Iceland - Snaefellsness Peninsula (25./26.03.)

Stop 6: Iceland - where mountains turn into glaciers and stones into elves 

Snaefellsness Peninsula, Reykjavik

From Selfoss we drove all the way up to Stykkisholmur on the Snaefellsness Peninsula in western Iceland - the last stop of our amazing journey :)

After the long drive we enjoyed a relaxing afternoon in the hot pools of Stykkisholmur - 42 degrees of water temperature at 3 degrees outside was pretty cool!

We also walked around the village, the harbour and its lighthouse and we discovered the house where they filmed "Walter Mitty" (in the movie its a pub and supposed to be in Greenland, but in reality its a cute little bookstore in Iceland :D ). 

For our last day we had planned to do round-trip on the Peninsula. We managed to actually get around but we got disrupted by two things. First, as we woke up everything was white and snowy so we actually had a true icelandic snow-and-sun-mix day that prevented us from walking around a lot. And secondly, when we were halfway around we saw two people at the side of the road, waving their arms for help. They bogged their car while trying to drive into a snowy volcano crater (no shit!!!) - so we gave them a ride into the next town. It turned out that they were German as well - so now we understand what our tourguide in Reykjavik meant when he said "crazy German tourists that need to be rescued all the time" ;)

As we are writing this post we already have been to the airport, finding out that due to bad weather (in Oslo - we are actually enjoying another sunny day here :D ) we cannot make it back home today. The next flight is tomorrow in the morning so take these last pictures as a compensation for the waiting time :)

Like true Icelanders - swimming outside :)

At the lighthouse in Stykkisholmur 

Snowy surprise in the morning :)

Peninsula

This is what I call an icy beach

Ready to go - unfortunately the plane wasn't :(

Iceland - Höfn to Selfoss (24.03.)

Stop 6: Iceland - where mountains turn into glaciers and stones into elves 

Höfn to Selfoss

After a really stormy night, we woke up to wonderful weather with a crystal-blue sky and sunshine. Before continuing our trip to the west of Iceland, we decided to drive back the last two day's distance towards Selfoss in order to stay there for one more night (the decision certainly was influenced by the fact that the guesthouse there had a hot tub ;) ). We used the beautiful weather to discover the things that we have left out on our way to Höfn. First, we went back to Skaftafellsjökull where we walked to the edge of the glacier the last time. This time, we walked into the other direction to Svartifoss waterfall. Afterwards, we made another stop at the black beaches in Vik. This time we went down to the beach instead of looking at it from above. As the weather was so nice today, we took the time for some "beach time". Before arriving in Selfoss, we stopped then by some houses that are part of large stones. We do not know whether they were built as caves or they suffered from a lava-attack :D As we are writing this post, the hot tub fills itself with hot water and we are hoping to see some Northern Lights whilst enjoying it. We saw some last night but sadly the intensity (4/9) was so low that we could not get a picture of them. 

Road trip feeling :)

On our way to Svartifoss

Black beaches

This is how beach time looks like in winter ;)

Let's call them "stone houses" :)

Iceland - Vik to Höfn (23.03.)

We Stop 6: Iceland - where mountains turn into glaciers and stones into elves

Vik to Höfn 

After having a good night of sleep (large amounts of cold air seem to have the same impact on us as sleeping pills), we continued our journey along the southern coastline towards our main target for today: Vatnajökull, the largest glacier in Europe which makes up 13% of Iceland. First, we drove along immense lava fields that looked like thousands of tiny mountains. We also saw several waterfalls along the way - you can't imagine how many waterfalls are there. Finally, Vatnajökull appeared at the horizon. Having arrived we took a walk to the Skaftafelljökull edge of the glacier (as it is massive, you can image there are lots of others as well ;) ). We then continued to drive further along the glacier until reaching Jökullsarlon, a stunning glacier lagoon containing several icebergs. Having seen a lot of ice and having breathed a lot of fresh and cold air, we were then ready for having dinner in Höfn (the "lobster capital" of Iceland) as well as checking into our accommodation for tonight - a farm in the middle of nowhere that calls itself the town Skalafell and litterally is made up out of four houses :)

Vulcano fields 

Waterfalls along the way

Vatnajökull 

After the 1996 eruption, the glacier induced flood destroyed the Ring Road 1 including this steel bridge pillar 

Skaftafelljökull glacier 

Jökullsarlon, the glacier lagoon - icecold and pretty windy!