Iceland Day 4
Today we had to say goodbye to Hotel Búðir and make our way to Hotel Berg located near the airport since we fly back home tomorrow morning. The most direct route off of the Snaefellsnes Peninsula to Keflavik would be to drive along the southern shoreline, backtracking along the route we drove to get to Búðir. Instead, we decided to drive over the mountains to the northern shore, then east along the coast, before crossing the mountains again to head southeast to Reykjavik then to Keflavik. Here is a photo looking south as we departed Búðir and made our way north over the mountains.
As it has been throughout our visit to Iceland, the scenery was amazing and the lighting captivating especially when the sunlight played with the cloud cover.
On the north side of the Snaefellsnes Peninsula, the sun was too low in the sky to be visible. Kate started driving this morning, so I took this photo looking south out of the passenger window as we headed east.
Whenever one of us noticed a pull off, usually unmarked and hard to spot, we stopped to get out, look around, and give me an opportunity to take photos. This is looking east along the shore.
Another pull off, another gorgeous view.
For this photo, I walked from the parked car into the road to have the road leading towards the mountain in the distance.
With the mountains blocking the sun, the landscape was in one big shadow and had a distinctly blue cast.
As we headed back southeast over the mountains, we could start to see the highest parts of the landscape lit up by the sun.
Cresting the mountains and looking back to the northwest, we were in the sun, but the mountains below us were in the shade and will be until the spring.
In front of us, to the south, was the noon sun low in the horizon. The arctic circle is at a latitude of 66°33′ north while this photo was taken at 64°54′ north, so there will still be at least a bit of sunlight on the mountaintop throughout the winter.
Tomorrow we fly back home. It will be sad to leave such an amazing place. I expect that we will be back.