Snæfellsnes Peninsula, Budir to Kirkjufellsfoss (Day2)
After waking up the next morning at 8.30am and getting dressed for the day, we were ready to head towards the famous black church of Budir and explore that area. But before that we had a hearty breakfast by the window with a view at the Guesthouse Langaholt.
Most tourists had not yet come to the church, even at 10.30, and we found the area kind of empty and R was super happy because he could go back to his roots of doing landscape photography. After spending 30 minutes walking around we went back to the adjacent Budir hotel, for coffee and cookies and spent about an hour chilling and warming up in the lobby with a fantastic view.
We did our first Icelandic waterfall/gorge hike in the Snæfellsbær area, called Rauðfeldsgjá, which basically translates to Red-Cloak Rift. It is a beautiful gorge in Botnsfjall Mountain on the Snæfellsnes Peninsula. We reached there at about 1 pm, parked at the carpark by Rauðfelsdsgjá, just a short walk away from the narrow opening. Then we followed a path up and along a narrow path by a stream. A little bit of clambering got us to a small waterfall. We did not go much deeper along the small creek as the inside was icy and there were others who let us know that it was not safe to venture further.
After spending another hour there we headed to Arnarstapi (quick short drive) and since it was past 2pm, we filled ourselves with local Icelandic beer along with the fresh fish and chips. With full bellies, we started at the Bárður Saga Snæfellsás statue and spent quite some time hiking and photographing the majestic coastline towards the direction of the town of Hellnar or right of the statue. The statue is an intriguing character in Icelandic history, which is made out of stone sourced locally, was designed and created by a sculptor called Ragnar Kjartansson to represent the story that has captured the minds of locals and tourists alike for hundreds of years.
On our way back we stopped at a photographic spot known as Gatklettur or Hellnar Arch which is a famous, naturally formed stone arch left of the Bárður Saga and before the Arnarstapi light house. After enjoying a good view of Gatklettur, we strolled along the coast towards the lighthouse, taking our time and admiring the views. Eventually, we reached the Midgja Rift or the photographic ledge of Arnarstapi .We actually did not know about it and were admiring the waves splashing into the rift, but then when we went to the other side we realized that we had stumbled upon the famous photographed landscape. This sudden encounter made both of us extremely delighted. It was an absolutely spectacular view of the pink basalt rocks with the Snaefellsnes mountain in the background.
As the sun came out and we had a 4X4, we took the F570 road in the Snaefellsnesjokull National Park area towards the glacier. Note that these F roads consume a lot of gas, so it's best to start these drives with a full tank of gas. As we were driving with two-thirds tank full and noticed that the levels were dropping drastically fast, we decided to turn around to fill up at Arnarstapi and then do the F road. But suddenly it went from nice weather to winter weather and it started snowing. By the time we got to the gas station, it had turned from snow to rain to hail!
After filling up gas, we started our drive drive along the coast . We cruised along the mesmerizing coast stopping at different viewpoints of the coastline which is a part of the Snaefellsnesjokull National Park. First we stopped at Malarrif lighthouse and then another quick stop at the Saxhóll crater. It is an excellent sightseeing attraction for those who do not want to hike too far but since we had other plans we skipped this one. The final destination was the Lóndrangar basalt cliffs which are amongst the many geological wonders of the Snæfellnes peninsula. Once a volcanic crater, all that remains after eons of ocean battering are two great pillars upon a cliff, one about 250 ft high and the other close to 200 ft. Their dramatic scale has earned this incredible formation the nickname ‘the rocky castle.’
Driving for another hour we reached our final destination, back to the Kirkjufellsfoss area where we watched the sunset while photographing the three gorgeous waterfalls with the backdrop of Mt. Kirkjufell and enjoying sunset . We paid for the parking and made a quick hike up to the area of the iconic view, where we were met with loads of other photographers all set up with their tripods to capture the majestic view. R did the same as well and S settled on a nice rock, fully enjoying the magnificence. During the period of our stay there, we also photographed the scene from both the upper and lower falls.
After sunset , it was time to eat and started looking for a place to grab dinner, before starting our drive towards Dis Cottages, our night halt for the day. Since it was a Sunday we found that hardly any restaurants ( or even grocery stores ) were open after 7pm. Driving around the small town of Grundarfjörður, we finally stumbled upon a nice little restaurant called Bjargarsteinn Mathús. They said that the kitchen unfortunately was closed, but they could seat us though the only things we could order was the seafood soup and the red fish. Of course we wanted that! It turned out to be one of the best meals we had in Iceland ( and we definitely had some very good meals ).
The best part of the day was yet to be unfolded and mother nature truly had saved the best for the last. As we were leaving the restaurant we heard a group of people screaming Aurora Borealis! Aurora Borealis! We looked up at the sky and we did see some nice specks of green in the sky. Checking the KP strength and time on the app, we noticed that it was going to be strong at till 3am, so we decided to continue our drive to the hotel. S had the brilliant idea of starting to take some videos of the night sky and we started noticing beautiful bands of green. This was a trick we had learnt on our Northern Lights hunt in Alaska a few years back. We were told that sometimes even though the light doesn't get picked up by our naked eyes it will definitely get picked up by the phone camera. Oh boy, were we happy. R noticed that the lights were getting stronger and he could start seeing them, when he recommended that it would be awesome to just turn back to go back to Kirkjufellsfoss and watch / photograph the northern light with the foreground on the elegant waterfalls. Off we headed back, quickly parked and ran to the viewpoint area. It was already way past midnight, but there were quite a few photographers already set up with their tripod and all. R quickly did the same, and S settled in her cozy corner from the previous time. The magnificent Aurora Borealis had started its dance in green and purple right in front of our eyes and every side we looked up at the sky was simply dancing away. Both of us were simply awestruck, mesmerized and extremely happy. It was only our second night and we just did not want to leave.
We spent about 3 hours there and at about 2am we decided to head towards our cottage, because the dance of the lights seemed to have decreased. By the time we got there, the dance had started again which we could see from the big glass windows. It did not stop serenading us until long, but it was sleep which took over. Our early morning whale watching trip from Olafsvik had been canceled but thankfully the one from Hólmavík was still on - we were hopeful and looking forward to the next day when we fell asleep with a big smile on our faces.