Southwest Iceland & the Golden Circle - Iceland - page 207

There are pleasant beaches on the coast south of Sandgerði, and the surrounding
marshes are frequented by more than 190 species of birds . About 5km south you'll find a
lonely church at Hvalsnes featured in a famous Icelandic hymn by Hallgrímur Pétursson
(1616-74), written at the death of his young daughter who was buried here.
Two kilometres south, you can walk to the ruins of Saga Age fishing village Básendar ,
which was destroyed by a tidal wave in 1799.
Sandgerði is served by Reykjanes Express ( www.reykjanesexpress.is ) bus 4 (Ikr570, 15
minutes, six daily) to Sandgerði and Keflavík.
Southwestern Reykjanes
If you turn off Rte 41 onto Rte 44 just outside Keflavík, you'll first pass the deserted US
military base before reaching the fading fishing village of Hafnir . There's nothing much
to see here - just humps and bumps in a field, thought to be a 9th-century longhouse be-
longing to Ingólfur Arnarson's foster brother, and the anchor of the 'ghost ship'
Jamestown, which drifted ashore mysteriously in 1870 with a full cargo of timber but no
crew.
There are bird cliffs at Hafnaberg , south of which you'll reach the Bridge Between
Two Continents where a teeny footbridge spans a sand-filled gulf between the North
American and European plates.
In the far southwest of the peninsula the landscape alternates between lava fields and
wild volcanic crags and craters, thus it's been named 100 Crater Park . Several power
plants here exploit geothermal heat to produce salt from sea water and to provide electri-
city for the national grid. Power Plant Earth (Orkuverið Jörð; 436 1000;
www.powerplantearth.is ;admission Ikr1000; 12.30-4.30pm Sat & Sun Jun-Sep) is an interactive
exhibition about energy. You also get a glimpse into the vast, spotless turbine hall, and
there are scaled representations of the planets positioned around the peninsula.
One of the most wild and wonderful spots on the peninsula is Valahnúkur , where a
windy road leads off Rte 425 through 13th-century lava fields. Turn right at the T-intersec-
tion and go 900m on an unpaved road to dramatic, climb-able cliffs and Reykjanesviti
lighthouse , the oldest (1878) in Iceland.
From Valahnúkur and the nearby coast you can see the flat-topped rocky islet Eldey ,
14km offshore, home to the world's largest gannet colony. Some claim the last great auk