THE SNAEFELLSNES PENINSULA IN ICELAND

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Day 12: HVAMMSTANGI - KOLUGLJUFUR - PENINSULA Snaefellnes: Stykkishólmur - Helgafell - Berserkjahraun - Grundarfjörður - Olafsvik - Hellinsadur - Saxhöll - Djúpalónssanur and Dritvík- Hellnar - Arnastapi- BEJARNARFOSS - Ytri-TUNGA - BORGARNES

Today it is time to get up early because we have a most complete day after visiting Godafoss and the Vatness Peninsula yesterday. Today it's time to go Snaefellsnes Peninsula in Iceland, known for being the Travel scenario to the center of the Earth by Julio Verne.
As we do not have breakfast at Guesthouse Nedra-Vatnshorn today, we directly load the rental car in Iceland and at 7:30 in the morning we are already on our way to Kolugljufur, a canyon that yesterday we did not have time to visit and that being only 5 minutes from our accommodation, we do not want to leave the opportunity to meet.

Today the sun is somewhat marked again and we enjoy a completely clear sky that accompanies us all the way to Kolugljufur.
Kolugljufur

Kolugljufur Canyon

We arrived a few minutes before 8 in the morning and logically with the time it is there is no one and although it is a bright sun the 5 degrees we have do not help much to go for a walk in the area, so after a short walk and seeing that the site does not tell us too much, to say nothing (this is the problem of seeing so many wonders of nature on a trip, that now we are not able to admire something that is "less" spectacular) we are on the way to the first destiny of the day, that will get us into the Snaefellness peninsula Through Stykkishólmur it will be our gateway to this area that we are so eager to visit on our trip to Iceland for free in 14 days.
We follow the road until we reach Bordeyri and from here we take the gravel road 59 to Budardalur, to save us a good detour and thus earn some time a day.
As we get closer, the landscapes leave us more and more open-mouthed, without a doubt we have before us, again, the perfection of nature.
We arrived to Stykkishólmur in the Snaefellsnes Peninsula at 10.45 in the morning and the first thing we do is stop at a bakery to have a couple of pastries with a couple of coffees well loaded for 1500 ISK that bring us back to life after these hours without having breakfast.

Stykkishólmur. The Snaefellsnes Peninsula

We walk around the town, which looks like a movie set, with some houses that remind us that we would love to retire one day in a place like that.

Stykkishólmur Church

At 11.30 in the morning we return on the same road to make a stop at Helgafell, a most curious enclave.

Helgafell church. The Snaefellsnes Peninsula

Helgafell is a sacred mountain 73 meters high, revered by the devotees of the god Por. Despite its small size, the mountain was so sacred in the times of the sagas that the elderly Icelanders withdrew in it when they were close to death.

Today, locals believe that those who climb the mountain will be granted a wish. Of course, you cannot look back on the whole ascent.

Views from the top of Helgafell. The Snaefellsnes Peninsula

And as we want our wishes to be fulfilled, we do that, climb the 73 meters in the way that the premises count that your three wishes will be fulfilled.

On top of Helgafell

We do not know if the 3 wishes will be fulfilled, we hope so, although in the end what counts is the moment and that has been fulfilled and no one can take it away from us.
It is 12.15 when we return to the car and we already make our way along Highway 54 until Berserkjahraun, a picturesque stretch of the Snaefellsnes Peninsula, which runs between a lava field that we will cross on Highway 558, suitable for passenger cars even if it does not seem like it to the naked eye and that will allow us to have better views of the place.

Crossing Berserkjahraun. The Snaefellsnes Peninsula

Berserkjahraun

One of the landscapes that have caught our attention in this trip to Iceland have been the impressive lava fields, like this one in Berserkjahraun, which have brought us closer to landscapes that seem from another world.

How our feet sink into the moss of the Berserkjahraun lava field

With some sorrow we are moving away from Berserkjahraun and continue on our way to Grundarfjörður, a small population of the Snaefellsnes Peninsula, surrounded by rounded peaks, nestled in a spectacular place, about 12 kilometers from Berserkjahraun.

More practical information to prepare your trip to Iceland
- 10 essential tips for traveling to Iceland
- 50 things to see and do in Iceland

On the way we pass very close to Bjarnarhöfn, the shark museum, which we do not enter, but we leave the review in case anyone is interested 😉
We arrived at Grundarfjörður at 1.15 noon and we found an incredible enclave surrounded by mountains, which we know that if we had seen it the first day we arrived, we would have been with our mouths open all day.

