the Snæfellsnes Peninsula

My trip to Iceland was the most last-minute, impulsive traveling I've ever done. It was a wonderful, if sudden, opportunity, and it definitely proceeded differently than it probably would have otherwise with more advanced notice. For the entire time, I used Rekjavik as my main hub. I did want to see places outside of the city, but I also didn't feel like renting a car, so I did something that I never thought that I'd do again after high school: I joined a tour group. The people in my group were, for the most part, on the same page and really friendly. And Nigel, our tour guide, had a great sense of humor and imparted factoids that were genuinely interesting; It was the type of information that people like me, a non-guidebook-reader, would find pertinent enough to remember in the future. Overall, it was a lovely introduction to the Western Peninsula. 

Something that I learned from our tour guide, Nigel, was that historically, seal hunting took place on the Western part of the island. To this day, seals in this region remain wary of humans, which is why this good boy, even from 200ft away, kept an eye out on us. Anyone looking for a friendly seal encounter should look to the eastern side of the island. 

Why I couldn't be a tour guide:

Person in the group: What makes it white?
Tour guide Nigel: Oh, that's bird guano.
How I would have responded: Once a year, the government hires artists to go around and paint the cliffs white to make it more picturesque. 

Ugh, this couple were those people that always in conveniently are in the way of photos. "Oh, were you just trying to take a quick snap here? Well, we're going to take 20 more selfies each, so..." But I guess that I sort of forgive them for this shot .... a little bit.

At this point, we crossed from the southern part of the peninsula to the north, and after passing through the mountains, we went from fog and mist to bright sun. 

This is not sponsored, but anyone looking for a similar hands-off experience and curious which operator I went with, it was Reykjavik Excursions. 

Date: June 2015
Camera: Canon 6D