Day 3 - Exploring Arnarstapi and Hellnar

After another good night's sleep and breakfast, we packed a sandwich for lunch and headed out. Our first stop was at  Rauðfeldsgjá Gorge. Today, some rain was in the forecast and there was a slight drizzle. We headed out early to escape the crowds. Filled gas in the car and drove to the gorge. There is a parking lot, which can fill up later in the day; but since we got there early, there was plenty of parking.

The Rauðfeldsgjá Gorge (Red Cloak Rift) is a beautiful gorge on the Snaefellsnes Peninsula. It is a deep cleft in the mountain and has water running through it.

The view looking up is beautiful and can see a little bit of the sky.

Neel climbed up over rocks and went deep into the gorge and we got very worried since he didn't come out for a while, We tried climbing some to get closer, but could not find him. There was another couple whose son also went deeper into the gorge. There is a waterfall deep inside the gorge and we could hear it but we didn't dare fo any further in for fear of getting lost within. Finally, after some anxious wait, Neel came out and we heaved a sigh of relief!

Alex near the outside entrance to the gorge.

Balancing between the rock walls to cross over. Good to have waterproof hiking shoes for good grip on the wet rocks.

Once we were done exploring the gorge, we headed back to the parking lot; which was a lot busier.

Our next stop was Arnarstapi. It's a small fishing village with natural cliffs, basalt columns and lava fields. 

Below is the famous Gatklettur Stone Arch - a large natural arch with a perfectly round hole.

There are many basalt columns lying in the ocean as rock

We did the Arnarstapi - Hellnar hike - it is through a lava field from a past eruption of the Snaefellsjokull Volcano. Most of the hike is close to the ocean and the views are spectacular.

A cute bright blue house on the lava field hike

At the end of the hike, we stopped for some hot chocolate and icelandic treats !

Our next stop was the Shark Museum at Bjarnarhofn, This museum is  fascinating exhibition on the processing of the traditional icelandic fermented shark, the Greenland Shark.

The fermented shark (also called Hakari or Rotten Shark) is pretty foul- tasting but is considered a traditional delicacy. The Greenland shark meat is poisonous when fresh but the fermentation process allows it be edible

The shark is treated and then hung in open sheds to dry over many months. There are no bugs and flies in Iceland and the meat slowly cures over time and develops a brown crust, which is removed before it is eaten.

Alex, Neel and Satto had a sampling of the fermented shark and they all did not like it- it has a strong ammonia smell. The place gives you some liquor to wash it down

Next, we did the Viking Sushi Tour from Stykkisholmur Harbor. The boat sails out into the Breidafjordur Bay- the whole area is very scenic with rocky cliffs and wild birds, inlcuding puffins. The boat drags a specialised sea plow along the ocean floor, collecting a variety of delicious shellfish that everyone on the boat can taste towards end of the tour.

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It was very cold out on the deck. It was also drizzling slightly and that made the day much colder. Satto and I mostly hid downstairs in the boat.

Alex and the kids tasted the fresh sea urchins, clams and other fresh seafood. The kids did not particularly seem to enjoy this much.

On the way back, we stopped to explore a waterfall we saw - it was beautiful. There are 100's of such waterfalls. One can stop the car, pull over safely and explore, as long as its not in someone's private property.

This was the end of day 3 ! Tomorrow, we head north to Akuyeri- the second largest town in Iceland.

Day 2 - Exploring Snaefellsness Peninsula

After a nice long refreshing sleep, we set about having breakfast. On most days, breakfast was bread with eggs, butter, jam or nutella - according to each person's preference, along with a side of fruit. We bought these at Bonus or Kronan. (Only at a couple of places was breakfast provided and that was a nice break from our standard fare). After breakfast and packing some rain gear (since rain was in the forecast) we headed out to explore the Snaefellsness Peninsula, the agenda for the next 2 days. Though lot of tourists come from Reykjavik and go around the peninsula in a day, we decided to spend a couple days here and explore at leisure and absorb the beauty of the place.

The whole peninsula was a rich verdant green with multiple waterfalls pouring out of the mountains. We started counting the number of waterfalls and soon gave up !

Our first stop was at Londranger Sea Stacks. They are remains of a crater eroded to its present form by the sea. There are 2 sea stacks - the taller one is 75 m and the other is 61 m high. Puffins and Fulmars nest on the stacks during the summer months.  We hiked down to see the sea stacks up close.  It was an easy 15-20 minute hike through a moss covered lava field.

From a distance, the sea stacks look like a spooky castle rising out of the sea.

The sea stacks are massive

In the background was this beautiful mountain that was glowing, despite the cloudy conditions. 

