iceland. But in the end, it was probably better not to have snow b/c it allowed us to travel faster with clear roads and shortcut passes. Also a bit of a disappointment was the northern lights. I had really wanted to show Elisha some impressive shows. We did see some lights, but not like they can be in Iceland. Iceland sits in the middle of the aurora belt, so it has some of the best displays on the planet. But unfortunately you need 4 things for really good viewing: no light pollution (easy ANYWHERE in Iceland outside of Reykjavik); low phase moon (we had this for 1/2 our time); clear skies (we did have some clear skies); and high aurora activity (we had some of this but is mostly corresponded with cloudy nights). We had 3 really clear nights early on our trip with no moon. It would have been just perfect except aurora activity was very low. We had moderate activity on our other clearish nights. We had a few nights with high activity, but it was either really cloudy or partly cloudy but with a bright supermoon so it made it harder to see the auroras. We still did get some nice viewing, just not the crazy all green skies like Iceland can be known for.
I asked Elisha and myself to describe Iceland in 5 words.
Mine were:
Desolate, Rugged, Earth-forces, Dynamic, and Fjords.
I thing Elisha's were along the line of:
Empty, Volcanoes, Glaciers, Waterfalls, Sheep
But yes, Iceland is full of raw beauty, and I really enjoyed it! There's so much to see there that I wouldn't hesitate to go back. I'm also really glad we went the camper route. It was a lot of fun and a great way to be mobile and flexible. Would definitely love to go back! I hear the skiing in the springtime is great...!
After all this time in Iceland and Greenland, it's crazy to be back in a land with trees!
We had spent the night about 60 clicks east of Stykkishholmur. In the morning we drove to this cute little town with a cool port and nice views over the Breidafjordur islands. We did a little walk up a bluff with a lighthouse that looked down on the harbor and also got a pastry at the bakery in town. This town, with some of its old and nice looking buildings was apparently featured in Walter Mitty.
We continued West along the peninsula past some nice mountain views before reaching Kirkjufell and Kirkjufellsfoss. This is apparently one of the most famous places in Iceland. Kirkjufell mountain is definitely a prominent and dramatic peak and it sits right in front of some falls. But to me, the mountains behind the falls were more impressive.
We continued west to the end of the peninsula and Snaefellsjokull national park. In the center of the park is a small icecap, which we never really glimpsed b/c of the weather. But it is here that Jules Verne got the inspiration to write his famous Journey to the Center of the Earth. This part of the peninsula was really cool. Besides the snow-capped peaks there was really cool lava formations. And on top of that, the coast was really wild with cliffs and just crazy surf. We visited and walked on a sheltered black sand beach and then visited some lighthouses along the cliffs. At some of the viewpoints you could see sea arches and crazy sea pillars being continually smashed by waves. At one place, we were up 50 or 60 feet from the ocean on cliffs but occasionally a wave would hit right and send a spray up above the cliffs. One time, Elisha and I were walking along the cliffs and a HUGE spray came up that went 20 feet past us, inland, and soaked us. There were also some historical sights in the area including a viking grave and a stone well that supposedly had 3 waters: fresh, holy, and ale.
We continued around the head of the peninsula where we climbed a small crater, Saxholl crater for some interesting views over the lava fields. We then headed to black sand Djupalon beach, which had some cool lava formations as well as the sprinkled wreckage of a British trawler. Again, it was a nice place to watch the rough surf crash in to seastacks. At this beach there were 4 stones used to determine the strength of fishermen to see if they could be rowers. The stones weighed as follows: 23kg (bungler), 54kg (weak), 100kg (half strong), and 154kg (full strong). I had no problems lifting the 54 kilo (119 pounds) and I could have lifted the 100 kilo, but didn't want to hurt myself. We then hiked to Dritvik beach, which used to be a busy fishing area, but is not deserted. Some interesting sea stacks on the way to Dritvik which are believed to be a church for trolls.
