Iceland, Day 2

We started out this morning in the dark, which isn't surprising, because the sun doesn't rise until 10:43, and sets at 3:48. Short day, huh?? Do you know how difficult it is to plan a vacation with only a few hours of sunlight each day??

And most of this morning was spent driving in fog:(

But finally it cleared a bit and we did get to enjoy some scenery, and we were so thankful. We spent the night in Akranes last night then made our way to Olafsvik for the night. Here are a few of the sights we saw along the way.

I had heard about the Icelandic horses, and saw a herd on the side of the road, and this one was particularly friendly.

The ponies were brought to Iceland in the 9th and 10th centuries, and I read online that many of the horses were wiped out due to the Laki eruption in 1784. 

We stopped in Grundarfjordur and had some seafood soup at Cafe Emil:

And also got some pictures of Kirkjufell and the waterfalls that were across the street from the mountain.

I read it is the most photographed mountain in Iceland, rises 463 meters above sea level and is located in Snaefellsnes.

Below is a picture of some of the moss that grows abundantly here. It covers a lot of the lava fields, and the most scenic moss field is located at the Eldraun Lava Field in southern Iceland (this isn't a pic of that Lava field as we are only staying around Western Iceland).

I think that the moss could be so important because there aren't any trees to speak of in the Icelandic countryside. Story has it that when the Vikings arrived, they used all the trees for building material and firewood. 

We made it to Olafsvik with a few minutes to spare before sundown. This is where we will be for the next couple of nights.

Just FYI, we have spoken to a few people that in spite of having a lot of cloud cover, some were able to see the glow of the northern lights last night. Disappointed we didn't get a glimpse but are going to stay up late tonight, just in case.

Wanted to give a warning about renting a car in Iceland. It seems that there are so many crazy things that can happen here to cause damage to a car that would not likely happen in other places. Even if we had obtained the premium insurance package offered by our car rental company, it would not have covered damage from river crossing, wind blown doors, or damage to the chassis of the vehicle, tires or rims.  The rental company advised us to hang onto the car doors when we open them, because it is common for strong winds to catch car doors and sling them open so hard that it damages the vehicle, and this is the type of damage not covered under their insurance. Obviously folks driving, or attempting to drive, rental cars through rivers is also a problem in Iceland, but all we can picture in our mind is someone trying to drive through the Tennessee River.  At rental companies here, you can also buy extra insurance to protect against ash and sand damage. Sand damage due to the high winds blowing sand that "sand blast" your car, or ash damage due to a volcanic eruption.  There is no telling how many cars have gotten damaged from these types of occurrences.  Hopefully, none of this will happen to our rental car, but if it does we are banking on coverage by our credit card company that is supposed to cover us in case of ANY damage to our car.  It did pay for a flat tire we had to replace in Ireland in May.