Our travels around this peninsula continued to be quite rainy and eerily foggy. Yet the weather brought such a cool atmosphere to the surrounding landscapes. It accentuated the lava fields’ strange shapes and created beautiful contrasts between the rock and moss. It made the scattered pieces of a shipwreck on a deserted beach seem like they were bringing a story to life. It gave the black pebbles an even more ominous glow and the monstrous waves even more frightening. In some ways, the weather was absolutely perfect for the mystical scenery that we explored here.

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Among the many things to marvel at in Snæfellsjokull National Park is the Saxhóll Crater, a beautifully formed crater that erupted 3-4,000 years ago. The crater rises 109m above sea level and a short walk up to the rim of the crater gives a traveler 360 degree views of the park.

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Dritvík and Djúpalónssandur, a lava wonderland that leads to an absolute gorgeous black pebble beach. A full day could easily be spent here just listening to the monstrous waves crash up on the jagged cliffs and glide up on the shiny pebbles. Many sagas, tales, and history are strongly connected with this beach and many shipwrecks have happened in this area. Iron remains are scattered on this beach from a British trawler, Epine GY 7, which was wrecked east of Dritvík on 13 March 1948. Only 5 of the 19 crew members were saved. The pieces are protected and kept untouched as a reminder of the brave fishermen from England. Another fascinating thing you will find here are the lifting stones. Each with a different name and weight, they were used to measure the strength of the fisherman. Only those who could lift the Half-Carrier (54kg) onto a platform that was hip level would be eligible to be an oarsmen.

 

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