Apr 27
Set my alarm early because we were being picked up at 7:30 for our day trip out to Snaefellsnes Peninsula. I ran into a bit of a snag when I tried to board the bus but the guide didn’t have my name on the list. After about 10 min inside at the office, I got things straightened out, and boarded the coach. Ann and I settled in for a long day of bussing. Luckily, we had a great guide who was very knowledgeable. However, paired with the sad weather (overcast, foggy at times) the theme of the day was “normally we would see , but not today.” By the third time this happened, Ann and I would start to laugh, knowing the “but” was just around the corner.
“Normally we would see 15-20 seals sunning themselves…”
“Usually you can see the glacier from this vantage point…”
“Typically there are many different birds on this cliff…”
Despite this trend, it was still a very cool day trip. I DID get to see some unique rock formations, lava fields and Icelandic countryside (of which they have much). We visited the fishing town of Arnarstapi, which had stunning views despite the weather. They had gorgeous bird cliffs, and I saw the very exotic Icelandic seagull. (“usually we see several species of Icelandic birds, but today…”) and yet, the town was beautifully pristine and well worth it. The cafe (which I’m sure only opened for us, as NO ONE else was around) served great coffee and dessert pancakes, and I’m assuming delicious meat soup, from the smell, although I was still full from all the food I’d eaten en route. Despite having a captive audience, they were very reasonably priced (unheard of here in Iceland)  and even gave refills on coffee and meat soup!
One good (?) thing about Icelandic weather: if you don’t like the current weather, just wait 5 min (local saying). And it’s SO true! For example, the sun was shining as we pulled over for a shirt photo stop, and headed up the hill. A short 5 min later, we were pelted with wet hail which seemed to come out of nowhere. I took some quick photos and headed back to the bus, fairly wet by the time I got back. Ten minutes later, sun!
After Arnarstapi, we drove by Hellnar, another small fishing village, not yet open for the season. We stopped for some picture-taking of lava fields (very cool!) and Icelandic horses. They are smaller but sturdier than regular horses, and their breed is fiercely protected by the law. They have 5 gaits to the usual 3 (?) and they are a very pure breed. Icelandic law prohibits any outside horses to enter the country, and Icelandic horses that leave the country for whatever reason may never enter again! Lord of the Rings is heavily influenced by Icelandic culture and landscape, and plans had been made to film here, but due to the strict horse laws, they relocated filming to New Zealand. Supposedly the horse-to-hobbit ratio would’ve been off had they used the smaller Icelandic horses 😉
We also saw Snaefellsjokull volcano, which has a glacier at its peak (which if course we couldn’t see… re: clouds and theme of the day, hahaha!). We passed the community that makes the Icelandic specialty of putrified shark, known as Hákarl (no, that’s not a typo) and which I’m still debating about trying. Simply for the bragging rights. I doubt that it’ll be my new favourite food. I expect it will be right up there with Japanese natto.  Blech.
We returned to the hostel about 7:30, both quite tired from the long day. Despite the theme of the day, we were both very satisfied with our day. We sat in the lounge until a respectable time, then headed up to the room. Ann packed up, as she flew out early the next morning. We said our goodbyes and went to sleep.

* this mountain was the setting for the famous novel by this name