Reykjanes Peninsula and City of Reykjavik (Day1)
One excited couple boarded an Icelandair flight to Keflavik, at 7.30pm the previous night and landed on a bright Saturday morning at 6.30am. When we landed it was nice and sunny but by the time we picked up our car the weather changed and it started raining. Before coming to Iceland, we were told that one can experience all 4 seasons in 24 hours, and we go to see it right away. Our plan for the first day was to spend time exploring the Reykjanes peninsula and the city of Reykjavik before spending the next couple of nights in the Snaefellsnes peninsula.
On our drive towards Reykjanes, we planned to visit the Bridge between Continents (or Midlina). It is a 15 meter (50 ft.) footbridge in the Reykjanes Peninsula spanning a gaping rift between the Eurasian and North American tectonic plates. When we reached there suddenly started raining so we decided to skip it. It would have been the seemingly impossible walk from Europe to North America within a matter of seconds! It was also time for us to put on our layers of puffy jackets, hats and gloves and we were all set for Iceland.
Driving past the pioneering Reykjanes Geothermal Power Plant that produces 100MWe from two 50MWe turbines, we made a stop at the Gunnuhver, an impressive and colorful geothermal field of various mud pools and fumaroles in the southwest part of the Reykjanes Peninsula. It is tied to a fascinating legend of Gunna, a very poor woman who was tied to the authority of a wealthy man , treated unfairly by the rich and came back to take her vengeance. The Reykjanes Peninsula is highly volcanic, due to the fact that the Mid-Atlantic rift runs right through it. This leads to many hot springs and mud pools and the same system feeds the Famous “Blue lagoon”.
As the rain and wind was getting stronger we kept driving till we reached Reykjanestá which is also known as Valahnúkamöl beach area. The Valahnúkamöl is a high boulder ridge, about 420 m long, 80 m wide and 10 m high, and composed of well rounded stones that are about 1-3 feet thick. This ridge was created by powerful storms, high waves and surf. We climbed up the hill Valahnjúkur which is a good view point to see all around, but the strong winds make it a feat to stand still . The stunning view was our introduction to the jaw dropping rugged Icelandic coastline. There is a statue of the Great Auk, located near the location that is believed to be the point where the last mating pair was killed in 1844.
As we were getting hungry we decided to turn back towards the city of Reykjavik. Driving for about an hour,at about 1pm we got to the famous Laki restaurant, named after the volcanic fissure in the western part of Vatnajökull National Park. It was our first time trying Icelandic food which included the most delicious rye bread called Rúgbrauð(which would become an obsession through the rest of our trip and beyond) along with fresh salmon and sliced lamb, ham and fish soup, finishing off with ice cream mixed with crumbs of Rúgbrauð. It was also here, where we tasted our first shot of Brennevin and tried out fermented shark ( more of a touristic thing than delicacy ) and dried white fish with butter.
After lunch, we decided to explore the iconic Reykjavik church and the rest of the downtown area. We also wanted to buy some Icelandic sweaters known as lopapeysa. The cool thing about them being that they are made of unspun wool and are extremely warm! For that we headed to the Wool Center, where we not only bought the sweaters but also some amazing hats to wear right away.
We absolutely loved walking the colorful streets and enjoying the murals as the sun started to peak out. In between we stopped at two local coffee roasters - Reykjavik Roasters and Te & Cafe, where we tried some delicious lattes and pour-over coffees. While exploring the streets of Laugavegur or the main street, we stumbled upon the Inga Elin art gallery who sold Icelandic ceramics and home of the iconic "Rolling Cups", or Veltibollar.
It was close to 6pm and we started our drive towards our hotel in the Snaefellsnes peninsula, and stopped at Omnon - the only craft bean to bar chocolate maker of Iceland. There we had licorice ice cream and stocked up with chocolate bars to take back home.
As it had started raining again, There was no chance of being able to see the sunset, so we checked into the Guesthouse Langaholt where we would be sleeping for the night. The guesthouse on the south coast of the Snæfellsnes Peninsula is embraced by fantastic nature. To the north is the magnificent mountain range, to the south, a golden beach and to the west stands the majestic Snæfellsjökull Glacier in all its glory. Hotel Budir was our first choice , but as there was no availability for that night, we chose Guesthouse Langaholt because of the wonderful location and the views surrounding it. We went to Hotel Budir for dinner about 8.30, as our plan was to drive around the peninsula in search of seeing the northern lights as the KP was predicted to be high on the Aurora app. We had had gastronomical feast at Hotel Budir.
Even with good KP we had a very cloudy sky over Budir, we took highway 54 and drove towards Mt. Kirkjufell, which is the most the most recognizable mountain in Iceland, located in the fishing town of Grundarfjörður. Kirkjufellsfoss waterfall, right across the highway, with the mountain in the backdrop makes this place iconic and the most photographed landmark of Iceland. We did see some greenish lights fade in and out of the sky behind the thick clouds, but nothing prominent enough. As it close to midnight, and a long day so we went back to the guesthouse and fall asleep for our first night in Iceland!