Iceland Day 8 - West to SNÆFELLSNES (July 2nd, 2017)

March 21, 2021

Iceland Day 8 - West to SNÆFELLSNES (July 2nd, 2017)

We started our day as usual with the breakfast buffet. The chef featured horse steak and rhubarb with yogurt today. Coffee was served in a large thermos reminding us of northern China. We took our time to enjoy the breakfast and the main crowd was the same German tourists from last night. The day started kind of gloomy as usual with a bit of drizzle. We will be heading further west to the Snaefellsnes Peninsula today and our overnight stay will be at Fosshotel Stykkisholmur.

Horse Steak

Big Thermos of coffee to start the day

Lamb Steak

Ham, cheese, and toast, MM keeping it simple

How does this work?

Rhubarb with yogurt, toast and jam

Farm potatoes

Cheese bar

Porridge

House special - rhubarb with yogurt

Atlantic salmon

After breakfast, we headed back to our room to pack up our stuff. We took a few photos at a small traditional nordic farm house by the cafe before we headed out. As we headed out there was no one on the road. We stopped right in the middle of the road to take more photos of ourselves, the Icelandic horses, and the cotton-candy like horse hay laid around the pasture.

Gloomy Icelandic day

By the Nordic farm house

Horses grazing

No one is around us, only hay

MM's turn

After reluctantly leaving our hotel, we were heading to our first stop - a sea stack formation named Hvitserkur about a 80 miles further west from Hofsttadir. As we started to head towards Hvitserkur, we decided to stop by Helluland again to take more portrait photos of the Icelandic horses. We politely asked the keepers if we could take more photos of the horses and they politely said no problem. We observed the horses in the corral and snapped away with my Canon 6D.

Yes, back at Helluland

By the corral

After leaving Helluland, we were finally heading to Hvitserkur which is located on the western side of Hunafordur. We stopped by the town of Blonduos to check out the futuristic and volcanic inspired Blonduos Church and finally reached the sea stack of Hvitserkur. Our timing was good because it was low tide so we could walk right up to Hvitserkur from the seaside cliff. However, I was having some ankle pain that day so I did not walk down the sea side cliff to Hvitserkur with rest of the gang.

Volcanic inspired Church at Blonduos

At Hvitserkur

Low tide at Hvitserkur

Hvitserkur

Hvitserkur, low tide

Yes, we made it down here

It looks like an elephant

The 15 meter basalt stack

Made it back up

After a short visit to the basalt sea stack, we were heading further west. Our next pit stop was the fishing village of Hvammstangi where we would get a quick lunch.

Our usual Icelandic lunch - pylsur

In front of the Icelandic Seal Center at Hvammstangi

Fish drying rack at Hvammstangi

Dried fish

Making a pit stop at a local market at Hvammstangi

After making the quick lunch pit stop at Hvammstangi, we continued west towards Snaefellsnes. The sun was shining through the clouds as the day went on. As we winded our way through the fjords, we would make another pit stop before heading to the Snaefellsnes area. We would stop at Erpsstadir, the "Ice Cream Valley" of Iceland for some homemade ice cream. We would stop at Rjomabuid, a dairy farm that produces various products and of course home made artisan ice cream.

Excited for some afternoon ice cream at Rjomabuid farm

Outside the ice cream shop

Our picks for the day

Sunshine and ice cream

Trying the mocha flavor

Mission accomplished

MM enjoying some trampoline time after the snack

... and some swing time

By the later afternoon, the sun was shining through the sky. We finally made our way to the Snaefellsnes area. We stopped to take in the serene scene of the western Peninsula and finally reached the town of Stykkisholmur at the north side of Snaefellsnes.

Taking in the rocky coast line of Snaefellsnes

Hvammsfjordur is in view

Glacier and fjord

Dirt road

Welcome to Snaefellsnes

Rocky coast of Snaefellsnes

I'm not wearing my hat

We are here - Fosshotel Stykkisholmur

After freshening up a bit at the hotel, we headed out to explore the town of Stykkisholmur. Stykkisholmur has a vibrant fishing industry. We headed to the harbor and watched the fishing boat unload crates of exotic fish. The temperature was still somewhat cold but the sun felt warm. We strolled around the harbor and located the restaurant - Narfeyrarstofa for dinner.

Basking in the afternoon sun at Stykkisholmur harbor

Watching the fisherman hard at work

The locals show us the fresh catch

Fresh catch from the north Atlantic

Sea urchin

That's not for dinner

Crates are lifted off the boat and processed

Iceland's fishing industry hard at work

We were told this is lumpfish and mainly used for harvesting caviar

How much caviar can this make?

Crates of fresh catch was processed

Enjoying the afternoon sun

The boat statue by the harbor

Great view of the seafaring town

The harbor and the glacier

We can see the lighthouse from harbor but we decided to have dinner first before we hike up the lighthouse.

Narfeyrarstofa by the harbor

What's on the menu?

Freshly baked bread

Scallop and cream mussel soup

Cheese and scallops

Fresh catch

Linguine with shrimp

Mussel and fries

Chocolate coated strawberry and vanilla ice cream

Lava cake

After our satisfying seafood dinner, we were ready to take on the hill hike to the lighthouse of Stykkisholmur. We walked across the causeway from the harbor to the hill where the lighthouse is located. We took the steep steps up the hill to take in the commanding view of Stykkisholmur. On top of this hill, we have a panoramic view of the Breidarfjordur, the body of water that separates Snaefellsnes from the remote West Fjords region.

Commanding view of the harbor

Hiking up

MM enjoying the hike

Made it to the lighthouse

Taking in the view from high up

Can you see me?

Can you still see me?

The sun is dipping in the west

The lone fishing boat

Can we wait until the midnight sun?

Stykkisholmur viewed from the lighthouse

After taking in the view at the lighthouse, we decided to visit one more site - Helgafell, or the Holy Mountain. This 73 meter tall small mountain is located just outside Stykkisholmur. According to the Icelandic Saga, Þórólfr Mostrarskegg built a temple for Thor on top of this mountain. After visiting this site, we retrieved to our hotel to take in the view of town and called it a night.