We slept twelve hours that first night in Iceland. We had a late start to our second day, but it was worth it to catch up on sleep. We started the day with two beautiful waterfalls - Hraunfossar and Barnafoss. The water was a gorgeous shade of blue. It was cloudy with on and off drizzle, so we made sure to wear our rain coats and water pants.
After the waterfalls, we drove to a hidden hot spring. I had done HOURS of research for this trip, including much time devoted to finding "secret" hot springs. We drove to Sturlungalaug hot spring. It included driving six kilometers on a very bumpy gravel road and opening and closing two sheep gates as it is on private property. I had read this hot spring was not very warm, but we were pleasantly surprised with hot water and beautiful views.
We had to drive through lava fields to reach the hot spring.
After the hot spring, we put back on our rain gear and drove to see the Gerduberg Cliffs. We saw many basalt columns on our trip. Basalt is the most common type of volcanic rock in Iceland. Lava erupts from a volcano as liquid magma then cools and hardens in the cold air, shrinking in volume and cracking into the classic geometric shape. The shapes cluster together to form columns. The cliffs were the first stop on our tour around the Snaefellsnes Peninsula.
As we drove, there seemed to be another visible waterfall every mile. Driving was a beautiful experience in Iceland.
Budakirkja
We stopped at Raudfeldsgja gorge to explore.
You have to climb into the gorge through a rushing stream so we had brought water boots to keep our shoes dry.
The pictures don't do it justice, but we had to climb quite a few rocks to get to this point.
Bardar Statue in Arnarstapi.
The walk down to Djupalonssandur beach was beautiful with lava rock formations.
There were rusted remains of a shipwreck scattered on the beach.
Dinner
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