Our tour guide was Margrét Rós Har∂ardóttir and she was fantastic. Each day she gave us a new Icelandic word to study. Today’s was: Godthan daginn - good day.
On the way to Snaefellsness peninsula we passed Esja Mountain, which is the totem mountain of Reykjavik. Many people from the city drive out to hike on it several times a week.
We visited Hraunfossar, an unusual waterfall where a bunch of water emerges from small holes in the side of a canyon.
Just a few steps up-stream was Barnafoss, where the water that is above the ground passes through a narrow chasm. Barnafoss means “Children’s Falls” – there used to be a natural rock bridge here, but one Christmas two children went missing, and tracks in the snow led to the bridge so people concluded the children had fallen off the rock bridge. Their mother had the stone arch destroyed to prevent any similar tragedy in the future.
We went to the site of the home of influential poet Snorri Sturluson. There is a spring-fed hot tub which has been in use since the tenth century. Snorri lived (and hot-tubbed) there in the early 1200’s. It is now the site of a couple of churches and Iceland’s archival library.
Further down the valley we stopped at Dieldartunguhver thermal springs, which emits the largest volume of hot water from any hotsprings in the world.
We learned that Icelandic people traditionally ate essentially fish and lamb with very few additional things like potatoes.
We passed through a tunnel under a fjord (Hvalfjördur) which has a lot of whales. This fjord also hosted a US submarine base during the Cold War.
Lunch was a vegetarian buffet with lamb soup at the Settlement Center in Borgarnes. This facility was a mix of visitor/interpretive center, restaurant, and gift shop. The breads were very good, and one couple on the tour were very politely ‘busted’ by the waiter who caught them hiding some bread in a napkin. He quickly brought them a small bag to take the bread in.
The next stop was at Helgafell, the “holy mountain” from pre-Christian times in Iceland. It’s a 250 foot tall hill and the former site of a monastery. We hiked to the top in silence then looked to the east, which tradition says will grant you a wish of good intentions.
Finally we arrived in Stykkisholmur, our home for a couple nights. Stykkisholmur is a sizable town for Iceland, but would be considered small in most other places. We had a nice dinner at the hotel, then walked to the picturesque and well-sheltered harbor.
On a small hill protecting the harbor was a very small lighthouse or navigation light.
