We landed in the rain around 1:00 AM, and that was a preview of what was to come for the next four days. The shuttle bus to the car rentals was not operating at this time. It took a while for us to locate the Blue Car Rental office. It was not too far, but we had to walk in the cold. Following the instructions in the email from Zero Car, we picked up the keys and located the car—a silver Kia Rio. We loaded our bags and headed towards Reykjavík. We reached our hotel, Hilton Reykjavik Nordica.
We were going to stay here for three nights. There was ample parking in front of the hotel. It was not far from the city center and offered easy access to highways to get out into the countryside. We had informed the hotel in advance of our late arrival, and the check-in process was smooth. The room was typical and had all the standard amenities available. It was late, so we got to our room and quickly went to sleep.
We had a relaxed start the next morning. Based on the weather predictions we had been tracking, we were trying to avoid the rain as much as possible. Today, we were headed to the Snæfellsnes Peninsula. It was nice to see the varied landscapes as we left the city and drove north.
Passing through the Hvalfjörður Tunnel was a pleasant surprise because we didn’t know there was a tunnel on this route. We continued to head north, crossing Þjóðvegur. This was the brightest it was all day. Unfortunately for us, from this point onwards, it got grayer and grayer.
Our first stop was the Selvallavatn View Point. There was parking off the road, and walking further down, we had a nice view of Lake Selvallavatn and the hills behind it.
Driving further, we saw the lava rock formations. It was a huge area of moss-covered lava rocks on both sides of the road. This wasn’t like anything we’d seen before.
Next, we drove across the Kolgrafarfjörður bridge and got some nice views of the sea. We also stopped at the Kolgrafarfjörður View Point, but the low clouds prevented us from having a magnificent view of the tall mountains behind the water.
We made a quick stop at Grundarfoss. It was a long walk from the parking area to get closer to the falls. The clouds were so low that we couldn’t even see the snow-capped mountains behind them.
We then stopped to see the famous Kirkjufell Mountain. There was a farm right next to it where there were a few Icelandic horses. We waited for a while for the clouds to move but didn’t get a clear view of the top of the mountain. It didn’t look like the sky was going to clear up anytime soon, so we headed toward our next stop, Arnarstapi.
We stopped at the Búlandshöfði View Point on the way to take in the fantastic views of the Atlantic Ocean. The drive toward Arnarstapi was amazing, with almost no traffic. By the time we reached there, it was very cold and windy.
We looked around for something to eat and decided on chicken quesadillas and fish & chips at the FRISTA Food Truck. It was too cold and windy to use the picnic tables, so we headed back to the car and ate inside. It felt nice to eat hot food in that weather.
We walked to the Monument to the Bard of Snæfellsás and then along the path to see Gatklettur. Soon it started to rain a little, and we decided to skip seeing the Stone Bridge and the Arnarstapi Lighthouse, heading back toward Reykjavík instead.
We took a small detour from our return route to Búðakirkja, and it was nice to see the church we had seen in pictures so often. Most people were there for a quick photo stop, but one couple in a camper van was literally in and out in less than two minutes. The sky was still overcast, but I could imagine how nice this little black church would have looked with a bright blue sky and fresh green grass.
The drive back was uneventful. Getting closer to Reykjavík we decided to end the day with a visit to Laugardalslaug a public swimming pool close to our hotel.
The drive back was uneventful. Getting closer to Reykjavík, we decided to end the day with a visit to Laugardalslaug, a public swimming pool close to our hotel. We bought our entrance tickets and were each given a bracelet to cross the turnstile and access the lockers in the gender-segregated changing rooms.
The pools are filled with geothermal water, which contains no chlorine. To maintain cleanliness and hygiene, everyone had to shower naked and wash themselves thoroughly before getting into the water. Having experienced Finnish saunas in Helsinki and a Japanese onsen in Ibusuki before, this didn’t seem as intimidating or awkward to me now.
There were two large heated pools—one to do laps and another for kids to play in with a slide. There were also a couple of smaller pool areas and various hot tubs ranging from 40 to 44 degrees. There was also a steam room. It was nice to swim a few laps in the warm water and enjoy the hot tubs. It was a great way to end our day after visiting the cold, wet, and windy Snæfellsnes Peninsula. We headed back to the hotel and called it a night.