Best of Snaefellsnes Peninsula

Today, we went about the day in reverse direction as the itinerary stated. Our tour guide did not want to be around other tour buses and he did not want to rush us as it was such a gorgeous day. Wait until you see how this terrific day ended!

It took me a while to come up with the right phrase to sum up this pristine, almost sterile looking country and I’ve settled on “ruggedly beautiful.”

Djupalonssandur’s Beach has four giant lifting stones used to test fishermen’s strength. Many sagas and tales are strongly connected with this dramatic black pebble beach. Djúpalónssandur is considered to be one of the most famous elves and trolls locations in Iceland. According to folklore, Karl (male troll) and Kerling (female troll) are thought to be trolls that were turned into stones when they saw daylight. These two troll formations are well known all over Iceland. Söngklettur rock, known as the Singing Rock holds a mythical reputation as the Church of the Elves. When we were there, we heard the waves make an audible “crackling” sound when the tide recedes, resembling a rainmaker. . Along the way, you will notice chucks of rusted metal which are the remnants of the British trawler Epine GY7. 14 seamen drowned when the ship sunk on March 13, 1948. As parts of the wreck washed ashore, it was decided to leave them on the shore as a memorial.

Snæfellsjökull serves as the entrance to the subterranean journey in Jules Verne’s classic science fiction novel, Journey to the Center of the Earth, (1864). While trying to discern whether Verne actually visited Iceland, a Czechoslovak-Icelandic science party discovers an ancient alien outpost in the cave system under Snæfellsjökull. While I have not read the book, the characters in the book were apparently spewed out in a volcano called Stromboli in southern Italy! When we sailed past Stromboli last year on this exact same ship, the volcano was actually active and erupted a few weeks later!

We stopped to take photos of giant, protruding cliff with beautiful volcanic rock formations.

We also visited Arnarstapi, a quaint fishing hamlet but I’m sure it was a shopping opportunity stop in disguise!

Our last stop before heading back to the ship was Helgafell, ‘the holy mountain,’ which plays a pivotal part in the Laxdœla Saga, an ancient Icelandic love story. It is also believed that if you hike to the top of the mountain without looking back or uttering a word you will get 3 wishes fulfilled. This only works the first time you hike the mountain though. The town dog was not sure what to think of us but as we got off the bus, he decided we were okay after all!

As we boarded the bus to head back to the ship, the tour guide informed us that he had phoned his office and asked that the ship be notified we were on our back but he wanted us to enjoy the glorious day so we would not be rushing! As you can see, when we got to the port, the ship was loading up the tenders. Only one tender was left out for passengers which was our entire group: we held up the ship’s departure by thirty minutes. I was forever grateful we were on a ship sponsored excursion and not on our own!