Pronouncing the Snaefellsnes Peninsula

We woke up feeling well-rested after our first night in Reykjavik and had a very nice coffee shop breakfast before getting on the road to start our loop around the country. We had decided on a clockwise route, starting with a sojourn on the Snaefellsnes Peninsula in West Iceland north of Reykjavik.

Our route took us driving around fjords and misty cliffsides, past farms, across valleys, and through tiny little rural towns. We got to see our first Icelandic waterfalls, including Hraunfossar, which appeared from nowhere with water rushing out from under the lava fields. This was a true road trip kinda day, with short stops to check out the sites, grabbing a bite to eat at a food truck, wildlife viewing, and lots of peering out the windows at incredible scenery.

Our last couple of stops, Bjarnarfoss and Rauðfeldsgjá Gorge, were incredibly dramatic. In the parking lot for the trail up to Bjarnarfoss, we met a couple guys from Colorado who were flying a drone and had nothing but good things to say about Cosmo’s Pizza in Boulder. But other than that, we had the place to ourselves as we hiked up a quarter mile to spectacular views of the waterfall, cliffs, and soaring birds. At Rauðfeldsgjá Gorge, we felt we were approaching a magical entrance into the Earth. Climbing a short way up a the rocky creek in the gorge was eerie, lush, and captivating.

It was already almost 8pm by the time we finished, though still felt like late afternoon! We finished our drive to our AirBnb in Grundarfjörður, catching glimpses of Kirkjufell (aka Walter Mitty mountain) through the clouds. Our first choice of restaurants for dinner was surprisingly full up, so we picked from one of only a couple other available options and rounded out the day with the first of many burger+pizza menus we’d see throughout the trip.