April 14th: Snæfellsnes – and an introduction to Reykjavik

This series of posts will chronicle, as faithfully as possible, our recent trip to Iceland and Andalusia. Comments and thoughts are most welcome! Photos from Iceland are courtesy Gireesh, Anchal and Janani and the ones from Andalusia courtesy Gireesh. :)

After an almost washout the previous day, weather was back to being predictably volatile again today, yay!! We got some good sunshine interspersed with its usual rainy, haily and snowy companions, and all was good. Visibility was much better, the terrain more mountainous and we had lots of green Golums around, this time resembling elves, trolls and dwarves. Snæfellsnes Peninsula is supposed to the land of fables and myths, the place where quite a few Icelandic fairy tales originate, and looking at the landscape, we could just about imagine a quaint elfish story being enacted around us. Icelanders still believe in these ‘little people’ – we got confirmation from our friends at Hotel Budir last night! – they dedicate prominent landforms as their homes or churches, and almost every farmhouse garden has motifs to welcome or ward them off. 

Elves and trolls

We drove around the peninsula, from Budir all the way to the western town of Stykkishólmur, with sea facing cliffs on our left and the cloud shrouded glacier on our right. We opted to take a bumpy ride on a dirt track behind charming little Stapafell – a small mountain overlooking Arnarstapi and anointed by numerous legends to be the home of the aforementioned ‘little people’. The drive was an adventure in itself – both Gireesh and I ended up with awfully muddy boots after a tromp on the quicksand like trail to Sönghellir (a little ‘singing cave’ known for its echoes) and since the road completely iced up a few km later, we had to negotiate an iffy U-turn on a one-car wide track inclined at around 60 degrees – so much for Iceland having 2WD friendly dirt tracks! But with frozen tarns and streams all around us, Hellnar and Arnarstapi lying unfurled below us like little lego-blocks and sun rays poking at the blue black waters mischievously on the horizon, we were rewarded aplenty for going off the beaten track here. All this beauty has been in the making for millions and millions of years, it’s just a humbling experience to be able to witness it. I just hope it stays this way always – or maybe just become more beautiful, if that’s possible. :)

Stapafell

We also made quick stops at a couple of white and black sand beaches (the water of course being too cold to even contemplate entering), saluted the Londrangar, two rocky protrusions into the sea believed to be the church of the elves, and paid our respects at the statue of Guðríðr Þorbjarnardóttir, one of the earliest documented adventuresses ever and mother to the first European child born in North America, centuries before a certain Mr Columbus stumbled upon his Indies. Trails and hikes of varying degrees of difficulty dot the entire peninsula and seemed to invite us to join them in their wanderings at every place we stopped, but unfortunately, we were just too short of time. But worry not, we will be back! :)

Londrangar

Adventuress extraordinary!

One major highlight of the drive was Mt Kirkjufell, a.k.a the Sugar top, appearing in the horizon just as the surroundings went white, and showing off completely different front and back profiles for us as we crossed by. 

Front view of the Sugar Top

Back view of the Sugar Top

Our last stop on the peninsula was at Stykkishólmur, one of those sweet little fishing towns where nothing much seems to happen. To us, it was just a prelude to Reykjavik, a gradual introduction to urbanity after so many days of solitude and remoteness. And on the way back to the big city, we came across a pretty little frozen lake, surrounded by snow capped peaks on all sides. An ideal location for chiffon sarees to unfurl and woven pullovers to be swung in the air! We just had to make do with our little snowman here. :)

Snowman!

We reached Reykjavik pretty late in the evening and it felt like such a contrast after days of lounging in the wilderness. It looked quite pretty against the dusky skies, with colorful slanted roofs, snow-kissed sidelanes, cute little cafes and bookstores and a modernistic church that made the entire town its own. It was lively, young, and energetic that night, and yet we had mixed feelings about being there. Being in Reykjavik meant that we were done with those wide vistas and countless waterfalls, farm houses and rainbows, sea arches and bird cliffs, and it was time now to move ahead. Well, but such is a traveler’s lot! You can either be a rolling stone or a mossy one, not both. 

No luck with northern lights again today, all tours from Reykjavik were cancelled because of the weather. So we had nothing much to do other than have a sumptuous meal and get lost in the city lights. It will be all about Reykjavik tomorrow, our last full day in Iceland.