Exploring The Reykjanes Peninsula Part II

After getting my fill of gorgeous hot springs and geothermal wonders, the rest of my time on the Reykjanes Peninsula was spent on the coast.

The weather had been pretty consistently pleasant all day, up until I arrived at the most gorgeous coastal lookout. The sky which had been threatening to open up for the whole day finally followed through. If you have been following my travels for a while you will know that I absolutely adore rainy weather, so for me, this was absolutely perfect.

I had been warned that climbing up the cliff faces would be dangerous while the weather was windy and rainy, but I have never been very good at following advice, so cliff climbing was most certainly a go! I must admit though, that the people who warned me were absolutely right to do so. It wasΒ  incredibly windy at the top, but the views were absolutely magnificent. The rain really started coming down at this point and I doubt that anything could have wiped the enormous smile from my face.

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Next it was on to the Bridge Between Continents. Iceland is amazing for many reasons, but one of my personal favourites is that the country rests on two different continents. The tectonic plates of Eurasia and North America meet and converge through Iceland and make for some absolutely stunning scenery. The Bridge itself is fairly unremarkable, but it is pretty amazing to be able to walk from one continent to another in just a few seconds.

On my previous trip to Iceland in January 2014, I was lucky enough to be able to snorkel between these tectonic plates at a remarkable site called Silfra. You can find that old post here.

The black Icelandic sand is pretty damn special too. People always rave about white or golden sand beaches, but I think black volcanic sand is my personal favourite.

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Finally, on the way back to Reykjavik I caught a small preview of the Blue Lagoon. I had visited on my previous Icelandic trip and it was lovely to see the rich blue mineral water again. There will be more about my most recent trip to the Blue Lagoon in a few posts time but until then, feel free to read about my previous Blue Lagoon soaking here.

T H EΒ Β  L O W D O W N
Getting There: The Reykjanes Peninsula is vast, but could easily be explored in 1-2 days. It is an easy drive from Reykjavik or from Keflavik area. If you are not self driving, there is plenty of information about tour operators at Visit Iceland
Camera: Olympus OM-D E-M1 with 12-40mm lens and 52mm HOYA polarising filter
Budget: If you are driving, you will only need money for petrol and food. If you are joining a tour, expect to pay around 12.500ISK ($125 AUD)
Remember: Bring a waterproof jacket, I love mine from Kathmandu, which has kept me dry in even the wettest conditions

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30-something year old Australian backpacker writing her way around the world.

33 thoughts on “Exploring The Reykjanes Peninsula Part II

  1. Thanks for posting this. I am so pleased to see Thingvelllir (?) and the preview of the Blue Lagoon – I so loved my time in Iceland and nice to see the places I visited without snow!!!

  2. This is truly an incredible place…

    The landscape looks so different and I really would like to explore once …

    Thanks a lot for sharing this beautiful post and a lot of positive energy πŸ™‚

    Have a great time πŸ™‚

    1. It’s an amazing scuba and snorkelling spot! And there is some extremely weird foods! I never tried horse but I did try fermented shark and puffin!

  3. I lived in Iceland in 1999-2003 and these posts brought back so many memories! We went to the tectonic plates on a field trip and so enjoyed it. Great post!

  4. If you’ve not been to Jeju Island, South Korea, I highly recommend the black lava beach at Hallim, on the island’s west coast. My late wife, our son and I enjoyed several visits there, as well as to the sandy beaches, during the 5 1/2 years we lived there.

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