Jules Verne's glacier and Kirkjufell — Iceland in miniature
The Snæfellsnes Peninsula is often called 'Iceland in miniature' — within 100km it packs in a glacier-capped volcano, lava fields, sea caves, fishing villages, black sand beaches, and one of the world's most-photographed mountains. Snæfellsjökull glacier-volcano is the entry point in Jules Verne's Journey to the Centre of the Earth, and locals insist it's one of the world's seven energy centres. Kirkjufell — the arrowhead mountain beside Kirkjufellsfoss waterfall — is probably Iceland's most photographed landscape outside Reykjavik.
The Snæfellsnes area features prominently in the Norse sagas — Laxdæla saga and Eyrbyggja saga both centre on this peninsula. The fishing village of Arnarstapi has been inhabited since Viking times. The glacier Snæfellsjökull has been an object of reverence throughout Icelandic history, appearing in the medieval sagas as a place of supernatural power. Jules Verne immortalised it in 1864; today the glacier is noticeably shrinking due to climate change.