another day of long distance driving in the icelandic countryside. chris suggested to check out some turf houses, but that meant another hour added to the already 5 hour drive. no thanks. instead, we headed for the seaport city of Stykkisholmur. the city is surrounded by 10,000 islands and has a spaceship church. plus, harbor towns are so beautiful and quaint.

the drive through the countryside was beautiful. i kept thinking that my sister would love this country since she is outdoorsy.

when we arrived at stykkisholmur, we were greeted with a quaint fishing village with loads of character. the architecture was simplistic and looked like i was in a train set. then there was the spaceship church on the hill. what a weird church. the ceiling had light bulbs hanging from it. i guess to create the illusion of stars. the altar was a picture of a floating virgin mary holding baby jesus. very strange indeed.

our next and final stop was hotel budir on the south side of the snaefellsnes pennisula. the drive along the south side was strange as there were numerous curves but i couldn’t figure out why. there was nothing we were going around.

looming in the distance was the massive snowcap of snaefellsjokull. we nearly missed the tiny turnoff for budir. the only thing keeping us from not missing it was the black church.

the black church was the only neighbor of our hotel called adequately the hotel budir. the black church had white framed windows and a simple cemetery. the two buildings were located next to an ancient lava field believed to be a location where leprechauns live. further into the lava field was the volcano crater.

the hotel is considered one of the best in iceland, but if i had to base it on wireless coverage, i would give it a poor rating. it had wireless but with a crappy router that dropped the signal the entire time.

anyways, the room had a tv, which we hadn’t looked at in days. we have been so out of touch from the rest of the world that it was somewhat comforting to watch the bbc news for a couple minutes. we learned later, via the bbc news, that michael jackson died. so sad and shocking.

i ventured out on my own to explore the lava fields. the field was covered in wildflowers and black rocks. surprisingly, parts of the beach had beige sand instead of the usual black sand. it was pleasant to walk around the ancient lava fields. the scenery was spectacular.

i took the punto on the road to explore another town for wireless but all i found was a small restaurant and a statue of a troll (?). i couldn’t read the plaque to determine what it represented.

heading back to budir was a directional sign with the snow caps name on it. it was a dirt road heading up to the snow cap. i had to check this out. however, when i approached the sign, it said the path was dangerous beyond the sign and to be careful. a warning sign in iceland should not be taken lightly cause there are so few of them. so, i turned around. boo.

back at the hotel, we regrouped and went to the hotel restaurant for dinner. as we all expected, the hotel was preying on our location and isolation as the menu was small and the prices extreme. plus, there wasn’t a vegetarian option for adrian. so, after sitting down and reviewing, we got up and left. we ended up going to the restaurant i found in the other town. the food was reasonable and vegetable lasagna was on the menu.

the rest of the night, er, day, we sat on the roof drinking, joking, enjoying the scenery, and the constant daylight.

tomorrow we head to reykavik. i can’t wait! i’m so ready for a city and all the amenities of it. the desolate, isolated locations are amazing and beautiful, but i am starting to get withdrawals. i want to explore a city with the buildings, the people, the bars, and the restaurants.