Day 1 - Friday 7/19/2019 - Travel Bergen Norway to Snæfellsnes Peninsula
Woke up to the alarm at 7:30 AM in Bergan, Norway. Emily was wake and alert but I was not. We got ready and packed up some then headed town to the free breakfast at 8. It was the full Norwegian free breakfast with many savory and sweet options. We were done by 8:30 or so and I decided to go to the train station and got some photos of the passenger shed. I then walked to the big park and checked it out in sunlight though we had walked around it the night before in the rain. I made it back to the hotel at 9:15. We were out the door by 9:25 and quickly checked out. We then headed to the bus station with me dragging the big red suitcase using one of my hiking belts as a handle. It was better than carrying it but man I wished the handle would work. It could be worse though and the handle break while out instead of in. We saw on a sign the bus to the airport used platform N and by the time we got there at 9:35 AM, the white and mint green Flybussen bus was already there. We stowed the two suitcases and bought two tickets to the airport. The bus did wait to leave until the posted time of 9:39, but I am glad we were a little early this morning since the next one wasn’t for 20 minutes. The city was every bit as beautiful from the bus in the sunlight and clear blue sky as we left the downtown area using a series of tunnels and bridges. It still amazes me how many tunnels this country uses for both its roads and trains. Seems like half of our bus and train rides have been in tunnels. We got our bags checked and through security simply enough. Em’s bag always gets stopped for some reason, they still haven’t found anything. The plane was on time and we left at 11:40 AM as posted and will be in Iceland at noon Icelandic time. It was a pretty full flight, but the aisle seat on our row was open!
It was a nice flight over with us arriving about 20 minutes early into Iceland at 11:40 AM, but we didn’t get a gate again, so we had to bus to the airport. We got our bags and walked to blue car rental this time via the arrivals area instead of waiting for the shuttle, which worked well! We got our car, a little Suzuki suv which was F roads rated! Too bad we weren’t close to any of the interior F roads and I don’t think the insurance covered F roads since we weren’t officially renting and F road vehicle. We drove up through Reykjavík with the goal of a little side road trip on our way to Snæfellsjökull, which included Þórufoss (waterfall), Meðalfellsvatn (lake), and long way around the Hvalfjörður Fjord.However, our first stop was at a small church on 36 outside of Reykjavík with hope we could get a good view of the mountains. It was really windy and there was clouds being blown over the tops of them and they were lit up by the sun, so pretty, but the church was too close to the foothills to get a good view.
We then continued to Þórufoss falls and hiked down to them. The stop took about 30 minutes, mostly because one of my toes was really hurting. We think it got some dirt in its corner and got a little infected so that was slowing me down all day today and really for the next few days. After our stop, we did a quick pull off at Medalfellsvatn which was a beautiful lake that was framed by mountains pretty close to Þórufoss falls.
It was a nice flight over with us arriving about 20 minutes early into Iceland at 11:40 AM, but we didn’t get a gate again, so we had to bus to the airport. We got our bags and walked to blue car rental this time via the arrivals area instead of waiting for the shuttle, which worked well! We got our car, a little Suzuki suv which was F roads rated! Too bad we weren’t close to any of the interior F roads and I don’t think the insurance covered F roads since we weren’t officially renting and F road vehicle. We drove up through Reykjavík with the goal of a little side road trip on our way to Snæfellsjökull, which included Þórufoss (waterfall), Meðalfellsvatn (lake), and long way around the Hvalfjörður Fjord.However, our first stop was at a small church on 36 outside of Reykjavík with hope we could get a good view of the mountains. It was really windy and there was clouds being blown over the tops of them and they were lit up by the sun, so pretty, but the church was too close to the foothills to get a good view.
We then continued to Þórufoss falls and hiked down to them. The stop took about 30 minutes, mostly because one of my toes was really hurting. We think it got some dirt in its corner and got a little infected so that was slowing me down all day today and really for the next few days. After our stop, we did a quick pull off at Medalfellsvatn which was a beautiful lake that was framed by mountains pretty close to Þórufoss falls.
From there we got in the road that goes up the Hvalfjörður fjord instead of taking the tunnel. The fjord was beautiful, but very windy and kept Emily on her toes while driving. We stopped at a pull off at Hvammsvík to admire the fjord and the background of the mountains with the clouds rolling over them. Later we stopped at Fossárrétt, a little water fall right by the road. A neat little stop. We set the GPS and headed for the Snaefellsnes peninsula oooing and awwwwing all the way. One of Em’s big complaints about our previous car in Iceland was the lack of cruise control, this one had it with adaptive cruise so she just set her max speed and it would match the car in front of it if the speed was slower.
It took about 2 hours to get to Grundarfjörður on the north side of the peninsula with us arriving at 5:45 or so. We got checked in to our guesthouse, Guesthouse 43, and went out to a local joint, called Láki Hafnarkaffi, for dinner. Each had a 12” pizza and caught happy hour which was their big beer for their small cost for the Viking that was on tap, pretty tasty stuff! Happy hours were rare in Iceland and this one was a good one! We also split a piece of apple cake. We headed back to the guest house, I soaked my toe to try to help it and we called it a night.
Safe Travels,
B&E
Safe Travels,
B&E