Snæfellsnes Peninsula Iceland

Iceland has great coastal views to soak in. It's great to just be on the Snæfellsnes peninsula and look around. It'd be a good day trip if you're short on time and already checked out the Golden Circle region. For us, it was icing on the cake to finish our two week drive around the Ring Road. That's the best way to experience Iceland.

Gerðuberg Cliffs

These basalt columns came from rapidly cooling lava. During the cooling of a thick lava flow, contractional joints or fractures form. A flow can shrink vertically without fracturing, but it can't easily shrink horizontally unless cracks form. The extensive fracture network that develops results in the formation of columns. These structures are predominantly hexagonal in cross-section, but polygons with three to twelve or more sides can be observed. Very rapid cooling may result in very small diameter columns, while slow cooling is more likely to produce large columns.

Arnarstapi 

Our personalized tour guidebook said to go to the small fishing village Arnarstapi and see the cliffs on their coast. I thought we'd stop, take a quick look around, and move on. This is just one little village and one little spot to check out, but really? We spent a long time here taking in the views because look at these cliffs and different rock formations. I don't know when the lava hit the sea here, but the static display it left behind will always be amazing.

the bench is there for the view below

Djúpalónssandur in Snæfellsjökull National Park

remains of a shipwreck that they leave here

a pool near the beach

I've become a big fan of what volcanos do to the landscape over the long-term

The south and west coast of the peninsula to the national park is breathtaking. The north coast has more towns, including Hellissandur as the self-proclaimed street art capital of Iceland.

These pics are an odd kind of footnote to the natural beauty above. It's a good way to show that there's a lot going on there. This was a good part of that day, but there were many more experiences for that one day that I didn't get pictures or don't think they're worth sharing.