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UPDATE 2012 - Apparently this church has since burned down.This church is close to Grindavík and was built in 1857. It is unlocked and contains a small donation jar on the front table. Bibles in icelandic are also located for reading along with a guest-book to sign in. It looks small from the outside and feels even smaller on the inside. Enjoy.PARKING - FREEADMISSION - FREENO BATHROOMS
Kleifarvatn lake is a lake in Krýsuvík. It is the largest lake on the Reykjanes peninsula, covering an area of 8 km2. Beneath the lake are the fissures of the Mid-Atlantic ridge.Something is killing the fish in lake Kleifarvatn. It is believed to be caused by hydrogen sulphide which has found its way through cracks in the bottom of the lake. This is believed to have started after the earthquake in this area in year 2000 when the water level lowered one meter in one year. There are hot pool areas in Krýsuvík close to Kleifarvatn and beneath the lake.By the lake the rocks are made of sandstone, making it quite an interesting area.
Seltùnshverir geothermal area is the main mud pool area in Krýsuvík. Like all these geothermal areas in Iceland Seltùn is amazing.The colours here are just out of this world, you will see different nuances of red, grey, yellow, white, silver, brown - all in one area - with steam coming up from all over the place. And mud pools boiling and simmering in all directions.This area is relatively big and there are wooden paths and view platforms, so one can walk straight throught the area and up to the view platform to get a fantastic look over this multi-coloured area. One just has to visit to see it, there is no describing what nature is offering here.There is a parking lot here and from here there are hikes up to the mountains in this area.Take care as the sulphur is poisonous, and one can get a nasty headache and nausea if too much of it is inhaled. There used to be sulphur mines here until...
Just before you reach the main mud pool area in Krýsuvík, coming from the south, on your right hand side there are two big mud pools. They are called Fúlipollur or Foul pool as they stink. They look man made, but they are not. I find them amazing really, how the landscape can all of a sudden turn into a geothermal mud pool area like this, with two big holes in the ground. The colours here are amazing, red, grey, dark grey, silver and white and you can see the mud boiling. There is steam coming up from the mud pools, this awfully smelling sulphur steam. I hate the smell of it, but love going to these areas as they are like out of this world.Take care as the sulphur is poisonous, and one can get a nasty headache and nausea if too much of it is inhaled. The heat here is 80-100 degrees C, so let us not go too close to the mud pools.
Grænavatn lake - or The Green lake is right by the road in Krýsuvík, maybe a 10 minutes drive from the mud pool area there.I stopped by this lake as it has got this most amazing colour, I could not believe that this colour was for real. It is not green per se, more out of this world blue and reddish.The lake is in an explosion crater, but such craters often have lakes in them, see my tips on Landmannalaugar and Kerið in Grimsnes.
I have made a special page on Keflavík with several tips on what to do there and on hotels there. Keflavík is the largest of the 3 towns known as Reykjanesbær with a population of 14.137. The other towns are Ytri- and Innri-Njardvik and Hafnir and they were joined together in 1994.Keflavík is a lovely town only 10 minutes away by car from the Icelandic international airport "Flugstöð Leifs Eiríkssonar" and sometimes before going abroad with the early morning flights I stay over at one of their Keflavík hotels. There are a lot of guesthouses, a cinema and a main street with nice shops. Its closeness to the Nato-base (evacuated in 2006) and the airport made it a booming town as well. It is often called Bítlabærinn "Beatles' Town" because a very popular Icelandic sixties rock band lived there. In Reykjanesbær there is a Waterworld (Vatnaveröld) with a 50 m indoor-swimming-pool and an indoor...
Vogar village in Vatnsleysuströnd is a small village by the ocean just before you reach the turn off to Grindavík and The Blue Lagoon. The inhabitants in this village are ca 1.126. The settler here was a kinswoman of our first settler Ingólfur Arnarson, Steinunn the Old.Vogar is a typical small Icelandic village with a school, a kindergarten, a swimming pool, a community centre, a sports center, a hotel, a golf-course and a library to name some. And of course health-service and a police man, even though it is so close to Keflavík and Njarðvík (Reykjanesbær).There is a lovely park in Vogar and a harbour. If you go down to the shore you will see the memorial for seamen, which ever little hamlet in Iceland has got. And by the shore there is lava with fissures in it and on a sunny day it makes for quite a lovely walk.By the Vogaskóli school there is a rock of 450 kilos but the story goes...
There are two lighthouses in Garðskagi on Reykjanes. The smaller lighthouse was raised on the edge of Garðskagi peninsula in 1897 and is 12,5 meters high and was thought to be especially good in fog.The bigger lighthouse was built in 1944 and is the highest lighthouse in Iceland, 28,6 meters high. The reason for another lighthouse being built was that the ocean was eroding more and more of the shore, so that lighthouse is a bit further from the ocean. Both the lighthouses have been closed when I have been visiting, and the smaller lighthouse is now preserved.This is a very popular place here in Iceland and between the two lighthouses there is a camping place. The shore here is white, which is rare for this area and only in a few places in the West of Iceland can one see white beaches. And the view here is so beautiful.There is a District museum next to the lighthouse and in front of it...
After the drive from Grindavík through this wilderness the next village is the lovely fishing village Sandgerði. There is something so likeable about this village, I cannot put my finger on it, but I love visiting this village. The inhabitants in Sandgerði are ca 1.672 and the museum here is Fræðasetrið or The Nature Centre. There are also small galleries here and a walk through Sandgerði makes for a lovely walk.Sandgerði is only a couple of km away from Keflavík with 7.991 inhabitants, and the international airport. If you drive north on road 45 there is the village Garður and the lighthouses (see my next tip).
Hafnir village is one of the small villages on Reykjanes with a population of only 87 people. Together with Keflavík and Njarðvík Hafnir is now called Reykjanesbær. Hafnir used to be a thriving, big hamlet, but with new fishery technology people moved to other villages in Reykjanes. The oldest church in Reykjanes is in Hafnir and is called Kirkjuvogskirkja church. It dates back to 1861 and behind it remains of a settlement lodge was found by excavation in 2002.In front of the church there is a big anchor (see my last photo) which came from a deserted ship, Jamestown, which landed by Ósabotnar in 1881. It was a huge ship full of fine wood which was used for building timber houses in the vicinity.
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