another eye opens

On my second day in Iceland, I took a road trip with five handsome swimmers — Fede, Jim, Michael, Ryan, and John.

We loaded into a 4×4. I drove most of the way, and the others took turns sitting in “the way-back.”

Our destination: Snæfellsnes, a peninsula 2 1/2 hours northwest of Reykjavik

The terrain along the way was beautiful and austere. Every so often, some dwelling would pop up, like this Lutheran chapel.

No one was around but we inspected the place, and the light through the stained glass windows made for radiant portraits.

This was the best place we saw all day — an astonishing cliff with gigantic volcanic rock formations — notice the contrast to the lighthouse at rear.

beautiful place for stretching and frolicking

We drove all the way around the peninsula, around the volcano in the center, which Jules Verne used as the beginning of his classic “Journey to the Center of the Earth”

We stopped for lunch in Olafsvik at a lovely cafe/restaurant called Gilith, which was deserted at 2:30. Jim asked if they were still serving lunch. The young woman behind the counter said yes, they had two choices: pig and fish. The fish was ling, served with a very tasty beet sauce.