In Iceland: Day Eight–Snæfellsjökull and the Snaefellsnes Peninsula

(This post is by Marisa Arellano, BMC class of 2016.)

Snæfellsjökull is basically a volcano with a glacier around it. You can actually see it from Reykjavík on a clear day. It is the center point of a very large national park that extends into the sea. This area (the village of Rif, where we’ve been staying; Snæfellsjökull; and a few of the surrounding villages along the Snaefellsnes peninsula) is often referred to as “mini Iceland” because most of Iceland’s most characteristic geological traits are present in the area.

Snæfellsjökull is where they find the entrance to the center of the Earth in the aptly named Journey to the Center of the Earth. Kári Viðarsson, our host at The Freezer, developed a one-man show based on a saga local to the Snaefellsnes area, Bárðar saga Snæfellsáss, which also takes place partly on Snæfellsjökull.

What is most interesting to me is the fact that in August of 2012 Snæfellsjökull was without ice for the first time in recorded history. I’m beginning to read (and put through google translate) a blog run by an Icelandic geologist who made this discovery; I’ll likely be updating this post as I comb through his blog.