A few weeks ago, I posted a poor attempt at giving Iceland some cred. Today, I am handing the reins over to Eva from I’d Rather Be in Iceland. She will now undo all the damage I’ve done. Take it away, my British friend! – Emily
I’m very honoured to be guest posting for Emily, who is one of my favourite bloggers. Emily asked me I volunteered to write a post about Iceland after reading her post about how she can’t remember much of her trip there. After her post, she got a lot of comments about why Iceland, and isn’t it expensive, and what’s there to do, blah blah blah. Well, let me tell you a bit about why I like Iceland. I have to be careful here as Iceland already thinks it has a tourist problem and I shouldn’t be encouraging too many of you to go. I could (and do) talk about Iceland all day, but here are my top 5 reasons to visit:
1. The way of life. OK, the people are a little strange – so would you be if you lived somewhere where you at least recognised if not knew everyone you passed on the street. They also have weather which is rarely just calm or what most people would consider “good”, and daylight hours which can be all or nothing. So they’ve got some things to contend with that most of us don’t, including having to live up to a reputation of being “creative” that Björk has landed them with.
Despite this they are generally nice people and have the common sense that comes from living in a population that is isolated and small enough that they can do what they want without a lot of world interest. Why shouldn’t a stand-up comedian be the mayor of Reykjavík? So what if there’s no word for “please” in the Icelandic language? You get my point – they’re a bit different and not as bound by rules as other European countries. Iceland also consistently tops world rankings as the best place for women and children to live, has low cost university education and prisons that try to rehabilitate people rather than just locking them up. The bookstores tend to have longer opening hours than anything else, which says a lot about a place.
2. Exciting nature and wildlife. Yes, you have to like nature if you go to Iceland as there’s not a lot else there. But within a small area you can see volcanoes, waterfalls, a geyser, boiling hot mud bubbling out of the earth and glaciers. You can get as close to it as you want to so there’s all kinds of accidents waiting to happen! The Blue Lagoon aside, there are natural hot springs everywhere. And there’s Northern Lights! What more do you want?
Arctic fox
A glacier beach
Is this a rock or a troll? Any guesses?
Iceland has tons of beautiful waterfalls.
At the right time of year Iceland is a great place for whale watching (sightings practically guaranteed in Husavík), seeing huge colonies of puffins and if you’re lucky an arctic fox. Even the domestic animals are quite interesting – the horse has its own unique gait (the tölt), and we had to pull over to take a picture of some cows as they were so pretty (and no, we weren’t the only ones, someone else had done it first).
3. Creepiness. Iceland is creepy beyond belief if you have a good imagination and like being scared. Most of the towns are really only one street with a few houses and the mountains you see by day turn into big looming shapes next to the road on a dark night. Leave Reykjavík and you can feel really isolated, as you can usually see for miles around you and there are no other people or buildings or well, anything. Trolls and elves are still talked about as a part of life. You can see elf houses in the countryside (insert elf door image) and in fact building projects are sometimes stopped or planned around areas where elves live.
Elf door!
The popular Icelandic author Arnaldur Indriðason’s mystery books definitely have a dark side, and even some of the popular TV comedies such as Næturvaktin manage to convey a real sense of sadness and bleakness while still being funny.
4. It’s expensive but also cheap. Bear with me here. Yes, it’s expensive and this is a reason you should go – it keeps away all the stag parties. It’s not the place to come to buy a whole new wardrobe or lots of beer on a night out. There is a Scandinavian mindset that it is worth paying more for things that will last and are of good quality. This is pretty much at odds with the more common mentality that you want to buy things as cheaply as possible because then you can buy more of them and then just throw them away. Iceland doesn’t “do” mass production so although you might pay a lot for a traditional Icelandic sweater, if you have bought it in the right place it will have been hand knitted and it will last forever. (I won’t go into the recent controversies about lava jewellery being sold using lava not from Iceland, and some of the sweaters being made in China!)
Knitter’s paradise!
It’s also cheap. You might spend a fortune on food, petrol and everything else you have to buy but all of the scenery that you would pay an admission fee to see anywhere else is free. The countryside is generally free of people and you will often find yourself the only ones at something really spectacular, which is pretty priceless.
5. Unique food and drink. Yes, I know you’re probably thinking of rotten shark and all the other “weird” things they love to show on TV. And yes, you can eat puffin and minke whale, although this is really just for tourists and you won’t find them on the menu in most places. Iceland is a fish lovers paradise and traditionally food has pretty much centred around fish and lamb. Now, Icelanders are getting fatter as junk food has taken over the country. But I ask you, where else can you get pizzas with toppings like peanuts and bananas? Or my personal favourite, a 4 cheese pizza with a side order of jam? Really great hot dogs? And don’t even get me started on the chocolate liquorice. Junk food aside, you can also get really tasty meals that taste like home-cooking even at service stations – we had some surprisingly good lasagne with potato gratin.
