Reykjanes Peninsula Day Tour

Reykjanes Peninsula:

Day 3 in Iceland consisted of another full day tour from GeoIceland, and this time we explored the Reykjanes Peninsula which was approximately $80 per person. Just like for the previous day’s tour (check out The Golden Circle Tour post), we were picked up in a mini shuttle bus shortly before 9am, and we were off! The Reykjanes Peninsula isn’t nearly as touristy as the Golden Circle which made for a more laid back day, and I felt we were shown more of the true Iceland. We saw some stunning vistas, visited the presidents house, drove through lava fields covered with moss, learned about the huge fishing industry and the “cod wars,” and saw lots of geothermal areas.

The first stop on the Reykjanes Peninsula tour was The Pearl on the top of a hill overlooking the city of Reykjavik, the bay, and the mountains beyond. The Pearl evidently has a fancy rotating restaurant, but we were just there for the views and to take a couple pictures on this gorgeous day.

Next up on the Reykjanes Peninsula tour was a very interesting stop. We saw the President’s house. That might not sound so cool at first, but wait for it…. ….. …. There are no armed guards at the entrance! Actually, there were no guards at all in sight. That’s right, we walked all over his lawn snapping pictures without anyone shoo-ing us away. He has a pretty sweet compound in the middle of the lake with great views of Reykjavik, and the views of his house across the lake are pretty nice too. I love the striking red roof contrasted with the white walls and snowy white mountains in the background. For some reason it reminds me of Austria and the Sound of Music. Maybe because of the mountains and the pasture?

After another short drive we came across a graveyard of drying fish heads. It is a very odd sight (at least for me) to see rows and rows of hanging fish heads, and honestly, it took me a minute to figure out what I was actually looking at. I immediately began to speculate that the meat must have been taken off and what I was seeing was the leftovers soon to be tossed out. While it is “leftovers” to some, the Icelanders have figured out how to capitalize on it. They sell the dried fish head to Africa. Yep. Someone pays money, and needs, dried fish heads.

Next up on our Reykjanes Peninsula tour was the Elf town of Hafnarfjörður (Harbor fjord) that sat on a beautiful fjord. As we drove through the town, our guide pointed out the various elf houses (large rocks in the yards and in the middle of the road) and informed us that Hafnarfjörður has one of the highest population of elves in Iceland. It is really intriguing to hear Icelanders talk about their beloved “hidden folk,” and I think it would be fun to come back and explore the museums and perhaps even take an Elf class (yes, those do exist). Unfortunately, we didn’t have time to do much exploring in that awesome charming little Elf town, and we only had a few minutes to spare for a quick restroom and snack break. Like usual, I’d suggest using the facilities here as there wasn’t another one for quite some time. Most of the shops were closed because it was Easter Monday, but there was a small corner store (tiny grocery store) open selling primarily cold beverages and snacks and the bakery had fresh pastries and hot coffee.

After leaving Hafnarfjörður, we began to wind our way through mountainous roads (more like paths wide enough for cars), and I was happy someone else was diving because I probably would have been paying to much attention to the views and to little attention to the road. After driving for a while and taking in the amazing scenery, we had made it to the largest lake on the Reykjanes Peninsula, Lake Kleifarvatn. In 2000, a large earthquake opened several new cracks that initially began to drain the lake, but since then the cracks have filled and the lake level rose again. It really is a stunning lake with the black beaches and snowy hills all around. We only had a few minutes to snap a few pictures in the brutal cold wind, and I wish we had had time to make a quick hike down to the water itself. It seems like an optimal location for a picnic lunch to me. Maybe next time.

Just around the corner from the lake is the Krýsuvík geothermal area. The Reykjanes Peninsula is filled with geothermal areas, but I think this one was especially nice. There is a new-looking boardwalk that leads you over babbling hot springs, near mud-pots, and around little eruptions bursting with stinky steam. We walked to the top of a little hill and were greeted with a stunning view of the geothermal area along with a glimpse of Lake Kleifarvatn and the snowy hills and mountains beyond. I can’t even begin to describe how awesome all the colors were, and the pictures just don’t do it justice, of course. You can’t leave the boardwalk, so the walk-able area is rather small and only takes 15- 30 minutes, but that was enough time for my fingers to become frozen, so time-wise it worked out well. Tip: The bathrooms here are closed in the winter (and that includes late March).

