Have I mentioned that I love my Samsung Galaxy S5 phone? These amazing pictures are from my phone's camera. Amazing! Click on the images for bigger picture.

The Blue Lagoon

The Blue Lagoon…the must do Iceland activity. I’m not sure I completely agree with that statement. But it seems like everybody does it.

Am I glad I did it? Sure. Was it worth? Probably not. 

The cost of admission was about $95 for Eric and I. The most expensive thing we did on the trip (besides Greenland, but that involved round trip airfare and a guide for 5 hours). For that $95 we only got admission into the place. If we wanted a drink and towel that would have been an additional $90. It is way too expensive. If somebody is traveling to Iceland on a budget, forget the Blue Lagoon and rent a car and tour the South Coast. It will cost you the same but the experience would be way more enjoyable! 

So back the lagoon. It isn’t as big as I was expecting. The water felt nice and warm but some places were too hot. It isn’t a natural wonder. It is actually “produced” by the plant that steams in the background. It doesn’t really smell, I was anticipating that rotten egg smell. It really messes with your hair and dries it out and I didn’t even put my head under water! The bottom is very uneven so I would not suggest somebody with bad footing to even try it. I also didn't like all the naked ladies walking around in the shower room. Lets just say they were not afraid to expose everything in the wide open. I'm more conservative and don't really care to see it in front of me like that.

So I guess my overall experience was ok. The water felt nice but after an hour I was so pruned that I had to get out. So for $95 I could have seen a lot more but like I said before it was an “experience.”

Here are some pictures:

Today was disappointing. I had very HIGH expectations for the Snæfellsnes Peninsula and the rain really dampened it. It was a long day and long drive. The drive up wasn’t so bad, it wasn’t raining too hard. Here are some of the pictures from the drive up:

Kirkjufell mountain in Grundarfjörður 

This is Kirkjufell which means church mountain. It is in the town of Grundarfjörður on the north side of the peninsula. It is over 1,500 feet tall and stands by itself on its own peninsula. In the sun it is amazing…it was of course raining when we got there and my camera started action up…another bad thing about this day. There is also the Kirkfoss waterfall nearby. I wanted to take this awesome picture with the waterfall and mountain but it was pouring so hard it was impossible.

Djúpalónssandur Beach

Next stop was Djúpalónssandur Beach on the west side of the peninsula. This was really a highlight of the trip. Even in the rain is was nice to go down to the beach. The rain was coming right at us and the winds were amazing but I still managed to get some nice shots. At this beach there are four lifting stones, used by fishermen to test their strength. They are Fullsterkur ("full strength") weighing 154 kg, Hálfsterkur ("half strength") at 100 kg, hálfdrættingur ("weakling") at 54 kg and Amlóði ("useless") 23 kg. They were traditionally used to qualify men for work on fishing boats, with the Hálfdrættingur being the minimum weight a man would have to lift onto a ledge at hip-height to qualify. Also on the beach there are remains of a fishing trawler that was wrecked there on March 13, 1948.

Hellnar and Arnarstapi

There is an amazing hike between these two towns but because of the heavy rain, winds and cold we just went to both ends of the hike and took pictures…sadly missing all that is between them.

Long Road back to Reykjavik

Finally we made our way back to Reykjavik through the tunnel that wouldn’t be allowed in the US.

The Hvalfjörður Tunnel received a bad rating in the 2010 European tunnel test. The problems with it include weak lighting, absence of an automatic fire alarm system, too weak ventilation in case of a fire and a far distance to the next fire station. We survived!

And finally a night picture of Hallgrímskirkja.

We got back too late for church so decided to drive down to the Blue Lagoon for the evening…I talk about that in another post.

We started our trip to the south coast a little late because we had to stop at a sports store to get Eric’s Iceland National Team jersey. The store didn’t open until 10am. Nothing in Iceland opens before 10am. It is hard to schedule a day when you have to wait until 10am.

On the Road to Vik

The first stop on the south coast was over 2 hours away near the town of Vik. Along the way we had to stop for this little fella…just like deer…takes his time.

And we also had this:

Reynisdrangur

Reynisdrangar are basalt sea stacks situated under the mountain Reynisfjall near the village Vík í Mýrdal, southern Iceland. Legend says that the stacks originated when two trolls dragged a three-masted ship to land unsuccessfully and when daylight broke they became needles of rock. Iceland loves folklore (I guess we do too…with Paul and Babe, the Blue Ox.) Here are some pictures:

We walked around the beach before heading to our next stop.

Sólheimajökull Glacier

The next stop wasn’t on the schedule but we decided on a whim to check it out. It is the easiest glacier to get too…”easiest” is a loose term as it was a bumpy, rocky road to the end. I was a bit nervous in out tiny car but we made it there. Here is the road and close up of the glacier.

Skogarfoss

This is one powerful waterfall. The Skógafoss is one of the biggest waterfalls in the country with a width of 82 feet and a drop of 200 ft.  The spray was amazing. We couldn’t get too close to the bottom.

Seljalandsfoss & Gljufurafoss

This waterfall is also 200 feet tall but not nearly as powerful. The best feature of this waterfall is you can walk behind it. Very cool and very wet!

  

Gljufurafoss isn’t as well known, probably because it is hidden from view of Seljalandsfoss. Also it falls in to a canyon so you have walk through a narrow rock slot to get to it but it was very impressive. I really liked this one mostly because we were all alone.

Seljalandsfoss & other small waterfalls 

After all that we headed back to town for some dinner and called it a night.