Visiting Iceland

Iceland is a place where nature rules supreme. Besides the modern and cosmopolitan capital, Reykjavík, public centres are not large, with diminutive towns, fishing villages, farms and tiny hamlets clustered along the coastal outskirts. The Inside, meanwhile, remains infertile lava and ash deserts, windswept upland plateaus, totally uninhabited and unmarked by humanity: a starkly beautiful wilderness of ice fields and the frigid vastness of Vatnajökull, Europe’s biggest glacier. It’s something that Icelanders discovered to live with when Eyjafjallajökull caused chaos across Europe and erupted, folks here simply shrugged and grinned.

Historically, the Icelanders have a mix of Nordic and Celtic blood, a heritage often held responsible for their characteristically laid back way of life. The struggle for survival against the elements over the centuries in addition has made them a highly self reliant country, whose former reliance on fishing and the sea for his or her market was almost complete. Their remote place in the North Atlantic also means that their island is frequently forgotten about – Icelanders will let you know that they’ve given up counting how many times they’ve been left off.