Views approaching Grundarfjörður

And is that Islsndia has a problem, at least for us. The landscapes and enclaves are so incredible that you end up getting used to that beauty and you don't appreciate them.

Grundarfjörður. The Snaefellsnes Peninsula

In Grundarfjörður we take the opportunity to put gasoline and take a short walk before leaving for the next point of the day Olafsvik, a population without much appeal but which has been chosen to eat today.
We are looking for a recommended bar in the Lonely Planet, Hobbiton, but this one has disappeared, so we settle for a fast food bar that is at the gas station where we ordered a couple of fish and chip dishes with coke and coffees for ISK 4300.
At 3 o'clock in the afternoon we have already rested and charged energies and get underway to the next destination: Hellisandur, 7 kilometers from Olafsvik, the only place from where you can see the Snæfellsjökull glacier under which the Snæfells volcano is located.

Views of the Snæfellsjökull glacier under which the Snæfells volcano is located

After this brief stop we go to the Saxhöll crater, another we want to see on our trip to Iceland.

Saxhöll crater

Although the climb is quite easy, when I have reached the middle, I can't think of doing anything other than looking back, something I shouldn't have done. With my vertigo I can not take another step, so I have to let Roger continue and I settle for having come here.
The truth is that the views from above, Roger shows me later in the camera, are not bad, but they are not exceptional, so if you do not want to get here, the visit can be expendable.

Views from the Saxhöll crater

From here we follow the road to the black beach Djúpalónssandur, 15 minutes down Highway 572 between incredible lava fields that take us directly to the sea.
We arrive and park in an enabled area and start by making the 1.2-kilometer Einarslón path that leads us to lava fields that enter the sea that leave us amazed.

Incredible lava flows around Djúpalónssandur

These views have been the best of the day. We have incredible beaches at our feet, which with a little more time we would have enjoyed as children.

Black beach of Djúpalónssandur

After a while going through lava flows, we reached another black sand beach, Dritvík, where the remains of several shipwrecks rest. The black sand is covered with pieces of rusty metal from the English fishing ship Eding, which was shipwrecked in 1948 in these waters.

Dritvík. The Snaefellsnes Peninsula

It's almost 5 in the afternoon when we're back in the car and it's time to go to the next destination: Hellnar 11 kilometers from Dritvík.
We park in the upper part of the village and as soon as we park we see some little houses that cause us to inevitably envy and in what way, their owners.

Hellnar

After a brief walk on the only walkable street, we make a couple of stops to have some perspectives of a place that we have found the perfect place to spend a few days off or why not, a few months.

Hellnar

From Hellnar we follow the route to Arnastapi, just a few minutes, where we stopped to be curious to see the monument to Jules Verne that with a wooden plaque and a comic pole indicates the distances to the main cities through the center of the Earth.

Bardur monument in Arnastapi

We do not see much more than the curious monument and after a walk we return to the car bound for Bejarnarfoss, a waterfall located 14 kilometers away, which takes us on the way out of Snaefellsnes Peninsula in Iceland.
In this stretch of the Snaefellsnes Peninsula we go along the coast with beautiful views that continue to leave us amazed, with some lava fields, which no matter how much we see we do not get tired.
We see the waterfall in the distance and as we had read in the guide, we want to appropriate the little house in front of us.
An enclave of the most spectacular.

Bejarnarfoss spectacular enclave

We continue with our route and about 5 minutes we find the detour to the Ytri-Tunga farm, a known place in this area of the Snaefellsnes Peninsula because from the beach you see seals.
The truth is that we had no idea to stop today to see seals, but since we have time, we give up a few minutes of the day to see if we are lucky.
And we have it, although only halfway, since we only see one and far away.

A seal in Ytri-Tunga, on the Snaefellsnes Peninsula

And now it is already 18:15 in the afternoon we do end the day putting way to Borgarnes, where we will stay tonight.
We arrived at 19.15 at the Borgarnes Bed & Breakfast and after accommodating we went out to dinner.
We test in two nearby places and they are full, receiving us, as it has happened to us a couple of times on this trip, with much reluctance, something that catches our attention, since they do not offer us even to wait for a few minutes until it I emptied a table.
We end up in Virki Café an amazing place and it seems it was "written"for us with an environment that we love.

Virki Café in Borgarnes

Here we ask for a pie chiken and a cake, more coffees for 3200 ISK that we devour before returning to our room to rest to face tomorrow which will be our last full day of this incredible trip to Iceland.