Reykjanes Peninsula

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Planning this trip, I only had a couple days before I needed to return to work, so I planned a couple roadtrips around the Reykjanes Peninsula. This is an area near Reykjavik, but much of it is not as well known to tourists as the Ring Road, Golden Circle and Blue Lagoon. The first day, J and A joined me. A, who is Icelandic, had never visited some of these places himself, so he also enjoyed it.

Day 1

Our first stop was the Bridge Between Two Continents. Iceland straddles the boundary between the North American and Eurasian Plates, which is spreading. Over this part of Iceland, the boundary is in a roughly NE-SW direction, as you'll see later with some of the geothermal locations. You can actually see it from the plane - dark lines running across the land. Even if you go up to þingvellir National Park, the rifts are NE-SW as the overall rift is actually about 5-6 km wide and has filled in with sands and lava and whatever over time. It starts to veer more into a N-S direction as you go further east and north on the island. Anyway, here, they have built a small pedestrian bridge just a short walk from a parking area where you can visualize the two continents' plates separation. It is pretty cool, and filled in with black sand; I love the sand here, it is like the cleanest sand in the world, very few fines (silt, clay).

Next stop was Gunnuhver Hot Springs. This is a small geothermal area near the edge of the peninsula. A Danish botanist / journalist and his Latvian wife built a place here in the 1930's intending to use the geothermal energy for cultivation; you can see the foundations of a building here. You will also see them mentioned at another location further inland with the same goal, but they moved back to Denmark just before WWII broke out. The name is derived from a ghost, supposedly of a woman "Gunna" who was kicked off the land for failing to pay her rent. There is a parking area for about 10-12 cars below and a short walking platform through the main fumoroles - it is such a pretty landscape with the variety of colors. It looks like there is even more areas to walk if you have the time.

Instead we drove next past the Reykjanes Lighthouse, which you can walk to otherwise, and ended up on Valahnukamol, where you can stand along the basaltic sea cliffs, see some birds, and see the location highlighted early in the film Eurovision. We walked along the path for a while, even down some stairs on the other side of the cliffs. We saw where the remains of the previous lighthouse are, but we were not allowed to hike up the slopes apparently. Leaving back from the way we came in, we had passed this large building structure which I assumed was part of a geothermal plant. Instead, A said that it was a fish farm, where they farmed fish from Madagascar and exported them from here. Interesting.

Next stop was the Brimketill lava pool. This is also along the cliffs and subject to the impact of large waves - we noted there was evidence that waves went well above the cliffs probably from strong storms. There were a couple of locations which probably could be considered a pool, but we walked along the elevated walk way for views of the cliffs and sea. It was lovely.

At this point, we had been gone for over two hours, so we decided to drive to Grindavik where we relaxed in the local hot pools for about 45 minutes. I love these local places- much cheaper than Blue Lagoon and well organized, almost like a school pool, which I think it was a community center. They had two hot pools around 44 degrees Celsius as well as barrel for icewater plunge - we saw a couple of crazy girls do this. It also seemed like there were one or two saunas and then a large swimming pool. All of this was outside of course, which was freezing the moment we stepped out of the changing rooms. When you change into your swimsuit, before you go to the pool, you are required to shower thoroughly, particularly cleaning your armpits, feet and groin areas. When we walked outside we almost ran the 30m to the hot pools, which we had mostly to ourselves while we chatted and enjoyed. Coming back through the cold air was not nearly so bad. One of my favorite things is 'drying' my swimsuit. You put into this little vibrating machine for a few minutes and it is only slightly damp when you remove it. Then we visited Cafe Bryggjan for lunch, each of us getting soup. I had the lobster bisque - it comes with bread and you can have a refill. It hit the spot.

Then, A headed back to help take care of the baby who he had left with his mom. J and I continued on to hike to the recently erupted Fagradalsfjall Volcano - this erupted first in March-September 2021, then again in August 2022 (my friend V went there with her stepfather - so jealous!). From the parking lot there is a path about 1.5-2 km long that will take you to the edge of the lava flow. You can keep walking up the slope to get better views, but we had a busy day and I know J wanted to get back to the baby. We spent much of the walk just talking and catching up, so it was a great hour or so.

Our next and final stop of the day was to the Seltún Geothermal park. This was really cool and in a neat location. There is a nice parking area for many cars and even buses, with the geothermal area to the west and views of the lake to the northeast. This one was very colorful and a bit more crowded than the one from earlier. Again, a nice walking path through the fumuroles and hot springs, with stairs taking you up further for better views. You can actually hike a little higher up into the hills, which you can see steaming from there and from the drive - pretty much the whole area is geothermal in nature. It was beautiful with amazing, vivid colors.

Then we headed back to Reykjavik where I dropped J off and I went back to my hotel to have a glass of wine and some snacks in the executive lounge. The sunset this evening was beautiful as it was a clearer day - 9pm it was still quite light and still setting sun around 10pm, when I finally went to bed.

Day 2

The next day was my last day and I took it easy, reading some more and having a delicious breakfast at a normal hour. I had booked a visit to the lava tube at 2pm and had a few other places I wanted to visit, but I did not want to leave too early and be bored, nor did I want to be too ambitious and be rushed. So, I left around 11am and drove east.

