If I Were Going...: Iceland in January 5: Snæfellsnes Peninsula

Hoping for aurora

Instead of wasting time on lunch after our second fruitless whale watch, we headed out quickly to explore more of the rugged Snæfellsnes Peninsula, a volcanic promontory with towering mountains down its spine and lava flows and beaches on the edges.

Craggy coast

It's a very cool place. The Snæfellsnes volcano was the setting of the novel Journey to the Center of the Earth by the Jules Verne. The area surrounding Snæfellsjökull (the glacier) is a national park.

On the way, we stopped to get a picture of some Icelandic horses by a ruined house, which was very close to our rental house.

Could have planned this one better

At the Ingjaldshólskirkja, church built in 1903 that sits up on a hill, we ate sandwiches in the parking lot. Beats a coffee shop everyday!

Ingjaldshólskirkja (kirkja means church)

This lighthouse style is fairly common in Iceland

Then, drove down a road through a remote lave field to see the stark white and orange Malarrif lighthouse near Hellnar.

It's routed as a tourist stop, but wasn't open this cold, windy day.

Originally built in 1917, this 80-foot-tall lighthouse was rebuilt in 1946 (I suspect the style changed a lot from the original).

It is a bit utilitarian in design for me, but still a lighthouse.

Then we saw the Lóndrangar Sea Stacks, basalt volcanic dikes (246 and 200 feet high) in the ocean by the shore. They are the remains of an eroded volcanic crater.

Lava formations

We visited the Badstofa cave again ...

A bit calmer this time

... which juts out into the ocean in the tiny tourist town of Hellnar. The cave is famous for how it plays with light, but, alas, there was no real light to play with.

Hellnar; Photo: Caty Stevens

Then, we turned around and headed back to Grundarfjörður, where we checked into the Suður-Bár Guesthouse, a cozy little place on the opposite side of the fjord.

Not as nice as our private house, but lovely

We picnicked in the breakfast room and slept, rising early for our trip around the peninsula.

The next morning, we retraced our steps to Hellnar, stopping for some additional photos in different light.

Icefall

Lifting fog

Threatening clouds

There is one spot on the road where a small reroute had been built because the snow collected in the main road to several feet deep. I don’t know if this was a new thing or if it becomes a turnout in the summer. If they hadn’t done it, the road might not have been passable.

We went back to Badstofa because the light was better (and, of course, it started to snow as soon as we walked down the trail).

Trying for light

Maybe succeeding

And, we visited a monument to Bárðr Snæfellsáss, a half human/half troll famous in Icelandic sagas.

Ha!

As we swung around the peninsula, it became grayer and icier, with mountains to our left and lava fields to our right. We encountered some Icelandic horses, which we photographed in the local style -- stopped dead on the highway. We figured we were OK when a tour bus did the same.

Pretty horses

Our accommodations were in the lovely Hotel Búðir in the “town” of Búðir, which seems to comprise the hotel ...

Búðir is so tiny, it's hard to believe it's a town

... the black Búðir Church ...

Classic Icelandic beauty

... and a farm or two ...

A tiny farm

When we checked in, the place seemed empty, but other people trickled in later. We ate lunch at the bar. I had absolutely delicious paprika soup (creamed red pepper). Caty had a passable chicken sandwich that came with the advertised bacon and unadvertised fried egg (warning, Europeans love to put fried eggs on sandwiches – ewwww). Hotel Búðir is renowned for its restaurant, but it appears that that applies to dinner, not lunch. Some of our Láki boat mates had planned to drive there for lunch. I hope they weren’t disappointed.

Our room was lovely and spacious ...

Big and with a huge bathtub

... and had windows that allowed us to look in multiple directions ...

Our windows

Although it didn’t face north (always desirable for spotting aurora), you could crane northward. It did look out on the lovely Búðir church. An unexpected clearing allowed us to photograph the church and graveyard in late afternoon sunlight.

Lovely!

Magic!

Interestingly, some of the crosses in this remote graveyard were also wired up with lighting. I have since learned this is pretty common in Iceland -- I guess because it is dark for so long.

Wired and decorated

The Hotel Búðir is on a lava field right by the ocean with tidal pools all around it.

Wet and chilly

Snow on the beach

Mountains and waterfalls dominated the opposite side of the highway ...

A rugged -- and arresting -- landscape

The surrounding area, which we explored before dinner, has moss-covered lava piles that really invoke the "fairy homes" that Icelanders claim exist.

You can see why these look like fairy houses

Although it is sparsely populated, there are farms and herds of the ubiquitous Icelandic horse.

Icelandic Horse

Then, on to dinner at the famous Hotel Búðir dining room. I had seafood soup (OK, but a tad fishy because of the caviar topping) and cod, which seemed a bit undercooked to me. Caty had mushroom soup (good, but not as good as Geysir) and another beef dish (a bit tough and not very hot). Although the dining room was lovely and the food OK, it didn’t live up to the reputation.

After fabulous hot baths in our tub, we settled in, but I got up frequently to check for aurora because, despite a forecast to the contrary, the sky was clear. Just after midnight, I saw a cloud that looked a bit promising. I took a quick shot with my camera and it was green!