Stunning Iceland scenery ~ everything about this country is picturesque!

Today we explored The Snaellsnes Peninsula (the part what looks like an arm with a fist at the end, jutting out from the West Coast). The pictures below are photo stops of the rugged mountain chain that runs along the length of this peninsula.

Photo stops we made along the way today!
(Click on each picture to see it bigger and better)

First stop today was the charming fishing town of Stykkisholmur, where we got to embark on a lunchtime cruise along the Breidafjordur fjord.

The harbor in Stykkisholmur with it’s colorful fishing craft, the SeaTours boat that we would spend the next 2.5 hours on, helmed by our our fearless and tots adorbs Captain (Siggggmarrr), and some shiny maritime sculpture – (click to make bigger!)

We took to the high seas, had lunch on board – some sort of mushroom soup and bread rolls – it was a little tough to sit below deck and eat (made our stomach roll a bit) but we got through it. Then we sat outside in the very cold wind and took these gorgeous pictures while Captain Sigmar told us stories. Mostly about an old troll woman – that troll lady got around, lemme tell you – who had lots of bad luck and did lots of things with rocks. We saw some islands, (fun fact: the largest one we saw all day was…Iceland, haha!) an inlet where Erik the Viking hid out one winter from the people who wanted to kill him, (hate when that happens) and lots of sheep. Another fun fact: The sheep aren’t wild, they are owned by humans, although they act like they’re wild. ~Lol

On the salty seas!

They fished off the boat, scooping some scallops right out of the ocean for us to eat (fresh as they come!). They call it Viking Sushi, lol ~ I dipped mine in some of the wasabi sauce there – omg yummm! And some cute sea creatures in the catch came up to visit for a bit before being returned to the sea

Pretty ocean views

Sun glare and icicles (Fire and Ice!)


Sharp!

The town and it’s church

I caught a real-life, hand puppet creature, in the wild, on film ~ super rare!

After the boat ride we did some mild stalking, picked up a few items in the gift shop, then headed to our next stop, Bjarnarhofn, where a “treat” awaited us (Liars).
Our next stop contained no treats, really it was a shark farm where we got to eat Hakarl – delicious fermented shark (No, not really. It was awful and mushy!). That’s right kids, your humble narrator ate fermented (that means rotted!) Greenland shark. And I’m not going to kid you, it was real bad!

They dipped the pieces of fermented shark in icelandic schnapps. It did not help, if anything, it made it more disgusting (sorry Iceland!)

Hakarl in schnapps with rye bread (the bread also did not help).

Greenland shark jaws, see the rows and rows of teeth?! And pieces of its skin, which was smooth when you rubbed your hand along it one way, and stabbed you when you ran your hand the other way, cool stuff.

After being buried and allowed to rot, the shark meat is then hung out to dry. The stench was great! Like nothing you’ve ever experienced before, seriously…

Pretty view on the shark farm 🙂

After choking down the rotted shark – so bad! – we headed back to the Hotel Hamar in Borgarnes to choke down some dry lettuce – or as we learned from our lovely British dinner companions that night – rocket. Either way, dry and hard to get down, Lol…
Tonight we didn’t catch any real Northern Lights – there may have been some faint ones – but Ms. W. did catch this cool Moon halo, which are ice crystals in the air reflecting the light of the Moon – I mean really? Super beautiful!

Till Day Four!

-xo