“Ah, you silly Americans!” says Iceland in good English with a cute accent. “You think you got some wind yesterday? Ha! I’ll show you wind!” And so Iceland did. I have never felt sustained winds like those we encountered today. We know for sure (based on weather data) that one place we were had sustained winds of 38 mph. We’re pretty sure that on top of a volcanic crater in the middle of a lava plain facing the ocean, we must have had sustained winds of 50 mph. It totally messed with my windblown hair.

But I get ahead of myself. We got to the Snaefellsness Peninsula early, and headed to the northeast part of the area (the land overall juts into the ocean into the west, so this was the “upper right” part). We were again amazed at Iceland weather. Everyone not in California or Florida always says, “If you don’t like the weather, wait a minute.” These people have not been to Iceland. Coming from the south, in the space of about fifty miles, we had areas of misting rain, clearing, real rain, clearing, and misting rain again. We came over a mountain pass to get to the northeast, and we pulled over at a viewpoint to enjoy the view and to eat some brownies we had brought from the bakery in Borgarnes. When we got there, it was cloudy with patches of sun, but very windy. Then it clouded over. Then it started to mist and we got back in the car. Then it rained hard. I think we were stopped for less than ten minutes. When we drove away, we drove out of the rain within three or four miles. The end result of the constantly changing weather was that we decided just to tour and assume things would work out. Generally, they did, with any rain we encountered usually stopping after a few minutes of our arriving at a place we wanted to see.

Back to the northeast part of the peninsula. We pulled off on a side road at a sign proclaiming “The Shark Museum,” a museum showing how shark is caught and processed, and offering a taste of shark to tourists. But we were there about thirty minutes early, so I took the opportunity to drive a small dirt ring road along the ocean. It was sunny, but there was mist blowing in from the mountains, so we saw the brightest and closest (and full) rainbow either of us had ever seen. We saw multiple rainbows today, but this early one was spectacular.

We got to the museum a little after 10:00, and it was very much a family affair. The museum itself was one large room with family artifacts and a short video showing how they process shark. The same family has been catching Greenland sharks since about 1600. The sharks used to be caught for their liver oil (a Greenland shark liver weighs about 300 pounds), but the meat made people ill, until they buried it for six weeks and then dried it. I can imagine how that went:

“Gunnar! Every time I eat shark it makes me sick!”
“I know, Einar! It is too bad. We have so much meat.”
“Gunnar! If it makes me sick when it is fresh, maybe it will be okay to eat if I bury it in the ground for six weeks!”
“Einar! You are a genius! But, to be safe, after you dig it up from the ground, you should hang it in the air for three months, and then try eating it.”

Obviously, this is fictional. The original conversation would have been in Icelandic.

The motherly figure showing us around was very friendly, and when she got to the tasting, she acted as if of course we wanted some shark. Because she was so nice, and because it would shame Meredith into eating some, I actually tried a small piece. It was, technically speaking, not good. I saw a “tourist reaction” sheet at the door that showed the touristic stages of trying shark, and it ended with, “What in the name of all that is holy and good is that taste?” I agree with that sentiment.

Meredith thought it was okay.

After a quick photo stop of the small church on the farm, we headed along the main road going west, until we got to our first major waterfall on the peninsula, Grundarfoss. Grundarfoss is a large waterfall cascading 200 feet off of a mountain, with a dramatic ridge framing one side. You can walk up fairly close to the falls through a sheep pasture, with a walk of about three quarters of a mile. That involved jumping a small creek. Happily, at that point, we were committed, so Meredith successfully tried the leap. The rain let up as we got to the falls, and the wind died down considerably, so we spent a good ten minutes there looking around. As Meredith likes to say, Iceland is a 360-degree country:  there are views in all directions. As we wandered out, the wind and rain came back, so we were happy to get back to the car and the heated seats. I’ve not before given thought to wind chill temperatures in July, but I have now. For those curious, 50 degrees with 35 mph winds feels like 41, which I think feels even colder when you get wet.

We drove the short distance to the town of Grundarfjorthur, where we would be staying the next two nights. No one was in at our hotel; we’ve been worried at the increase in numbers of places that have check-in via a “call us” number posted, especially since the cell phone we keep in our car is a U.S.-only plan – it doesn’t work in Iceland, so that may make things harder as we go along. For now, we moved on out of town to a highly visited falls/mountain combination – Kirkjufell (the mountain) and Kirkjufellfoss (the falls).

You can hike out to the falls from a parking lot, and get a picture of the falls and a dramatic stand-alone mountain in the same shot. It is on tons of post cards, and has been used (so Meredith tells me via Rick Steves) in the Game of Thrones TV series. It is easy to see why – even in the on-again, off-again mist we were in, it was a beautiful spot. There were mountains around, the falls, the lone mountain, the town spread out, and the ocean.

After lunch at a very cute café on down the road, we continued our whirl-windy tour by stopping at the Saxholl volcanic crater. Saxholl is a fairly small mountain at 300 feet, but it towers above the lava plains around it, and is open to the sea. There are also stairs that let you climb to the top. So up we went, even in the ever increasing wind. It was a fairly happening place, with a dozen or so cars in the lot. We met some people coming down, so when we got to the wind-tunnel top, there were about eight of us up there. We were all laughing at having to brace against strong wind gusts above the normal gale. It was indeed a bracing experience. The views were grand, but there was something about feeling the power of nature on top of a former power of nature that made us a little giddy.

On to another volcanic crater, but a less active one for us. The Holaholar Crater is one you can actually drive into. There are no views of the surrounding country, but the road takes you to a spot that creates a wonderful frame of the mountains as backdrop outside the crater.

Djupalonssandur, a black sand beach, was next on the list. A surprisingly full parking lot was at the end of a mile-long single-track road. I knew from the crowds and the first collection of sight-attached free bathrooms that we were somewhere important to the local economy. A dramatic path led down through a lava field to a beach of black lava pebbles and sand. The crashing surf was wrapped on each side by huge rock formations and cliffs. It was raining steadily as we walked down to the beach, but let up after a couple of minutes down there. We lingered for ten minutes or so, and went back on another path. Before we went back to the car, we climbed a boardwalk to the top of an observation platform on a hill overlooking the beach for a grand view of where we had been.

You may think this sounds like a full day, and it was, but Meredith was in charge, so we had another stop. After a quick stop at a commemorative statue to a local woman whom the sagas say traveled as far as North America (where she gave birth to a child) and to Rome, we finished the day at Arnarstapi. Arnarstapi is a small collection of buildings near a very small harbor, but it boasts some great boardwalk walks along the edges of cliffs where arctic terns nest and where you get grand views of rock formations. We walked the boardwalks, and Meredith decided we could take the cliff walk to the small village of Hellnar. Rick Steves recommended it, and it started out on an easy path. That gave way at the lava field to a rough path of fist-sized stones. Add in some drizzle and rain and wind, and the walk was tough at times. It all cleared up at the far end, and the sun even came out a little for the return walk, which seemed much shorter. Happily, Iceland threw in some more drizzle right at the end so that we would appreciate our car’s heated seats.

We came back to town over another mountain pass, but this one was cloud/mist-bound, so we didn’t see to much. Our hotel was still locked and unstaffed, but a kind woman at a restaurant let us use her cell phone, so we got checked in okay. Some food at 8:00 pm helped shore up morale.

It was a long but good day. Touring around is wonderful and beautiful, but it ain’t no breeze.