We had a fabulous day! It started with a delicious continental breakfast and then a leisurely 10AM start – had to wait for the sun to rise! The parking lot looks pretty treacherous, but the roads weren’t too bad.

We set off along the southern shore of the peninsula with the idea that we might be able to also complete the northern side. Almost next door to our hotel was one of the many greenhouses that Iceland has to produce fresh vegetables year round, despite short growing days.

The scenery of the mountains and the shoreline was spectacular. 

Our first stop was Buoir, and the black church  Buoakirkja. Originally built on this spot in 1703 it was demolished and in 1816 the parish was abolished. Steinunn Sveinsdottir, one of the ladies of the parish fought strongly for a new church, but the national church rejected her request. Eventually Steinunn received a royal permission to build a new church which stood ready in 1848. A quote on the door bell says “this church was built in 1848 without the support of the spiritual fathers“. Between 1984-86 the church was reconstructed and consecrated in 1987. The church bell are from 1672, an altar piece from 1750, and the door bell from 1703. It is protected and one of the oldest wooden churches in Iceland.

More stunning scenery as we continued westward to include many lava fields.

The village of Arnarstapi.

Snaefellsjokull at 1,446 meters.

We decided to turn around and head for tonight’s destination at Laugarvatn – a good 3 hour drive in good conditions, but I could see that snow would be settling in at around 2PM. Our original route was impossible due to impassable roads and we debated between another shorter route or going via Reyjjavik for an extra 30-45 minutes. There is a fabulous website www.road.is that updates the condition of the roads in winter from open to impassable and spots of ice, slippery, snowy in between. We went for the shorter route and drove in white out on snowy roads (perfectly fine with our 4×4 and snow tires). Arriving at our hotel, Hotel Heradskollinn, it was like a winter wonderland.

This was a former boarding school built in 1928 and meticulously converted using many of the old furnishings.

We immediately changed into our swimsuits and set off to walk down the hill to the amazing Fontana Therman Baths (this picture does not do them justice!) There are four or five pools with different temperatures.

a better depiction of how lovely it is on their sign.

As usual with flights from the U.S. to Europe we touched down at about 6AM. It was a surprisingly full flight for the Saturday of Thanksgiving weekend, but also pleasantly short at just under five hours. Immigration during COVID times went smoothly with all our pre-registrations, certificates and test results in order.

The forecast was for a gloomy, rainy day and as we set off in the dark at about 9:30AM we wondered whether there would even be any day light, but slowly the sky turned from black to pale grey.

We made our way up the west coast making a stop in Borganes to visit The Settlement Center and learned about Iceland’s first Viking settlers in the 10th century.

Onward to our hotel at the gateway to the Snaeffelsnes peninsula. We drove through rain and snow mix, and visibility of the surrounding mountains was limited, but the desolate scenery with occasional grazing flocks of sheep or herds of ponies huddled against the elements was quite beautiful.

Our hotel, Rjukandi, situated on its own at a road junction, is quite lovely and has a warm and cozy cafe and restaurant where we’ll enjoy a good dinner this evening.