DAY SIX: SNÆFELLSNES PENINSULAR

Welcome to Snæfellsnes Peninsular, or what we called Snuffleupagus Peninsular. The drive from Laugar in North Iceland to the Peninsular was actually the most boring scenery we had in Iceland. It was quite drab, the scenery was so so and it really felt like we had seen all the greatness that Iceland had to offer. Until we hit the Peninsular, where the sun came out, the skies turned blue and the scenery was INCREDIBLE. We had read that Snæfellsnes is a microcosm of Iceland, where all the good parts of the country have been squished together into one Peninsular. And that's so true! I'm so glad we travelled the anti-clockwise Ring Road route and ended with Snæfellsnes, it was all the best parts rolled into one. 

We missed the first turn off to the Peninsular so ended up driving the Southern route, which took us up to the Troll Cave. Because it wouldn't be Iceland if there wasn't a reference to the Hidden Folk, Elves or Trolls. The canyon/cave is named after Rauðfeldar who had a brother Barður who was half man and half troll. Rauðfeldar pushed one of Barður's daughters onto an iceberg that drifted away to Greenland, and naturally Barður was pissed and pushed his brother into the canyon, and Barður followed him inside the glacier and was never seen again. Apparently he is still watching the area to this day.

Here's the statue of Bárður Snæfellsás in his full troll like form, guarding the Snæfellsnes Peninsular.

Later on the day we headed underground to the lava caves of Vatnshellir. Jules Verne wrote that the journey to the centre of the Earth started in the Snæfellsjökull volcano, and we hiked under the volcano into the lava tube that formed three awesome rooms. The lower section of the cave is 6000-8000 years old and you could see where lava flowed freely, where it settled and the awesome lava formations that have been created over 1000s of years.  I wish I had better photos of it, seriously this photo below of the staircase is the only clear photo I have of the caves. At the bottom cave, our guide asked us to turn our flashlights off and we were plunged into complete darkness and total silence. It was extremely creepy. He then asked someone from our group to sing and a lady began a really strange haunting song that really fit the weird location we were in. 

Bringing sexy back.