I Fell in Love With Snaefellsnes - Nov 2

Today I went to Snaefellsnes National Park.  I could easily spend a week here. Up to now I have had a great time, but felt I did everything I wanted to here and could crossed Iceland of my list. After today, I might try to come back again just to spend some time here.

As we drove to the park, we passed lots of landscape. One of the more interesting was the basalt rocks. These are old lava tubeuis from the oldest eruptions (pre ice age, >17,000 years ago). The land around the tubes have eroded from wind, leaving what looks like giant snakes, turned to stone, on the ground.

Moss is the first thing to grow on the lava field. There are 600 species of moss in Iceland! That's why there are so many of these mossed covered lava fields.

Our first stop was at the basalt walk. It started drizzling. Then we stopped at the beach, where you can sometimes see seals. Saw lots of seal poop, not so many seals today.  I did see one pop his head out of the water a couple of times, so at least I can crossed that offer my list.  It has a beautiful view, although I was getting pelted by rain and hail.

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We stopped at a church near one of the few beaches with both basalt and volcanic rock.  We stopped several more times to take walks to the shore. By now the rain had largely stopped.  I got to see my first of two rainbows (both full arcs).  The shoreline and cliffs were beautiful. I could easily spend a week in this National park alone. At one of the stops, there huge rocks on the coast. It reminded me of the 12 apostle formation in Australia.

At the heart of the park is the glacier, Snaefellsjokull.  Unfortunately it is melting very fast, and likely it will be gone in 50-70 years.  Because of the clouds cover, I was able to see the lower part of the mountain that the glacier is on, but not the glacier itself.

See the face in this stone formation?

So to fill the car time, we were regardless with many facts and folklore.  Below are some I thought of interest:

• There aare two types of river. Glacier rivers that are clear and clean. From a distance they look milky white (and in typical Icelandic fashion, there is a trip story that it is excess milk from a new troll mother). The other rivers are dirty from AOL the mud, etc it picks up.
• One third of population lives in Reykjavik. If you include the suburbs, is 2/3 of the country's total population.
• There are 2.5 times more sheep than people.  
• Icelanders go biking all year long. In winter, they add spikes to the tires and continue biking (I can't imagine biking in 20°-30° weather).
• There are a couple of foreign smelting plants. They import the materials and export the output. They are only here because of the inexpensive energy costs offsets the import/export costs.
• Turf houses were the primary house in the country through the early 20th century. They resisted going to concrete houses until they found a way to heat with geothermal please (1920). The houses were built to a specific size, so that the body heat of the occupants could heat the house.
• Iceland was a dry country until turn off the century (because it was a church state). They exported cod to Spain. Spain said they would stop buying unless Iceland started importing wine from them. They chose to lift the ban on alcohol.
• They have a few prisons, but they're small - the largest holds 85. They have a waiting list for prisons. You can be on the list for up to 5 years. When a bed is available, you'll be called and have to report for your sentence..
• The Vikings came in the 9th century. They choose to not have a king. In 13th century, they became part of Norway. In the 15th century, both Norway and Iceland became part of Denmark. After WW2, got independence from Denmark.  When Denmark was occupied by Nazi's, Iceland declared independence thinking it was safer. Also, because of the allied trips a stationed in Iceland, they had more money than ever before and could afford to be independent. 
• The first foreign language kids learn (at 10) if English. Because of its history, at 12, all kids àre taught Danish. So everyone knows a minimum of 3 languages. My guide knows 5.
• The only war Iceland was in was the Cod Wars. They fought with England over fishing rights (Great Britain was infringing on Iceland, and Iceland relies on the fishing industry, its #1 industry). Since Iceland has never had an army, they relied on the Coast Guard and fisherman to fight.  So got creative. Coast guard got giant scissors, out in water, would go up to the British boats and cut the fishing lines. Came to an agreement that the land within 200km belonged to Iceland for fishing, and the war ended. Iceland avoids becoming part of the EU for fear they would have to open up their waters to other countries for fishing.
• The eruption of the volcano in 2010 has significantly increased tourism, which is likely to match fishing as #1 industry in near future