Snaefellsnes Peninsula- This Way to the Center of the Earth

cliffs at arnarstapi

First stop today was Arnarstapi. It’s the village in Jules Verne’s “Journey to the Center of the Earth” from which Lidenbrock and crew head out to climb Snaefells (where they find the tube that leads to the center of the Earth). There’s a small “monument” to Verne behind a café with a sad turf roof. It’s a sign post showing the distances to major cities if one could travel through, rather than around, the planet. There is also a monument to the god of the mountain whose name is Baldur, built out of large, flat rocks. The sculptor made an amazingly expressive face considering his medium. We had been planning to walk along the sea cliffs a ways but the extra heavy liquid sunshine made us rethink. The cliffs were crawling with gulls nesting. They were mostly the columnar basalt we’ve seen all over the place but here large areas of it had been turned on its side.

djupalonssandur

Next, we drove about half a mile into Snaefellsjokull National Park to get a better look at the ice cap. There were ragged clouds drifting around the summit but here and there blue sky could be seen and sun on the slopes. (Later in the day we were treated to a nearly unobstructed view of the mountain. It’s no Mount Rainier but it is a gorgeous mountain.) The road looked a little too exciting to go very far so we ventured back to the main road and carried on around the base to Snaefells. The road cuts across several lava fields. What has interested us about the lava fields here in Iceland is their variety. Some are quite smooth while some resemble a grotesque sculpture garden. Our favorites are the ones that are old enough to have the thick pillows of lichen growing over them.

god of snaefells

A few kilometers later we arrived at Djupalonssandur, a black pebble and sand beach strewn with the rusted wreckage of a British freighter. Back in the day this beach functioned as the aspiring Icelandic fisherman’s proving ground. To earn a job on a fishing boat, a man would need to prove his strength by lifting 4 increasingly massive rocks. The smallest rock is about 50 pounds; the next size up is about 120. The ability to hoist either of these was not good enough to get you a job on a fishing boat. To be a fisherman you had to be able to lift the two largest rocks which weigh in at 220 and 340 pounds respectively. Brad was only able to lift the first two which means he’s only cut out to do the knitting in 19th century Iceland.

snaefells- the passage to the center of the earth is on top

Leaving the heavy rocks behind, we wandered down to the beach where the waves were crashing. Zada took to her usual waterside pastime of rock throwing. Kimberly filmed an adorable video of Zada trying to retreat from a particularly large wave and falling on her behind. See it here: http://youtu.be/UIFpnB8-I1o Nearby Brad found some sea stars that had washed up on shore so we went into full animal rescue mode and returned them to a nearby tide pool. They were beautifully orange with purple lines. Hopefully they weren’t beaten to a pulp by the rapidly incoming tide.

We continued on around the end of the peninsula where we were blinded by a bright light in the sky that we realized was the Sun. There are several precious little towns to be seen and the ocean was stunningly blue, almost Caribbean blue. The slopes of Snaefells peeked in and out of the clouds and countless waterfalls cascaded down from the snows above.

the library of water in stykkisholmur

In the town of Grundarfjordur we visited the Saga Museum. We thought that these saga museums that we had been seeing were dedicated to THE SAGAs. Now we know that saga can also mean local history. The displays inside showed implements from the village’s founding as a fishing community. Apparently there was a large French fleet of fishing boats there. There is a restored row boat, the kind that the locals fished in for many years. It was open, held 7 men, wasn’t more than 20 feet long, and had 6 lines of 100 hooks each. There was also a model of a turn of the last century Icelandic house, two small rooms, one of which is the kitchen, to house 8 or more people. The last part of the museum was a collection of old toys from the 1950s and 60s in a mock up of a toy store that used to exist in the town.

Driving on we came to Helgafell, a small hill crowned by the ruins of church once held as sacred to the god Thor. According to Lonely Planet, you will have three wishes granted if you find the grave of Gudrun Osvifursdottir, climb the mountain, and face east, oh, and never tell anyone what you wished for. We looked and found no such grave. Probably this is another case of Lonely Planet yanking our chain by writing about things that do not exist. We climbed it anyway and were rewarded with a stunning view of the snowy mountains and the beautiful fjord.



quintessential view of iceland- mountain, waterfall, farm



Our day ended in Stykkisholmur, with a trip to the Library of Water. It’s an art installation by artist Roni Horn built in the town’s old library. She filled 24 glass pillars, each 12 inches wide and 10 feet tall holding more than 50 gallons of water, with water from Iceland’s glaciers. Each pillar holds water from a specific glacier. The effect as you wander in and around the pillars is quite beautiful. The library is situated on a hill above the town so you can see the houses, the harbor and the fjord magnified and bent in curious ways. It was a remarkable space and very serene.

Tomorrow we are back in Reykjavik for several days before we head into the Westfjords to watch foxes. See the pictures at: http://flic.kr/s/aHsjAr4GbJ