Iceland Day 11 — Back to Reykjavik

The last full day of our Iceland adventure was mostly about traveling back to civilization, i.e. from Westfjords to Reykjavik. We did not have a lot of time for hiking or sightseeing but nonetheless we have made a couple of stops for photos and short walks.

After the breakfast we traveled some 70 km east to take a ferry from Westfjords to Snæfellsnes peninsula. The ferry saved us about 4 hours of driving. We spent those hours enjoying the sun and the views of tiny islands dotted Breiðafjörður bay.

About half way, the ferry made a short stop at Flatey island. The island looked charming and welcoming, but unfortunately we didn’t have time for a visit. There is always hope that we will be able to return and see it next time.

The moment we drove off the ferry we felt like we came back to civilization, and it was a somewhat strange and even unwelcome sensation. For the past 3-4 days (after Akureyri) we kind of got used to driving in solitude, surrounded by nature largely untouched by people. After Westfjords, Snæfellsnes peninsula felt like a large beach condo full of summer houses and bustling with people, cars and trucks. Well, everything is relative. On our Snæfellsnes tour 3 years ago, we thought that was the wilderness. We decided to take a longer road to Reykjavik going along the Snæfellsnes coast.

We made a stop to hike to a waterfall overlooking Kirkjufell mountain. When we started the hike we were the only people at the site, but as often happens on a road trip, when people see a car stopping and people with photo gear and a focused expression going somewhere, they think there is something interesting there that they, too, must see. We knew the feeling because we were guilty of doing the same thing.

The Snæfellsnes peninsula was nicknamed “Iceland in miniature” and it definitely has most of the staples of Iceland’s nature like black sand beaches, a glacier, volcanoes, hot bathing spots, waterfalls, etc. We were most interested in Snæfellsjökull, a volcano through which Jules Verne’s brave scientists ventured to the center of the Earth.

On our way we made a short stop near a mineral water spring Ölkelda. The spring belongs to a nearby farm, but it is free for everyone. We planned to visit it, but when we parked near the information board all we saw was a meadow and a farm. For several minutes we couldn’t find anything resembling a water source, until Alex found a narrow path at the end of which we saw a pipe with a spigot on the end sticking out of the ground. Bingo! The water was naturally slightly carbonated and only mildly tasted of minerals. It also bubbled out of the ground next to the pipe. The information board showed the mineral content of the water and assured us that generations of farmers drank the water and were happy and healthy. In a couple of hours, though, the color of the water turned a bit yellowish, possibly due to high iron content.

Finally, we arrived at Reykjavik, checked in at the hotel and went out to check out the city. It didn’t change much from our previous visit in 2011. We bought a couple of Icelandic type donuts and went back to the hotel. On our way back we stopped by Solfar, a famous metal sculpture in the form of a skeleton of a huge Viking boat with giant oars, rowing towards sunset. Then we walked over to another Reykjavik landmark, the Hallgrímskirkja church that, from the front, resembles a big, wide space shuttle (even though it was designed without any space shuttles in mind). It was too late to go up to the top of the church tower, which has a commanding view of the city and its surroundings, so we decided to do it the following morning, on our last day in Iceland.

Here is the map of the places we visited on Day 11.
[mapsmarker layer=”11″]