Wednesday
There are lots of horses all over Iceland. Farming is limited to mostly sheep and vegetables grown in tunnels using geothermal energy. We explored the Lava Tunnel at Raufarholshellir.
Thingvellir National Park on the Golden Circle had more tourists but was less interesting than the more remote places we had so far been to. The first Icelandic Parliament was here but to be honest learning about the history of the country wasn't very interesting for me. Today the total population of Iceland is only 370 000. To be fair, for a small country, they have done an excellent job of promoting tourism. If you like hiking, ice climbing, snowmobiling and other wintry adventure sports, you could spend more time here. Like the crazy tour groups lining up to snorkel or scuba dive in the crack between the tectonic plates at Silfra.
We drove all the way to Olafsvik on the Snaefellsnes Penninsula. We stayed at the Vid Hafid Hostel and ate at Sker Restaurant down by the harbour serving modern Icelandic cuisine and seafood. The buff, hipster waiters looked Viking enough but turned out to be from Croatia and Poland.
Thursday 1 June
Snaefellsnes Penninsula
Today we did a scenic drive along the southern side of the Snaefellsnes Penninsula; more rugged and remote than touristy Thingvellir. We stopped in Akranes for a dip in a sulphur hot spring overlooking the sea. Paul and Dylan swam in the sea between lolls in the hot pools. The water is oddly relaxing and leaves you pretty tired afterwards. We stopped at a supermarket to buy dinner and enjoyed a relaxing evening at our AirBnb.
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