Beach

Djúpalónssandur on Snæfellsnes

I really like this picture. Valentina and I went to this beach, named Djúpalónssandur, on our big camping trip in July. The whole beach is made up of small, smooth, shiny, black pebbles. The stones break off of the cliffs that back the beach, and are first raw and sharp and unremarkable. As you walk toward the water you see that the stones are more and more worn by the constant tides until, just at the ocean's edge, they are like perfect marbles.

The beach is on the western tip of the Snæfellsnes peninsula, under the mystical Snæfellsjökull glacier. For friend-of-Iceland Jules Verne, the cone mountain underneath the glacier was the portal to the center of the Earth. For countless spiritualists it is one of the world's foremost energy spots. For most it rivals Mount Fuji in symmetry and beauty. For Valentina and I it was the perfect backdrop to a wonderful day on the beach.