My first stop of the day was to another geothermal area, located right on the side of the main road, Route 1. Hveradalir means "valley of hot springs" and is a geothermal area that extends from the Hengill volcano. It is part of the Hengill high temperature area which continues the NE-SW trend. There was a pathway through the area where you can get up close to a mud pot, formed from decayed rocks due to chemical weathering from acidic seam - indeed, it was interesting to see how close I was when splashes of mud popped up! There are fumeroles and included a high pressure steam vent near the walkway - again, so close! Then of course hot springs throughout. This was by far the most colorful with the mineral depositions: yellow (sulfur), red (iron / hematite), grey (clay), and gypsum (white), not to mention the green hillsides, snow covered mountains in the distance, and blue sky. This is also one location the Danish botanist and his Latvian wife lived, again cultivating plants using the geothermal energy; however, locals discovered the recreational benefits of the hot springs and with the proximity of the nearby ski resort, the couple relocated.

You can also visit the local geothermal plant, which has a "Geothermal Energy Exhibition" - I really should have left earlier to visit it. But it was really cool to see the various pipelines crossing the landscape all over here. Side note: A few days after I visited, apparently a new ho spring opened up beneath the busy road and is essentially melting the asphalt. Nothing too dangerous, but they are monitoring it.

I continued on over the mountain pass, which was so interesting to see without it being covered in snow like the last two times I visited - one of those was a bit of a dangerous drive in the dark! So, I stopped for a few minutes at a lookout point where there were some snow flurries before heading down and to my next stop: Keriđ Crater. Kerid was formed about 6,500 years ago and is part of the Grimsnes area in the Western Volcanic Zone, with other nearby craters and lava fields. It is a nice oval shape with beautiful blue water and red soils and rock. I noticed the red soils as I was driving toward it - such a stark difference in color but is apparently typical of the volcanic fields in this area. I actually would be interested in touring this area in more detail in the future, as there are other craters nearby. This is the first place I was actually charged any money, from the local owners. I only stayed about 30 minutes, walking around the rim and taking some photos. I think 40 minutes to an hour is a typical time to be expected here. I continued my drive to make my next stop, taking me south along the ocean and a long bridge, but otherwise, very flat and not much to see here.

My last stop of the day and the trip was the one I was most looking forward to: Raufarholshellir, a lava tube you can hike into. I booked this only a few days before and you have to book a time slot. Buses can pick you up in Reykjavik (about 30 minute drive) as part of a tour, or if you are on your own, there are one hour time slots throughout the day. It used to be free, but due to inconsiderate people, garbage accumulation and safety incidents led to guided tours only. So, I arrived, and checked in, then they gave us crampons and hard hat with headlamp, for safety. You enter the tunnel and at first you see the 'skylights' - areas where the roof of the tunnel collapsed, giving the tube its name which is something like, the holes made from the crack in the ground or something. As our guide said, Icelandic is very literal. The tunnel is the fourth largest in Iceland at about 4,500ft (1,360m) long, and about 10 km from the Leitahraun eruption that formed it about 5,600 years ago.

We were lucky on timing as it was a nice day, so no rain, but there were still ice stalagmites throughout the first portion due to the melting snow which came in through the skylights. It was just beautiful. There is some lighting along the tunnel and a raised walkway, but it was still a bit icy, so in some areas I took my time. There are various colors formed from the basaltic magma, so heavily reddish hues, with some yellow and green (olivine). There is also a white, shiny substance in areas, particularly on the ceiling which are actually microbial mats, which is studied as they interestingly feed off the minerals. At the end of the accessible tunnel there is a platform, but if you book a 3-hour tour, you can hike in farther, though it is recommended for serious hikers / cavers only. On this final platform, they occasionally host invite only parties or even concerts. Here, our guide turned off the lights, plunging us into absolute pitch black - it was awesome and a bit disorienting as there is no light source whatsoever. After this, we were allowed to take our time on the hike back and take as many photos as we wanted. It was a perfect experience!

I made my way back to my hotel, getting some ice cream as you have to do at least once in Iceland. I then packed and got some sleep as I had to get up early to head to the airport. My flight was at 7:30, so I left the hotel at 4am. It was interesting because you could kind of see the sun starting to rise, but it was weird because it did not seem directly east. I got to Enterprise, dropped my keys in the drop off box and since it was so early, no shuttles were running (even though many flights were leaving early), so a worker at the agency drove me and others the short distance to the airport; I was in the second group and waited inside until he returned. I was to check in when I realized I forgot my tube of the maps / artwork I had purchased - and they were not cheap! Plus I loved them. So, I walked back to Enterprise, which only took about 10 minutes but was very very cold - the sunrise at this time was incredible. The guy seemed surprised, but I grabbed my tube sitting inside the door and he laughed and drove me back again.

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Comments

[D MJ Binkley]

Icelandic beauty
We love the SW side of the country.

[Ake Och Emma]

I am adding this to my list
I think I will try to squeeze this place into my own itinerary when (if) we go to Iceland. I have added it to my ever growing list of places I want to visit. /Ake

[lexispence10]

Lava tunnels
I think there are a couple of lava tunnels to choose from, but I do like how it is by appointment so you are not overwhelmed with people and can enjoy it

[Ake Och Emma]

I love thermal pools and fumaroles
I absolutely love thermal pools and fumaroles. Volcanic activity has fascinated me ever since I was a child. /Ake