The Garður Lighthouse on the northern point of the Reykjanes peninsula not too far from Keflavik. It was one of the first lighthouses built in the country, dating back to 1897-ish. According to Wikipedia, “garður” means garden in Icelandic, and “the town was named after one of the many earthen walls once erected on the boundaries between local properties. Garður (the place) was mentioned in the Book of Settlement when Ingólfur Arnarson, the first settler in Iceland, gave his cousin Steinunn Gamla this area of land.” How nice of him.

This was our first stop after we picked up our bald-tired Toyota Rav 4 in Keflavik. We’d been awake for 24 hours at this point traveling from home in Colorado, and since we couldn’t check into our apartment in Reykjavik until afternoon, we did a sunrise drive around the Southern Peninsula – but not before having delicious panini breakfast sandwiches and coffee at the airport. Yeah, airport food in Iceland is good. On our little morning tour we saw parents walking their kids to school, and people starting their days in this clearly non-touristy area. When we arrived at this lighthouse there was one other couple there in a camper van who looked to have stealth camped the previous night. I crawled in the back seat of the Toyota and napped for maybe an hour or two – I can’t really remember, as sleep deprivation had led to a blurred sense of time. We walked around the area, and I actually shot the opening scene in my little Iceland movie (watch below) from the ocean-facing side of this lighthouse. What a beautiful, solitary way to start our trip.

And here are a few more photos from our walk in this area. Unsurprisingly, like much of the time in Iceland, it was absurdly, laughably, face-numbingly windy, unless we were hiding behind walls or boats, or down in caves.