Tröllaskagi Peninsula, Hvítserkur and Seals

view of the Tröllaskagi peninsula, Dalvik — *Tröllaskagi peninsula view, Dalvik*

Tröllaskagi Peninsula, the Northern Fjords

Dalvik, Tröllaskagi peninsula — Dalvik, *Tröllaskagi peninsula*

Day 15 in Iceland started relatively early as we decided to make a detour via the Tröllaskagi peninsula, ‘the peninsula of the trolls’. We made some photo stops in a number of fjord villages: Dalvik, Ólafsfjörður and Siglufjörður. The last one we found very beautiful due to the coloured buildings. Unfortunately everything was closed because it was Sunday. No coffee break !

Siglufjörður, Tröllaskagi peninsula — *Siglufjörður*, *Tröllaskagi peninsula*

So we set course for the Glaumbær museum. It’s a bit like the Belgian ‘Bokrijk’ but then in Iceland. The houses were really cute and we got a good overall impression of how it used to be so many years ago. Super photogenic !!!

The coffee house, which was also furnished as it was then, had started its winter break since the 1st of September. So we missed another coffee break and more important, the opportunity to try the delicious pancakes…

Turf house, Glaumbær museum — Inside a turf house, *Glaumbær museum*

Hvítserkur or the drinking rhinoceros

Finally we drove to another peninsula where we visited the world famous rock in the water ‘Hvítserkur’. It looked a lot like a drinking rhinoceros (some say a dragon). We walked to the lookout point and tried to climb down from there (as many others were doing). It was actually quite dangerous… We only saw later that there was a path along the other side of the parking lot that was so much easier…

Once down, we, like most tourists, started our photo session. The rock was so amazing that we could not stop taking pictures. However, the seaweed covered pebbles on the beach made it very difficult for us not to slip and break something. So we had to be very careful while moving around to photograph the rock from different angles. We walked back via the black beach and then – we could not believe our eyes – we saw seals on a sandbank in the sea. There were even a few in the water observing us…

Seals at Hvítserkur — Seals at *Hvítserkur*

Illugastadhir seal colony

We took the easy path back to the car and drove half an hour to the seal colony in Illugastadhir. Most animals were just lounging on a sandbank, but a few came to admire the tourists from the water… Quite funny…

Laugarbakki Hotel

We had a very long drive today. By the time that we had reached our hotel in Laugarbakki, we were tired but totally happy … The Tröllaskagi peninsula was really worth the detour and Hvítserkur as well as the seals were certainly ‘the’ highlight of the day so we were glad that we had added these places to our itinerary.