As we continued around to the other side of the peninsula we made a brief stop at Londrangar where there are 2 giant pillars sticking out of the middle of nowhere. They are believed to be a church for elves. Our last stop of the day was the tiny village of Hellnar where we hiked 2.5 kms to the village of Arnastapi and back. It was a cool hike along the coast and through cool lava formation. Arnastapi has a monument to Jules Verne as well as one of those distance to other location signs except that this one gave distances to other places through the center of the Earth, which was cool.
At this point, it was dark, so we drove on to Reykjavik where we cooked dinner in a grocery store parking lot, got some internet at a gas station and then drove a few kilometers out of town to sleep at Heidmork nature reserve.
11/15 Day 14
We drove to the BSI bus station where we would catch the bus to Keflavik airport. We packed up all of our stuff and returned the van. Elisha then caught her bus to Keflavik to head back to Oslo. I stored my luggage in a locker and walked around Reykjavik a bit. It's a small city and easy to walk around. I saw most of the sights (I was interested in) in the short time I was there. The highlights were the waterfront, a main shopping street that was decorated for Christmas, all the murals on the walls of buildings, and the giant church with it's super tall steeple on top of the hill. I rode the elevator to the top of the steeple, which had some nice views and was pretty wild b/c there was an intense wind storm going on when I made it to the top. It snowed on and off most of the day I was in Reykjavik, and my plane was delayed due to a snow storm that sprang up shortly before we were to depart. It was interesting b/c my plane left at sunset and then followed the sunset almost the whole way until Denver. We lost the sunset as we slowed down on our approach to Denver, but as we landed we got to see the supermoon rising over the airport.
Customs in Denver is easy and before long, I was hugging mom and she was taking me to taco bell, which seemed ridiculously cheap after having been in Iceland.
Overall, we had a lot of fun in Iceland. It was a bit more rushed than maybe I would have liked, due to the short days and the fact that I was delayed 3 days. Definitely would have been nice to have those 3 extra days. The weather was actually probably better than I had expected it to be. Though it would be nice to see it in the summer when the weather is better and the vistas are clearer. Interestingly, they were having unusually warm weather. I thought we'd encounter more snow. A couple of the hikes we did I wasn't sure we'd be able to do b/c of deep snow. Same with some of the passes. But they were just having an unusually warm fall, so everything was still snow free. Normally the ski areas would already be open and one girl we asked said normally this time of year there would have been 5 feet of snow already on the ground. I was kind of hoping for more snow b/c it makes things prettier in my opinion and it's what you think of when you think of Iceland. But in the end, it was probably better not to have snow b/c it allowed us to travel faster with clear roads and shortcut passes. Also a bit of a disappointment was the northern lights. I had really wanted to show Elisha some impressive shows. We did see some lights, but not like they can be in Iceland. Iceland sits in the middle of the aurora belt, so it has some of the best displays on the planet. But unfortunately you need 4 things for really good viewing: no light pollution (easy ANYWHERE in Iceland outside of Reykjavik); low phase moon (we had this for 1/2 our time); clear skies (we did have some clear skies); and high aurora activity (we had some of this but is mostly corresponded with cloudy nights). We had 3 really clear nights early on our trip with no moon. It would have been just perfect except aurora activity was very low. We had moderate activity on our other clearish nights. We had a few nights with high activity, but it was either really cloudy or partly cloudy but with a bright supermoon so it made it harder to see the auroras. We still did get some nice viewing, just not the crazy all green skies like Iceland can be known for.
I asked Elisha and myself to describe Iceland in 5 words.
Mine were:
Desolate, Rugged, Earth-forces, Dynamic, and Fjords.
I thing Elisha's were along the line of:
Empty, Volcanoes, Glaciers, Waterfalls, Sheep
But yes, Iceland is full of raw beauty, and I really enjoyed it! There's so much to see there that I wouldn't hesitate to go back. I'm also really glad we went the camper route. It was a lot of fun and a great way to be mobile and flexible. Would definitely love to go back! I hear the skiing in the springtime is great...!
After all this time in Iceland and Greenland, it's crazy to be back in a land with trees!
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