As we began driving again through lava fields covered with a light green moss, people starting breaking out their cameras to take more pictures. Our bus driver noticed, so he kindly pulled over so we could hop out and see the delicate moss up close. It was so beautiful will all of the colors and textures. The moss is extremely slow growing and fragile, so we were advised to not walk on it and only take pictures from the road. Supposedly you can tell how long the moss has been there by the thickness of it and how much rain/snow there has been based on the color, but I’m not so wise in the moss knowledge area, and I just think it is pretty.

From there we kept driving through the lava fields, and when we hit the Atlantic Ocean we turned right and headed towards the fishing town of Grindavik. Our guide was evidently a fisherman before he was a tour guide, but he dealt with really bad cases of sea sickness, so now he is more than happy to stay on the land and tell tourists stories of his fishing. It didn’t take us long to reach Grindavik, and we drove all along the docks looking at the different types of fishing boats and he explained how they packed the fish in ice and which boat caught what type of fish. He had interesting stories, but honestly, I kept zoning out and searching for anything that looked like the cafe we were supposed to stop at for lunch. I was starving and I’m sure the whole shuttle bus could hear my stomach grumbling.

When we finally got to the quaint little cafe (Bryggjan) sitting right at the water’s edge, I knew we were in for a treat. The owner had a little room on the second floor set up just for us. The only items the cafe served were cakes, coffees, teas, water, bread, lobster soup, and vegetable soup. And let me tell you, for around $15, I got the best lobster soup I have ever eaten in my entire life. Scratch that. It was the best soup I’ve ever eaten in my entire life! It also came with delicious homemade bread, creamy butter, and pure Icelandic water. Melissa got the vegetable soup and said it was great too, though I’m sure it couldn’t have been as good as my lobster soup…lol

On the way to our next destination, we were told the story about a witch named Guðrún. The local judge, Vilhjálmur, was her neighbor, and when he took her cooking pot as payment for a debt, Guðrún became very angry and swore she would get revenge. Years went by though and nothing happened. Then poor old Guðrún died. Shortly after, Vilhjálmur was found dead with his body mangled and bruised. This scared the locals, and they suspected Guðrún had turned into a powerful apparition, so they had the pastor guard Vilhjálmur’s dead body. The pastor fought the ghost of Guðrún all night keeping her from the body, and she became even angrier and more powerful. Soon after, the widow of Vilhjálmur died, and again the locals blamed the ghost of Guðrún. Guðrún became so powerful she created a disturbance in the whole area, and the people were becoming very afraid of her. So, the locals asked for the help from a well known pastor. He gave the villagers a ball of yarn and told them to give one end to the draug (undead creature) of Guðrún and the ball of yarn will then take her away. The ball rolled into a large fumarole, and that’s where the Guðrún now lives. And this is how our destination, Gunnuhver (Gunn fumarole), got its name. (Gunn is a nickname for Guðrún),

As we stepped off the bus, we were once again smacked in the face with the strong scent of sulfur. You would think by this point I would be used to the stench, but I wasn’t. And I worried that I’d never be able to get the foul smell out of my clothes. But it was a fleeting concern as I was soon captivated by the landscape. We were on a different planet. I was sure of it. We had left the moss covered lava fields behind and entered a world covered in red and yellow dirt and rocks and white steam.

Out in the distance you could see a geothermal power plant which was cool. Another thing added to my “next time in Iceland” list is touring one of the plants as geothermal power provides 26% of nation’s electricity.

