Day 2--Gullfoss and the Snæfellsnes Peninsula

We awoke Saturday morning after a much needed full night´s sleep.  Light had been streaming in the window for hours, though it was only 8:30 when we got up.  After a quick shower and change, we headed out to a lovely breakfast in the traditional Icelandic style.  All the same elements were present, in addition to hard-boiled eggs and canned fruit this time.  We grazed for a while, looking over the maps and deciding on our plan for the day.  Having learned from our previous day´s adventure, we also booked a hotel before leaving, to assure that we weren´t wandering the countryside in search of a warm bed.  We opted to spend the day exploring the West Coast and the Snæfellsnes Peninsula.

Our first stop along the way was to a road that we had passed in our misbegotten 60km adventure the previous night, and then again on the way to the hotel.  It was just a small road to the side, but I was desparate to know what you could see there.  Unknowingly, we creeped our way along the road until this view was visible.

It turns out that this is Gullfoss, the attraction for which the area is named.  It is a multi-tiered waterfall feeding into a large ravine. 

The falls themselves generate so much mist that the entire area was layered in thick white ice.  We carefully watched our footing as we went in for further exploration.  Every individual stone in the driveway, the protective ropes, the posts, each blade of grass,...  everything was covered with ice.

After about an hour of exploration here, we decided to pack it in and head out for our long drive to the west.  Easing out of the parking lot, we headed towards a lake called Pingvallavatn.  Aside from the usual amazing landscape of grassland mingled with dramatic hills and far off mountain vistas, we now admired the clear blue of the lake as we hugged its Eastern shore.  Once to the northern tip, we passed through the tiny town of Pingvellir, which has only a church and a few houses, and turned south along its western shoreline. 

This brought us to a small parking lot adjacent to a rocky crevasse.  With a quick hike up, I realized that this gap marks divide between the Eurasian and North American continental plates!  It was right here between these rocky ledges that the plates are spreading 1.5cm a year!  As Mom sketched and wrote in the car, I walked along the boardwalk for a time, admiring the wrinkled metamorphic rock, the snowy mountain peeks in the distance, and the feel of the sun and breeze on my face.   Soon thereafter, I came upon a lovely waterfall, which cast mist far and wide.  After a few snapshots here, I jogged my way back to the car to continue our journey.

 

We wound our way to the coast, even passing through the longest tunnel I have ever been in, aside from the Chunnell, of course.  Upon emerging from it´s other end, with a much needed break for some fresh air and a sigh of relief, we hugged the shoreline of Borgarfjörður, a fjord just below the Snæfellsnes peninsula.  Crossing over, we stopped for a snack at a local grocery store called Bonus, which claimed an amazing location at the edge of a town called Borgarnes.  This was the view from the shop.  I was struck by this, as in the states, this sort of real estate would be clogged with condos and high-rises.

 

We fueled both ourselves and our car, and continued north.  The last leg of our journey weaved us around the entire shoreline of the Snæfellsnes peninsula, so with ocean constantly on our left and towering mountains to our right, we drove.  We saw quaint fishing villages, rocky cliffs with nesting sea birds, lava fields, the Snæfellsjökull glacier, and more volcanic landscape than I had ever seen.    At the very end of the peninsula were two volcanic cores, standing boldly against the now setting sun.  I jogged over quickly to snap some pictures, before we headed to our destination for the night. 

Just another hour and a half of driving brought us safely to Hotel Stykkisholmur.  The claims of incredible views were certainly accurate, as this is what could be seen from our window.

Exhausted from another long, exciting day, we tucked ourselves in for the night in Stykkisholmur, on the norhtern coast of hte peninsula.