• Choose a category
• All
• Classic-Fiction

By Root 1505 0

– bring your swimsuit. Friendly Laugarvatn has hot springs that feed a natural steam bath. In the highlands the pool at Landmannalaugar is a pleasure for muscle-weary walkers; delightful Þórsmörk has a large manmade outdoor hot tub; and the chance to swim in the turquoise water inside the Víti volcanic crater at Askja presents a unique opportunity. The town of Höfn has just got a super new swimming pool, which seems almost miraculous after the long drive through nothingness on either side of town. The ‘Blue Lagoon of the North’ can be found at Mývatn – smaller, quieter, but just as relaxing as its famous forefather. If you’re a connoisseur of open-air swimming pools in strange places, try Þjórsárdalslaug, made from the leftovers of nearby Búrfell hydroelectricity plant; Seljavallalaug, built straight into a hillside and filled by a natural hot spring; and Krossnes, a pool perched on a lonely black-pebble beach.

Return to beginning of chapter

History

* * *

EARLY TRAVELLERS & IRISH MONKS

THE VIKINGS ARE COMING!

ASSEMBLING THE ALÞING

ANARCHY & THE STURLUNG AGE

ENTER THE DANES

RETURN TO INDEPENDENCE

WWII & THE USA MOVES IN

MODERN ICELAND

TIMELINE

* * *

Geologically young, staunchly independent and frequently rocked by natural (and recently financial) disaster, Iceland has a turbulent and absorbing history of Norse settlement, literary genius, bitter feuding and foreign oppression. Life in this harsh and unforgiving landscape was never going to be easy, but the everyday challenges and hardships have cultivated a modern Icelandic spirit that’s highly aware of its stormy past yet remarkably resilient, fiercely individualistic, quietly innovative and justifiably proud.

Return to beginning of chapter

EARLY TRAVELLERS & IRISH MONKS

A veritable baby in geological terms, Iceland was created around 17 million years ago. It was only around 330 BC, when the Greek explorer Pytheas wrote about the island of Ultima Thule, six days’ sailing north of Britain, that Europe became aware of a landmass beyond the confines of their maps, lurking in a sea ‘congealed into a viscous jelly’.

* * *

History of Iceland, by Jon R Hjalmarsson, is a lively and absorbing account of the nation from settlement to the present day, looking at Iceland’s people, places, history and issues.

* * *

For many years rumour, myth and fantastic tales of fierce storms, howling winds and barbaric dog-headed people kept explorers away from the great northern ocean, oceanus innavigabilis. Irish monks were probably the first to stumble upon Iceland: they regularly sailed to the Faeroes looking for solitude and seclusion. The Irish monk Dicuil wrote in AD 825 of a land where there was no daylight in winter, but on summer nights ‘whatever task a man wishes to perform, even picking lice from his shirt, he can manage as well as in clear daylight.’ This almost certainly describes Iceland and its midnight sun.

It’s thought that Irish papar (fathers) settled in Iceland around the year 700 but fled when the Norsemen began to arrive in the early 9th century.

Return to beginning of chapter

THE VIKINGS ARE COMING!

After the Irish monks, Iceland’s first permanent settlers came from Norway. The Age of Settlement is traditionally defined as the period between 870 and 930, when political strife on the Scandinavian mainland caused many to flee. Most North Atlantic Norse settlers were ordinary Scandinavian citizens: farmers, herders and merchants who settled right across Western Europe, marrying Britons, Westmen (Irish) and Scots.

* * *

The word Viking is derived from vik, which means bay or cove in old Norse and probably referred to Viking anchorages during raids.

* * *

It’s likely that the Norse accidentally discovered Iceland after being blown off course en route to the Faeroes. The first arrival, the Swede Naddoddur, landed on the east coast around 850 and named the place Snæland (Snow Land) before backtracking to his original destination.

* * *

Pet dogs were illegal in Reykjavík until 1988.

* * *

Iceland’s