A short hike away from Gunnuhver (though we took our shuttle bus) is the very tip of Reykjanes peninsula where the Mid-Atlantic ridge rises above sea level. Our guide stopped long enough for us to take a short hike to the top of a cliff with out-of-this-world views. The trail to the top looks steep, but it is really just a 5 minute walk and isn’t that bad. And once you reach the top, you will feel like you are on the top of the world. The Atlantic Ocean stretched out before you (if you go straight south you won’t hit land until you reach Antarctica), and to both sides you have amazing views of ocean waves crashing into the dark cliffs swarming with migratory birds.

At the bottom of the cliffs and back towards the shuttle bus, there is a large bronze statue of a flightless bird, a Great Auk. It faces out to sea, and if you follow its gaze you will see Eldey, a small rock island. This was where the last 2 confirmed Great Auks were killed in on July 3, 1844.

After another short drive along the Reykjanes Peninsula, we came to the bridge between the continents. Just as on the Golden Circle Tour, we were given the opportunity to walk between the Eurasian and North American tectonic plates, but here there was a bridge that crossed the divide. It didn’t really look like much. There was just a crack in a rock with gray sandy dirt filling the void below. But it was fascinating. How cool is it that I got to take a picture of Melissa standing on the Eurasian plate while I was on the North American plate. Maybe it is just the nerd coming out of me, but I think it is mind blowing to stand between two tectonic plates.

The last stop on our Reykjanes Peninsula day tour is by far the most popular attraction on the Reykjanes Peninsula if not all of Iceland, The Blue Lagoon. We had the option of leaving the tour at this point to enjoy the evening at the lagoon, but since we already experienced The Blue Lagoon a couple days earlier (read The Blue Lagoon post) we instead jumped at the chanced to use the clean and free toilets and then took the shuttle bus back to Reykjavik. The Blue Lagoon is truly an awesome experience, and I would have gone again had it not been so expensive, (around $45 not including bus transfer, food, towel, etc).

Dinner in Reykjavik:

Once back in Reykjavik, it was time for dinner. And not just any dinner, an exotic dinner. A couple guys staying at our hostel and the hostel receptionist recommended that we check out Tapas Barinn, so that is what we did. It is by no means a budget restaurant, but I was determined to try some Puffin and Minke Whale, and you can’t exactly find them at the budget friendly hot dog stand. I know that a lot of people might have a problem with eating cute birds and whale, so it is up to you whether you try it or not or whether you approve of me eating it or not. I’m not here to talk you into doing it, but I will say that these animals are NOT endangered (at least at the time I ate them 🙂

The $16 puffin tapas came out first. It was smoked and served in a pile of cold chunks with a blueberry and brennivin sauce and small salad. The salad was by far the best thing on the platter. The second best was the blueberry sauce. The smoked puffin was edible and tasted like a very gamey chicken that had been heavily marinated in berries and then chilled. I think I would have almost enjoyed it if there had only been a few pieces, but I had to eat an entire pile of the stuff (minus the tiny piece that Mel tried).

After the puffin, I was looking forward to the Minke Whale. It was seared on the outside and pink in the middle. It looked like a tiny steak in a pool of something orange. I never could figure out what it was resting on. The menu described it as “cranberry and malt sauce”, but that isn’t what it looked like or tasted like to me. But anyways, the whale itself not only looked like steak, but it kind of tasted like steak too. A very rich and gamey steak and not fishy at all. I’m not a huge steak person (I can think of 2 steaks in my entire life that I actually liked), and I’m even less of a fan of the gamey taste. So needless to say, I had a hard time choking it down. But I finished all of it, because I wasn’t about to let an $18 tiny piece of whale go to waste. Thank God for the delish table bread to cover up the taste!

Am I glad I tried the puffin and whale? Absolutely!! Would I try it again? Probably not.

The dinner left me less than satisfied, and with a lot of stores (mainly the alcohol store…) and restaurants closed for Easter Monday, we had little choice but to return to our hostel. Melissa is the greatest though and had packed a bag of microwavable popcorn, and we both had a box of chocolate milk that we picked up earlier at the grocery store. YAY for ending the day with buttery popcorn and chocolate milk. It was the perfect way to end our Reykjanes Peninsula day! And, I will never travel again without a bag of popcorn. What a great travel tip!