Iceland – Final Day Snæfellsnes Peninsula

So after a restless night it was time to spend our last real day in Iceland.  The winds were strong during the night and Jeff and I laid awake expecting a window to burst from one of the many rocks or hail hitting it or for our cabin to be lifted off the ground.  We climbed out of bed the next morning surprised to find we were not in Oz and that our car appeared undamaged.  Other than patio furniture having been blown across the parking lot from the main hotel everything seemed unscathed.

Unfortunately the weather that awaited us did little to left our moods.  We were both tired and sad that our trip was coming to an end.  The dark skies and rain just seemed to intensify those feelings and to be honest I was not looking forward to our last day being spent hiking in the pouring down rain.

So off we headed towards Grundarfjörður with an expected drive time of around an hour and thirty five minutes.  We were concerned that today’s rain might actually hamper some of our outdoor activities.  But of course I still started to seek out stops along on our way and the first that intrigued me was Helgafell.  This was considered a holy mountain by ancient Icelanders and they frequently sought it out near their time of death.  What intrigued me was the belief that those who climb it are granted three wishes.  The wishes come with stipulations.  They are only granted to those requests made with a pure heart and the wisher must follow three steps.  First they must start at the grave of Guðrún Ösvifurdóttir who was the heroine of an ancient local saga.  From there the wisher must walk up to the chapel ruins without uttering a single word and without looking back.  Once at the chapel ruins you must face east while wishing and can never tell your wish to anyone if you want it to come true.

I was a little concerned about getting all the steps right but I was ready.  We saw the sign but no place to park and a gate leading onto what appeared to be private property without much of a trail.  And it started raining harder at this point.  Jeff and I looked out the car window at the slippery mud and lack of direction and decided to keep going.  We were both disappointed as we had decided on three wishes.  We didn’t share them so maybe we’ll still get lucky.

Along the road we were seeing signs for the shark museum.  We had resigned ourselves to the idea that we might want to find an indoor activity so I managed to convince Jeff that this would be a great one.  After all, we hadn’t tried fermented shark yet.

When we arrived we were the only patrons.  A beautiful young woman greeted us and after we paid our entrance fee she invited us to look around the museum and told us she would be in shortly to teach us about the shark industry.  There were many interesting items in the museum but learning about the history and production of this “delicacy” was the most interesting part.  We watched a video on the production of fermented shark and our guide shared stories.  Originally the Greenland shark was harvested for its oil and other various uses as the meat is extremely toxic.  The bodies were buried.  One day apparently someone ate some of the meat that had been buried and that is when the fermentation process was discovered as a way to cure the meat so it would not kill you.  Greenland sharks have a very high amount of urea in their meat.  To prepare it the sharks were originally cut up and buried under ground for 6-12 weeks (this is now done in boxes).  It is then dug up and hung out to dry for several months.  We were given a sample and told to chase it with rye bread.  Apparently if too much is eaten it will still make you sick.  First small bite didn’t seem too bad until the ammonia hit.  Oh yeah, it is disgusting.  The bread was great.  Second taste wasn’t any better.

After tasting we were encouraged to visit the drying shed.  I’m not quite sure how we kept our two bites down when we did that.  The shed was full of what appeared to be oozing, rotting meat.  And that was in our stomachs!  I continued to taste it most of the day as the taste was relived in little burps.  So yeah, tried it don’t need to do it again.

With the lingering taste of fermented shark we headed now to Grundarfjörður.  This is a small fishing village that offers an amazing view of Kirkjufell mountain.  The visitor center houses a cool coffee shop and museum.  This was a place I would have loved to hang out for a while.  Someone was playing the guitar and it just had a cool vibe.  We might have opted to take one of the hiking trails to the mountain had the weather been better.  We looked around the town for a bit and found ourselves in the workshop of local folk artist Lúðvik Karlsson.  He had so many fascinating pieces and he worked with many mediums.  As much as we would have liked to have a painting or sculpture we left with only a small piece made from rocks.  It is the eye of Odin and he explained that in ancient times it was used for prayer.  The black eyeball would be removed and the eye would be filled with salt while praying.

Check out some of his work here https://www.facebook.com/lulliliston  He told us he enjoys having Americans in his shop because we appreciate folk art and most Europeans do not.

Now we headed to Kirkhufell and Kirkjufellsfoss.  Rising at 463 meters above sea level this is the 6^th most photographed mountain in the world.  This mountain also stars in the movie The Secret Life of Walter Mitty.  An old bridge crosses the waterfall and allows for several interesting angles to photograph.

Djúpalónssandur was our next destination.  This beautiful black sand beach is made of black pebbles that are known as the pearls of Djúpulón (or the deep lagoons).  The beach received its names from these lagoons.  Walking past lava you find yourself on the beach.  Along the way you also walk through the wreckage of the British Grimsby fishing trawler Epine that wrecked here in 1948.  Rescurers tried to save the crew of 19 but only 5 survived.  The wreckage remains as a memorial to those men.

