Ólafsvík Day 3: Horseback Riding, Hellnar Lunch, Cave Descent, and Rif Coffee!

Here be horses!

… and also, a boat!

While the horses were being saddled, everyone took shelter behind this big container/storage because the wind was blowing hard.

Father and son.

We ended up with probably more guides than tourists, but that was fine by me!

Pretty mountains.

Horses trying to figure out what to do with the on/off wind.

Anna walking past her horse. It was the most willing of the bunch, but that suited her fine.

Anna’s horse. I’ve forgotten its name, sadly.

Saying hi to another horse.

While the horses were being readied, Emma got permission to be walked a little ways on horseback.

Anna getting her sister set up.

Emma off on her own!

She made it back again!

Finally, the horses were ready, and we could all mount. Finnur documented the departure.

Baldur.

Anna.

Bjarki with Emma’s hat to guard from the wind.

Hrefna the total novice.

This was one of many occasions where I had the pleasure of discovering how many of my female friends share my pants size. Borrowing clothes rocks!

And off we went!

Anna the semi-pro.

Bjarki got led most of the way towards the beach, but then he got to ride on his own. Which went fine for the most part, except when the horse gave him a big scare as we were turning back. That’s when the horse suddenly went flying (!!!), but Bjarki held on, and then asked to be led again towards the house.

The little ones having fun.

While we were riding, Finnur and the gang went elsewhere. Among the things Finnur did was to take a gazillion images of the very cool Snæfellsjökull, the glacier clad mountain on the tip of the Snæfellsnes Peninsula.  Google then helpfully turned them into an animated gif image.  Thank you Google! 🙂

The horse riding trip was buckets of fun! The leader of the pack told us that falling off wouldn’t be that bad because we were riding on sand, so we got to let loose a lot. We rode west along the beach until we came to a waterfall, where we stopped, took a few photos and then made our way back. This is taken during that stop.

The leader of the pack. Of course, my cell phone camera had a total meltdown when he wanted to use it to take a photo, and I had to restart the phone and everything.  It was still a total pain, as the next photos show.

My phone was much more interested in the horse than me, or the waterfall!

Anna.

Family photo. We were there together!

Our next stop was the restaurant Fjöruhúsið in Hellnar, the home of the very cool rock formations.

Father and daughter.

“Will you feed me now?” Poor Emma feeling dejected.

We ended up eating outside, which turned out better than we expected as the sun decided to join the party.

Here be tourists!

Anna’s chicken pie was a hit, but sadly the fish soup was disappointing.

Emma’s kiddie lunch was a special order. She’s a weirdly picky eater sometimes.

The Guðrúns.

The Hrefnas minus the Hrefna. “Fjöruhúsið” means “house by the seaside”.

The not very big but very busy restaurant.

The rocks of Hellnar come in many shapes and sizes.

Guðrún trying to distract Emma from running down to the sea.

Emma then joined me on a small walking trip.

“Look! Tiny flying tourists!!” (No, it was actually either a bird or Finnur’s drone.)

Emma on the rocks by the rocks.

Rocks but no cigar.

Looking back to where we came from.

Cool!

Family photo! They certainly don’t happen every day!

We kept driving along the road with the glacier on our right, and our next stop was the newly opened Watercave (Vatnshellir).

Our car, the glacier mountain, and the sign for the cave in the stiff wind.

We neglected to stop closer to these rock formations on the way there, but maybe one day!

Emma had fallen asleep on the way to the cave, so I (Hrefna) opted to chill in the car with her, while the others descended into the bowels of the Earth. This is the sign-in house, with people walking towards it from the cave opening.

Exciting!

Waiting for everyone to arrive.

Safety lecture.

Anna slightly skeptical.

Rocks in darkness!

Impressive staircase.

Flashlights required!

The hardhat and the flashlight made the little one delirious with joy!

Rockface!

Stuff being explained. Apparently the guide mostly gives tours in English, but this group was comprised of only Icelanders (and the guide’s mother, it turned out!) so he had to translate his usual speech on the fly.

Artist’s copy of rock formations that were destroyed by visitors before they started fencing them off.

Emma woke up just before the others were climbing out of the cave. Great timing!

The cafe at Rif was our next stop as we continued driving around the tip of the peninsula with the mountain on our right. Good place!

The hallmark of a good place is a good children’s nook.

Homey insides.

While we waited for our sizable order to be filled, Finnur went and took a few photos.

What’s with the kids getting so tall?!

We sat sheltered from the wind so it was pretty toasty!

Kids running around.

There was a little bit of lounging allowed, but then we took off again for the short trip Ólafsvík (where we’d started), and managed to squeeze in half an hour in the (surprisingly fine) swimming pool before it closed.

The back of the cafe.

When we returned to home base, Guðrún and Snorri packed up and said their goodbyes as planned. The rest of us walked “downtown” to eat dinner at Hraun again. I took the kids out for a short walk as we waited for the food which turned out to be surprisingly good. An excellent end to a great day!