Reykjavík, Ísland
Good morning. Today is the second day of the 2-day West Coast Tour. We started with a pickup at Hotel Borgones at 10:00. Yes, still dark outside, and today it is raining. The first stop is at Búðaklettur. Or, more appropriates the Black Church of Budir.
Apparently, there are images of this church on Instagram and other places. The church is incredible as it as a still fully operating church as well as it being painted black and being in the middle of no where. There is only one small hotel next to it. The church has a graveyard right by it, so you have to be careful where you step. The church offers so many different angles and perspectives if you are a photographer so get creative and capture something unique; although given how famous a landmark it is doubtful you will actually get anything unique.
The next stop is Arnarstapi a small fishing village located on the south part of Snæfellsnes peninsula. The village is located at the foot of Mount Stapafell and close to another small village called Hellnar. It is very popular to photograph the mountain and surrounded houses. Arnarstapi is one of the most popular places to visit on the Snæfellsnes peninsula not only by foreign visitors but also Icelanders who many own a summerhouse in the area.
Arnarstapi used to be an important trading post and fishing village for West Iceland but today the harbor is only used for small boats and the village has become a popular place for tourists. The harbor is exceptionally beautiful surrounded with columnar basalt and diverse birdlife. The merchant monopoly of Denmark was in effect at Arnarstapi from the year 1565 and some old houses from that time are still there. One of these houses is called the Amtmansshús which was the residence of the Danish Prefect from 1774-1787 and has now been declared a historical site.
There is a lovely hike along the beach between Arnarstapi and Hellnar. The trail is an old horse trail that goes through a lava field called Hellnahraun. The trail offers a great diversity and a beautiful nature. The lava formation along the coastline are very unique and there is a very interesting and beautiful cliff located there called Gatklettur. Most people start this walk by the statue of Bárður Snæfellsás but it can also been done from the small harbor.
Unit took about 45 minutes to take the 2.5 km walk along the shore line. Despite being told to stay on the trail because the grass very very slippery, and several people have fallen into the ocean here, wouldn’t you know some of the tourists, particularly from the far east, simply ignored their warning. Fortunately no one fell.
There is a huge statue of Bárður Snæfellsás along the trail. He is said to be the protector of Snæfellsnes. In the Icelandic Saga he is a half human and half troll and is very big as can be seen by the size of the statue. Bárður is also the settler of Snæfellsnes and he gave the name to the peninsula.
The landscape here is beautiful and rustic. In many way unique due to the lava flows. But there isn’t much else here.
From here we drove the the Snæfellsjökull National Park. Beautiful black sand beaches of Djupalónssandur. Beautiful geological formations. The waterfalls at Grundarfjörður. We didn’t get the reference but it has something to do with the Game of Thrones.
By now we have run out of daylight again as it is 15:44. It was then a bee-line back to Reykjavík. We got back in time to have dinner at Reykjavík Fish again – yes fish and chips. They are so good.
Buonanotte e ciao, Enrico e Maria
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