We arrived in the morning. The cold, End of May Icelandic wind hit angrily our faces as soon as we left the coziness of Iceland's small International Airport. The black of surrounding us endless lava fields, the green of the moss, covering some lava stones and the heavy grey of the sky had painted a beautiful but a little eerie "Welcome To Iceland" picture.
As we had 14 days to travel around Iceland and two little kids to please, we decided to take it easy, uncover Iceland's beauty slowly and instead of hitting the road immediately, stay the first day and night next to the airport, in Keflavik. We had, then, one day to discover relatively small but super, geothermally, active Reykjanes peninsula.
Reykjanes Peninsula
It is here, where the traveler first sees the strange, powerful, wild beauty of Iceland. Just stepping out of the airport... Here, where the crowds soak in a blue, whitish powdery waters of famous Blue Lagoon. Here, where two tectonic plates meets and you can cross a symbolic bridge between continents - North America and Europe. It is here, where the Earth uncovers what it has inside and bubbles and hisses, and throws the hot smelly water into the air and the warm sulfur steam into your face...
The good news to everyone visiting Reykjanes peninsula is that all interesting places are close to each other and can be easily seen by car in a day or even half of a day. This, plus the proximity to Iceland's International Airport, makes it ideal, to get a taste of Iceland, for everybody with a "stopover in Reykjavik" on their plane ticket.
Reykjanes peninsula is also easily reachable by car from Reykjavik (around 35km one way), making it a wonderful opportunity to see amazing Icelandic nature for people who want to base themselves in the capital and don't plan to go around the island.
Keflavik
Situated just 5 km from the airport the area generally refered to as Keflavik , encompasses really the towns of Keflavik and Njardvik that melts into one another (also called Reykjanesbaer ). It is here where we'll find the airport's hotels and guesthouses. And as everyone just call it Keflavik it can get a little confusing when trying to find the place one has booked. Our GPS said there's no street in Keflavik, that we have typed there on which we knew our guesthouse was located. And it was right, the guesthouse was in Njardvik so GPS couldn't find it, when we typed Keflavik.
Reykjanesbaer itself is not particularly a pretty place. What counts is: it has Bonus and Netto supermarkets (important for everyone who wants to do the shopping for their trip outside the capital area), it has interesting, free entry Duushus Museum with a good display of different ship models (our 5 years old was very excited to see them), and interesting Viking Museum Vikingaheimar (entrance fee 1500 ISK for adults, children under 14 free). It has a good big swimming pool with warm water, inside and outside pools and slides for children (adults 550 ISK,children under 10 years old free).
There's one more thing that little kids may love - The Giganta Cave, situated at the end of the harbour next to the small boats marina. It is a man-made cave, the house of a giant troll (it is really big!) which sits on her huge chair, snores and farts from time to time... All of the setting is pretty cute, we were very quiet there, not to wake up Giganta, and I think our 5 year old son really believed it is a giant troll sleeping there (entrance is free).
Blue Lagoon
20 km south of Keflavik (23 km from the International Airport), announced from far, far away by the clouds of steam, located in the middle of huge lava field is a famous Blue Lagoon. We've passed it by on our way to Krysuvik-Seltun geothermal area but we did not go there, as according to the Blue Lagoon webpage the entrance is for people over 2 years old.. (As our Alex is just over 1 years old, the Blue Lagoon was out of the question for us.)
Krysuvik-Seltun geothermal area
Located 52km from Keflavik, Krysuvik-Seltun geothermal area was my personal highlight of the Reykjanes peninsula. Driving, on our first day in Iceland, through different color and shape lava fields and barren lunar landscape in places, was an interesting, kind of refreshing feeling, reminding us we are now in Iceland, land of lava, active destroying volcanoes, different world. 
The Krysuvik-Seltun geothermal area itself is a place hidden in a rolling hills yet the steam, again visible from kilometers away, is enticing you: 'hey I'm here, over here...' There's a small parking there (with toilet) and there's a pretty good path, with ropes along it, set up the way we can see well the hot mud pools, boiling water, the steaming grounds, the different colors of earth caused by the different minerals. It is here were you can hear the Earth 'talk' to you through hisses, bubbling mud and other different sounds that go with it. Main area with its wooden pathways is easily accessible for a baby-stroller. If you want to go further to the steaming hills (I totally recommend it!) and you are with your baby here, you need a baby carrier as the path narrows here and winds up the hill. It can be slippery after the rain, so be careful. It is an uphill walk (easy enough for our 5 years old), where you enter the steaming Earth area with vents everywhere, clouds of warm smelly steam, where the warm Earth beneath your feet in places gets really, really hot. The area here is intact and no longer restricted by ropes, so be careful!
Down the road from the geothermal area there is a small, beautiful green water lake created in a crater. Also worth a short stop.
Gunnuhver hot spring
Another interesting place where you can witness geothermal activity is Gunnuhver hot spring area (26 km from Keflavik, 45 km from Krysuvik-Seltun). Along with the hot spring, that shoots hot water a few meters into the air, you can also see steaming vents and boiling mud. Gunnuhver creates a lot of steam, so when you're approaching it you're going through thick clouds of steam - it is a really extraordinary experience! I highly recommend it! (Wooden path easy with baby stroller)
Bridge Between Continents
Driving from Gunnuhver back to Keflavik the narrow paved road runs through the black lava field and passes next to the "Bridge Between Continents", a walking bridge build over Mid Atlantic Ridge connecting North Atlantic and European plates.
I loved Iceland! I went for my birthday in September and it's the most magical place in the world!
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