{"id":2312,"date":"2016-03-11T15:44:11","date_gmt":"2016-03-11T15:44:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/isobaresoffit.com\/?p=2312"},"modified":"2016-03-11T15:44:11","modified_gmt":"2016-03-11T15:44:11","slug":"the-snaefellsnes-peninsula","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/isobaresoffit.com\/2016\/03\/11\/the-snaefellsnes-peninsula\/","title":{"rendered":"The Sn\u00e6fellsnes Peninsula"},"content":{"rendered":"

Our last full day in Iceland was also one of our busiest and most rewarding. It started out a little stressful as we woke to a fresh five or six inches of snow on the roads and we had a two and half to three-hour drive to peninsula ahead of us.\u00a0 We had rented a 4WD SUV just in case something like this happened, after all we were in Iceland, but that doesn’t mean that it can get through anything.\u00a0 We asked several people at the hotel if they thought the road conditions would be okay for us to make it the peninsula and they all said that it might be “a little icy”, but that we should be fine.\u00a0 Since we live in Colorado, we’ve probably told people something similar when we’ve had a few inches of snow, but we’ll probably think twice about saying that again in the future.<\/p>\n

\"Thawing<\/a>
Thawing Roads<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"IMGP6999\"<\/a>
Sn\u00e6fellsj\u00f6kull from the Distance<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Dramatic<\/a>
Dramatic Volcano Crater<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It was still dark out when we hit the roads and it was white knuckle driving as we made our way out of Reykjavik.\u00a0 Once we got out of town and the skies started to lighten up, the roads got a little better, but we would deal with icy roads for most of the day.\u00a0 The drive to the peninsula took us back through the town of Borgarnes where we turned off of the Ring Road (the road that circles the entire island) and headed west.\u00a0 Once we turned off of the Ring Road, we were pretty much the only car on the road, which was a little unnerving to be out in the middle of nowhere with no one else around.\u00a0 Despite the fact that the Sn\u00e6fellsnes peninsula is considered “Iceland in Miniature” due to all of the sites that can be seen, it is also one of the least spots travelled to by tourists, perhaps because they have to leave the Ring Road.\u00a0 As you can tell by the varied scenery in the pictures, it really is an amazing place to see so many different sights.<\/p>\n

\"Some<\/a>
Some of the Few Trees We Saw in Iceland<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Sunrise<\/a>
Sunrise During Our Drive<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Driving<\/a>
Driving Towards the Park<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Dramatic<\/a>
Dramatic Lava Lined Beaches<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

One notable feature that is visible from everywhere on the peninsula is the Sn\u00e6fellsj\u00f6kull volcano which has a glacier that covers its cap.\u00a0 It is the highest mountain on the peninsula and can be seen from the Hallgr\u00edmskirkja church in Reykjavik on a clear day.\u00a0 It was the inspiration for Jules Verne’s “A Journey to the Center of the Earth” and was the location where the expedition started their trek below the earth.\u00a0 The Sn\u00e6fellsj\u00f6kull National Park takes you around the volcano and along the ocean and has some pretty incredible views.\u00a0 All national parks in Iceland are free, so they are definitely worth visiting.\u00a0 In order to get into the park, you have to drive over a pass on the edge of the volcano, which was covered in ice while we were there and made for some nervous driving conditions.\u00a0 With all of the active volcanos in Iceland and the land littered with huge lava boulders found miles from the volcano calderas, one can only imagine the potential devastation if one of the larger volcanos were to erupt.<\/p>\n

\"Sn\u00e6fellsj\u00f6kull<\/a>
Sn\u00e6fellsj\u00f6kull Towering Over Lake<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Another<\/a>
Another Volcano During Our Drive<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Church<\/a>
Church and Farm<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Rugged<\/a>
Rugged Beach<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The first stop, as we drove along the peninsula heading towards the park, was the town of Hellnar.\u00a0 It is really only a few buildings and a caf\u00e9 that was closed while we were there.\u00a0 During the summer, you can book tours up to the top of Sn\u00e6fellsj\u00f6kull in order to see the glacier.\u00a0 The main attractions here\u00a0are the beautiful little church, the views of the ocean, and all of the birds that make the area their home.\u00a0 The sun actually came out for a little bit, making it a cheery spot to visit.\u00a0 As you can tell from our pictures throughout the trip, the sun made few appearances for us and when it did, clouds returned within a few hours to blanket the sky.\u00a0 Unfortunately for us, the weather and a less than active solar period kept us from seeing the Northern Lights, which was probably our only disappointment of the trip.<\/p>\n

