Snaefellsnes - Dritvik, Icelandic horses and Bjarharhofn Shark Museum

  Dritvik is a black pebbled beach. There were big stones at the beach that were used to test the strength of fishermen in the past before they were hired to work on the boats.

'Full strong - 154kg, Half strong - 100kg, Weakling - 54kg, Bungler - 23kg"

So here we are, trying not to be a wimp. As it turns out, we don't even fit into the worst of categories.

Passing by an ancient turf house that Icelanders used to live in hundreds of years ago.

Inside the turf house

Icelandic pure breed horses are famous the world over. They were developed from ponies taken to Iceland by Scandinavian settlers in the 9th and 10th centuries. They are hardy and has few diseases.

Our last stop was to visit the rotten shark museum - Bjarhahofn Shark Museum. 

Called hakarl, these shark flesh were allowed to be fermented and rot for 6 months. And believe me, it really stinks!!

Rotten shark that smells heavily of ammonia but taste like cheese

 Behind the museum is the drying house for the sharks.

Rotten fermented sharks

Snaefellsnes - Borg a Myrum, Olkelda Mineral Spring and basalt columns

We booked a guided tour with Jon Frosti, a personal guide with Solstice Tours, to visit the west of Iceland. Jon is a licensed guide and founder of Solstice Tours which specialises in small group personal tours.

http://solstice.is/snaefellsnes/

Jon Frosti of Solstice Tours

Our trip started with Jon picking us up at 8am in the morning at our accommodation in his 4W Drive. Our first stop took us to Borg a Myrum which is an ancient farm with a church west of the town of Borganes.

Nice wild crowberries

Sonartorrek memorial for Egill Skallagrimsson, one of early settlers in Iceland

Checking out the basalt columns

We stopped by the Mineral Spring of Olkeldunni. Nice and fresh frizzy carbonated water that contains many more minerals of the bottled ones you buy at the supermart.

Visiting Barour, a guardian spirit of Mt Snaefell.

Our lunch stop took us to Anarstapi, a small fishing village. 

Our little restaurant that sells good traditional icelandic food

My Icelandic fish soup that cost me abt SGD$20

Skyr is an icelandic yoghurt

Whale watching in Iceland

There are operators at the harbour of Reykjavik which you can choose to do a whale watch. We walked to the harbour one day and selected a booking time for the whale watch with Elding. There is really no need to book a tour before hand. It cost us 8500 kr /53 Euro per person for a 3 hr tour.

http://www.whalewatching.is/

Elding ticket booth at Reykjavik harbour

A whale skeleton on board the ship

 It is advisable to wear the wind proof overalls that the operators provide. The wind can be very cold out at sea. The overalls really keep you nice and warm, making the whale watching activity alot more enjoyable. The sea do get a bit rough and I saw people vomiting during the sea journey. The operators do provide you motion sickness pills duirng the trip so if you are more prone to sea sickness, do eat the pills when you board the ship.

Getting a bit of help with the heavy overall

Happy and ready for the cruise!

ICELAND - Reykjavik

Reykjavik is the capital of Iceland. After flying 12 hours to London from Singapore via Singapore Airlines, you take another 3 hours to reach Iceland on Icelandair.

This is Keflavik International airport at 11pm in August 7th 2013. Keflavik Airport is about 45min from Reykjavik. One can easily book a coach for the ride to the capital.

Keflavik Airport at 11pm, Aug 2013

The exchange rate in Aug 2013 was SGD$1 to 93 or USD$1 to 114 Icelandic Kronur. Iceland is not part of the European Union and does not use the Euro.

You can change your international currencies to the kronur either at the airport or in Reykjavik or at most major towns. The Icelandic kronur was greatly devalued in Oct 2008 after its banks faced a collapse during the 2008 Financial Crisis. Before 2008, USD$1 was fetching 60 to 70 kronur.

Iceland is a cashless country of credit cards. You can buy anything e.g. hot dogs at a hot-dog stand, using credit cards.

Famous hot dog in Iceland

We stayed at a serviced apartment called Reykjavik4you, right in the heart of Reykjavik where the

shopping streets are. This is an amazing accommodation right in town, with many shops around, a bakery in front and a Bonus supermart at the back lane, as well as a 10 min walk to the harbour for whale watch activities. Highly recommended place to stay.

Bakery in Iceland