A close up of the mountain- seems to be made up of volcanic ash

I loved this mountain and its mystical look, shrouded in the clouds. I think it's the Snaefellsjokull, though I am not 100% sure. Whatever the name, the mountain had a special pull on me.

From here, we headed to Djupalonssandur Beach, also known as Black Lava Pearl beach. This is a beautiful black pebble beach. This beach can have dangerous sneaker waves that come in suddenly and can pull you in. By the time we got there, it was dark and gloomy.

This was our first black sand beach. Iceland has many black sand beaches, the sand originates from the basalt lava and gives the black color.

A light drizzle started and we put on our rain jackets

Alex trying his rock skipping skills

There are huge lava rock formations on the beach. There's some that are supposed to be an elf church and a troll woman, amongst other shapes

The lava rocks have so many colors and shapes. Its a neat place to walk around.

I could not resist climbing them. I hope they are not elf sites and I did not mean to show any disrespect to the elves. 

The pebbles on the beach were smooth and polished

It felt good to touch and hold them

There are remains of a shipwreck from a British trawler from 1948. It's been left untouched all these years. There are 4 lifting stones where the fishing boat crews would test the strength of aspiring fishermen. The smallest stone is 23 kg (Bungler), followed by 54 kg (Weak), 100 kg (Half-Strong) and  154 kg (Fully Strong). Any man who could not lift the 54kg stone was not deemed fit for a life at sea.

I thought I could lift the 23 kg stone, but wasn't able to. Clearly, I would not qualify to be a fisherman!

But Neel was able to lift that stone easily. We did not let him try the next heavier stone, in case he ended up with some injury

Next, we headed out to Saxholl (Saxholar) Crater. This crater is thought to have erupted some 3000 years ago. The surrounding landscape is a result of the eruption. The collapsed core of the crater is fairly deep and the rim offers 360 degree views of the beautiful Snaefellsjokull National Park, lava fields and the Atlantic Ocean.

Reading the information board about the crater. You can see the steps on the left. There are some 400 steps to the top of the crater.

This is about halfway to the top. The views are stunning.

From the rim, one can see more craters

It was cold and windy !

Holding on to my hat ! Look at the play of the clouds - mesmerizing !

So many craters dotting the landscape. Absorbing the view from crater top..

A family selfie on top of the crater !

Next we decided to visit a waterfall called Klukkufoss that is on an F road very close to the crater. F mountain roads are roads that are not paved or maintained and can be full of potholes, rocks and very unpleasant to drive on, unless one has a car with some ground clearance. Since we have a 4X4 car, we are ok to drive on F roads. We were bit nervous to go on an F road, but headed there nevertheless.

Taking a right turn on F575, some 500-700 m up on this road, there is a sign for Klukkufoss. This F road was not bad compared to some of the F roads we went on towards the end of the trip. There was a sign that said we are on unstable ground (volcanic) and to stay safe that added a bit of anxiety ! 

Standing on a bench at the start of the hike to Klukkufoss

Kids zipped ahead. This was an uphill, slightly strenuous hike on rocky grounds

The views were amazing. The whole area was glowing green from the moss

Klukkufoss waterfall was in the middle of interesting basalt rock columns. The water was chocolate colored and fell into the gorge below

My first star jump in Iceland next to Klukkufoss

The views over the valley were to die for. 

On the way up, we had met another tourist who told us about another waterfall nearby that was milky white water. We decided to hike to this waterfall, which was not on our agenda originally. 

We parked our car in a small area off the road. I loved the play of clouds on my magical mountain

We headed for the milky white waterfalls. through a narrow trail

We kept walking looking for the waterfall. The kids had zipped ahead again and we couldn't see them on the trail anymore

There was no one else around. We could hear the roar of the waterfall when we got closer. 

The waterfall was deep in a ravine and had milky white water. It was a beautiful falls

Alex and I did our first star jump together ! Much to my annoyance, he always jumped higher than me !

We all sat and enjoyed the beauty of the place, the sound of the waterfall, the valley views

We reluctantly hiked back to the car through the moss fields. We stayed on the trail so as to not destroy the moss. It takes years for the moss to grow

I was sad to leave this place. I would love to come here again on my next visit to Iceland !

We had missed lunch today due to the unplanned stops at the 2 waterfalls. Our original plan was to eat lunch at Gamla Rif Cafe where the fish soup was famous. We stopped at Rif to pick up a toothbrush for Alex. By now, it was almost 6 pm. We headed towards Olafsvik and ate dinner at Hraun Restaurant (In Icelandic, Hraun means Lava). Parking is not a problem at all.

Satto cooperating as usual for the photo :-)

The food was delicious. Each item was about $25-35 dollars.

After dinner, we headed back to our guesthouse via Kirkjufell. We were tired after the long day outside. The drive was beautiful.