\"Us<\/a>
Us at Hellnar<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"View<\/a>
View from Hellnar<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"The<\/a>
The Old Church in Hellnar<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Lava<\/a>
Lava Rocks<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

From Hellnar, we continued along the coast to Malariff, where there is a lighthouse,\u00a0and L\u00f3ndrangar, which are a couple of rock pinnacles that jut out along the rugged coastline.\u00a0 The rock formations are interesting and lighthouses are always nice, but otherwise it wasn’t anything too impressive.\u00a0 We continued on and entered the national park, always with Sn\u00e6fellsj\u00f6kull looming above us as we drove around the coastline.\u00a0 As you reach the northern end of the park, there is a road that heads west to the ocean and one of the many lighthouses on the island.\u00a0 You travel across a lava field and have some beautiful views of the ocean crashing against the black lined coast.\u00a0 After driving for twenty minutes, we turned around as the road conditions just kept getting worse and worse.<\/p>\n

\"Lighthouse<\/a>
Lighthouse at Malariff<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Rock<\/a>
Rock Formations at L\u00f3ndrangar<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Lava<\/a>
Lava Fields<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Dramatic<\/a>
Dramatic Coastline<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Once we reached the main road once again, we could see the most western portion of the\u00a0Westfjords towering over the ocean water.\u00a0 Knowing that we still had about a four hour drive ahead us, we started heading back to grab a late lunch at the Hotel B\u00fa\u00f0ir.\u00a0 On the way, we saw what looked like steam coming off of some of the lower peaks of Sn\u00e6fellsj\u00f6kull, which was a little unnerving to think that there was any chance that there could be anything active on the giant volcano.\u00a0 Although it was probably just a cloud that settled on the mountain, we\u00a0were happy to make our way out of the area.\u00a0 Our lunch was wonderful, probably because we were extremely hungry from hiking around the different locations where we stopped.\u00a0 The hotel was truly charming, the staff incredibly friendly\u00a0and if we’re ever back in the area, we would definitely considering staying with them.<\/p>\n

\"Road<\/a>
Road to the Lighthouse<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Rock<\/a>
Rock Cliffs on the Side Road<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Steam<\/a>
Steam or Cloud?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Nesting<\/a>
Nesting Place for Birds<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

All in all, it was a perfect way to end our brief trip to Iceland.\u00a0 We know that we’ll be back again, perhaps in the fall, when things might not be as frozen, but there still might be a chance to see the Northern Lights.\u00a0 We’re glad we chose to make the drive across the frozen tundra and frozen roads to see everything that the peninsula had to offer.\u00a0 After driving back to Reykjavik, we were thoroughly exhausted, but satisfied.\u00a0 Our time in Iceland is something that we will obviously never forget.<\/p>\n

\"Westfjords<\/a>
Westfjords Across the Bay<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Us<\/a>
Us on the Coastal Road<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Amazing<\/a>
Amazing Black Beach<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Our last full day in Iceland was also one of our busiest and most rewarding. It started out a little stressful as we woke to a fresh five or six inches of snow on the roads and we had a two and half to three-hour drive to peninsula ahead of us.\u00a0 We had rented a … <\/p>\n

Continue reading The Sn\u00e6fellsnes Peninsula<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":89944846,"featured_media":2353,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"wprm-recipe-roundup-name":"","wprm-recipe-roundup-description":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[7451],"tags":[159406,594157755,1099,81519,56168,436,8629780,200,196089],"class_list":["post-2312","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-iceland","tag-glacier","tag-iceland","tag-nature","tag-ocean","tag-peninsula","tag-photography","tag-snaefellsnes","tag-travel","tag-volcano"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/isobaresoffit.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/imgp6999.jpg?fit=3008%2C2000&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6pbM5-Bi","jetpack-related-posts":[],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/isobaresoffit.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2312"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/isobaresoffit.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/isobaresoffit.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/isobaresoffit.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/89944846"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/isobaresoffit.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2312"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/isobaresoffit.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2312\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2367,"href":"https:\/\/isobaresoffit.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2312\/revisions\/2367"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/isobaresoffit.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2353"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/isobaresoffit.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2312"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/isobaresoffit.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2312"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/isobaresoffit.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2312"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}