The Snaefellsnes Peninsula

Day 8

The day began early on the northern shore of the Snaefellsnes Peninsula.  Aidan and I made breakfast (by now I am so over oatmeal it isn’t even funny), and then drove along the beautiful coastline to the quaint little town of Stykkisholmur.  This was most definitely our favorite town in Iceland.  It is far enough off the beaten path not to be frequented by tourists, and we were still early in the summer so many of the locals there greeted us in Icelandic.  It is home to one of the most beautiful modern churches I have ever seen, and quite the memorable hotdog.

Looking across the bay to the Westfjords

The town of Stykkisholmur in the distance

The harbor in Stykkisholmur

Columnar jointed basalt!

A sculpture I really liked

Mountain climber

The hotdog menu...

Aidan went "all in"

The church in Stykkisholmur

Another angle of the church

After the day in Stykkisholmur, Aidan and I continued to drive along the northern shore of the peninsula to Snaefellsjokull National Park.  There we found some glaciers and a volcano, and lots of lava fields!  We went on a hike through one of the lava fields to find some “lifting stones.”  Yup, that sounds super exciting doesn’t it?  Let me tell you….  I guess fishing-boat crews used to take aspiring fishermen here to have them lift the stones.  If you couldn’t lift the largest, you were considered a wimp and deemed unsuitable for life at sea.  The stones are as follows: Bungler (23kg), Weak (54kg), Half-Strong (100kg), and Fully Strong (154kg).  The hike would have been about 8km round trip, which doesn’t seem that far, but the going was not easy through the jagged basalt lava flows.  Needless to say we did not make it, and were dismayed when we realized that had we followed the road a couple more kilometers we could have driven right there….

The white peak in the back is Snaefellsnes.  I just called it Mt. Sneffels

Another church we drove by!

The start of the lava hike

Hiking towards Mt. Sneffels...

This hike does not get my vote.

The phrase “Gone Berserk” comes from the name of a group of people called berserkers, who were insanely violent fighters during Viking times.  According to the Icelandic Eyrbyggja Saga, a farmer brought two berserkers to Iceland from Norway to work on his farm.  Unfortunately, one of the berserkers fell in love with the farmer’s daughter.  The local chieftain, Snorri Godi, suggested to give the berserkers an impossible task and if completed, could have his daughter in marriage.  So the berserkers were asked to clear a passage through the lava field, surely impossible! (I can attest to the impossible nature of that after this hike….)  But lo and behold, the berserkers completed the task.  The rest of that story is rather gruesome…. The farmer murdered the berserkers, rather than keep his promise….  Anyway, I thought it was a good story.

The last activity of the day was a stop at Songhellir.  This Song Cave is full of 18th century graffiti, and legend tells that once upon a time dwarfs used the cave.  As the name implies, the acoustics in this cave were absolutely extraordinary.  After tromping and searching around in the snow for a while, we managed to find the entrance and then burst into song!

Emily in the Song Cave

The view from the entrance of the cave.