Four lifting stones are here as well to test your strength and to know if you could have been hired as a fisherman.  The full strength stone is 154 kg, the half strength stone is 100 kg, the weakling stone is 54 kg, and the useless stone is 23 kg.  A man would have to lift the stone at hip height to qualify to work on the fishing boats.  They had to at least pick up the weakling stone.  I’m going to say these particular stones weighed more as I would not have made it on a boat.

After an enjoyable time hiking trails around the beach we headed to Arnarstapi.  We were not aware that a trail connected the two locations.  Our destination was a café named Fjöruhúsið. Even with good directions we almost missed it.  Talk about a gorgeous location.  This tiny but packed café sits nestled in the side of the cliff overlooking the water.  Finally I got my fish soup!  It was fantastic.

Next stop was Rauðfeldsgjá Gorge.  I was really excited about this due to the description we had.  Our guide said, “The rift is 40 meters deep  and cuts into the east side of the mountain. It is like a hidden passage into secret mountain chambers that hold a hidden waterfall, damp and green mossy walls.  Once you are inside, you will see columnar palagonite walls and a small river plummeting into the gorge into a tall waterfall.  As you get closer it becomes evident that there is ample room for a human to get through the fissure.  You will get to experience something people usually only see in fantasy movies.”  That sounded fantastic to me.  As advertised it was a bit of a climb but I knew the destination would be worth it.  We found ourselves hiking on some snow and the slipperiness made it a bit more challenging.  Then we reached the fissure.  And it was full of snow.  There were a few footprints so I opted to attempt to climb onto the snow bank.  Jeff begged me to get down as we could see the sheer drop off and he was convinced I was about to die.  No one else around us opted to make the climb either.  So sadly Mother Nature prevented our trek into the fantasy world that day.  https://ramblingebet.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/IMG_0842.mov

So now we headed to Landbrotalaug hot spring.  Advertised as a hidden hot spring it did show up in our GPS as a destination.  We were concerned about how we would change into swimwear in our car but I was still convinced it would happen.  The weather was not good.  It was very cold.  And when we arrived the spring was most definitely not secret.  A young man who sounded Australian was leaving the spring and asked us if we were going for a swim.  He had been in the better of the two hot pots by himself for several hours (it was very small) and now other people had discovered it.  The larger hot pot was much cooler. We wondered how he could be so cool and conversational in nothing but a swimsuit and barefeet in the freezing temperatures.  We had both envisioned taking a bottle of wine and enjoying the hot pot but now we opted to get back in the car and head to Borgarnes. At that point we did not see much to do there and knew we still had a ways to go so we went on to Reykjavik.

Our hotel, Room With a View, was located downtown.  We were running low on gas with the hope that we would get some the next morning and be full when we returned the car.  That would have been fine if we could have gotten to our hotel.  However the roads are closed downtown for pedestrian traffic and we did not realize we could still turn where we needed to and park on the street by the hotel.  After an extremely long time we called the hotel and were still talked in circles until the concierge came out and attempted to locate us somewhere on the street and direct us back to the hotel.  We had to get gas before we could park.  We then went for dinner but by now all the shops and the church were closed.

So we did learn that Reykjavik is quite the party town as the party on the street with the bars went on outside our window until 5 AM.  We had to be up shortly after that to head to the airport.  I told Jeff we should have just gone out and joined them since we weren’t sleeping anyways!

We arrived the next morning exhausted at the airport but with plenty of time.  Our line lasted a long time to check in as Delta had team members interviewing every passenger with question such as why were you here, what is your profession, what did you do while here, what did you purchase.  When we went to board the plan we were again interviewed by this security team.  It was a little different for us.

So at last we said goodbye to beautiful Iceland.  And like so many before us we left this place completely in love and obsessed with it.  We realized we were behaving like Howard from the Big Bang theory after his trip to space with every conversation finding a way to reference something from Iceland.  We couldn’t stop ourselves though.  There has been mourning and a withdrawal period from leaving this country.  It sounds weird I know but I can tell you based on posts I’ve read from other travelers to this destination it is not unusual.

We packed snacks and some small quick meal options.  I am glad we had them as they came in handy many times.  We definitely dressed in layers.  I typically had 5 layers on top and three on the bottom.  The outermost layer (my Northface Triclimate coat and waterproof Columbia pants) was the most important as it was our rain gear and also doubled as wind protection.  We took our hiking sticks but didn’t use them so I could have left them behind.  We definitely had an impressive laundry load when we arrived home. 

I basically lived in my Lowa hiking boots and would have been fine if they had been the only shoes I had taken.

So we are finally to a point where we can start planning a trip some place that isn’t Iceland.  I think I have convinced Jeff that we are not moving there.  If you have the chance do go.  But be prepared – it will steal a piece of your soul.