Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
In take the glacier less travelled iceland,
Snaefellsjokull National Park, offers guided tours of an 8 000-year-old, below-the-surface lava cave. After descending in a spiral, wearing a provided helmet and headlamp, you’ll feel like you’ve entered a different planet. (Pro tip: Although it may have been warm enough for a fugitive couple to allegedly live there comfortably centuries ago, it’s now bitterly cold in winter, so dress appropriately.)
If you take the Into the Glacier tour, which departs from Husafell or the Klaki base camp, depending on the season, you’ll ride in a ridiculously large vehicle – or atop a snowmobile – to Iceland’s secondlargest glacier, Langjokull. Then, you’ll enter a minuscule opening into a magnificent ice cave, complete with an ice bar and an ice chapel. Yes, you can get married here.
West Iceland also offers the only full sheep farm in the country: At remote Bjarteyjarsandur, visitors can herd sheep (traditionally, children race after the animals while adults sip whisky and watch), shear sheep, pick wild mussels and do other chores, depending on the season. Guests can stay at one of four on-site mountain cottages, as well as inside the farmhouse with the owners, and experience a true farm-to-table meal at the farm’s tiny restaurant.
Another only-in-West-Iceland experience is the Bjarnarhofn
Shark Museum in the Snaefellsnes Peninsula, where you can learn all about fermented shark meat, a traditional Icelandic dish, and sample it along with Iceland’s signature spirit – Brennivín schnapps.
| The Washington Post.