Cream cheese pizza
Given that Icelanders love to stay up late and eat junk food, it is perhaps fitting that their biggest superhero Sportacus from Lazytown advocates a healthy lifestyle rather than having any kind of magical powers.
Sportacus from Lazy Town
Something tourists are often initially alarmed about is that the water in their hotel room smells bad – this is sulphur and in fact Icelandic water is amongst the purest in the world. Geothermal heating also means it’s cheap and even in the most basic accommodation limitless hot water is a luxury you can count on.
So what’s all this I said at the beginning about too many tourists? This is a topic that comes and goes in the Icelandic news as more and more tourists visit, and Iceland has become dependent on those tourists since the financial crash.
Some of the more popular natural sights are feeling the strain. This is a debate that will continue for the foreseeable future, although I suspect Iceland’s current reputation as “trendy” and being put at the top of many travel companies “best place to go” lists won’t last. If you do go and visit Iceland, you won’t be disappointed. Come on over to my blog if you’d like to read more!
About the Blogger:
My name is Eva and I’ve been visiting Iceland since 2005. Some day I would love to have a second home there, but I may need to win the lottery first. I was initially hooked on Iceland’s nature and then started discovering the music, books, knitting and many quirks that make Iceland a really interesting society. I also love running and watching trashy reality shows. I’ve been blogging for nearly a year now and have been surprised to find how much I love reading other people’s blogs, which continually inspire me.
The Waiting 
Emily,
Sigur Ros. Simply.
Le Clown
Oops. Sorry. Take two.
Eva,
Sigur Ros. Simply.
Le Clown
No offense taken. I’ll see your Sigur Ros and raise you Lay Low.
And Gus Gus! Don’t forget Gus Gus!
omgosh. LOVE THEM!!!!
Booking a flight now.
And chartering a boat.
Connecting with a horse.
Wow, getting to Iceland is hard!
I am going with him.
Don’t forget the 4×4 with huge wheels! I’ll see you both there. :)
I have always wanted to visit but now I want to go for reasons previously unknown; more beautiful scenery than I realized; cream cheese pizza – seriously?; elves, weird people. Sounds amazing!
I know, right? Why would you go anywhere else?
I just read an article in the paper that Iceland was having a contest to rename the country. Some say it’s nonsense; others say it’s for real. Whether it’s true or not, it certainly piqued my interest in the country, as did your post. :)
It’s a rubbish marketing gimmick – the one last year where Icelanders invited people to do activities was much better. I’m not playing this one. :)
Well, it made it into USA Today, so that’s impressive, I guess. :)
The reason why the country is called Iceland was so that no one would go there ;) They wanted the country all to themselves. Guess that’s changed since they’re doing their best now to get people to come here ;)
I’ve got Norwegian blood, so something tells me I’d feel right at home with all the trolls and elves and such. I’ve always wanted to go and now I can add delicious looking pizza on my list of reasons. ;)
A Norwegian is really just an original Icelander…I should have maybe also mentioned that you can get square hamburgers to go with your pizza.
Groupon always has trips there for pretty cheap, like around $2000-$3000. It seems like such a wonderful place to retire to and not be bothered.
I’m glad the expensive food was mentioned. How much does a Subway foot long sub go for? That’s how I judge price differences from country to country.
I’m glad I live in the UK – it’s much cheaper than that for me to get to and spend a decent amount of time in Iceland. I probably wouldn’t be quite as obsessed if it was further away and therefore that much more expensive!
Hmm, good question re Subway. I don’t know (and there aren’t too many of them there) but their local rival Hlollabatar charges about 9 US dollars.
I’m part Danish. I’m so glad to hear my habit of paying $200 for shoes that last for-freaking-ever is part of my heritage! And I love elves.
See! It’s genetic!
This was a great post that I will file under your original post! Both were excellent. I do really want to go to Iceland. It would be sweet. I do love trolls and elves and stuff. I think I might do a post on faeries. I feel inspired!
Thanks Lily! Aren’t we lucky it’s such a small world these days?
I would love to visit somewhere that protects and cherishes their elves!
Wow, there are a lot of elf lovers on this blog!
You sound surprised. It’s one of the prerequisites before Emily will let us subscribe.
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This was wonderful and I lerned sumthin today!! Thanks EVA!!!
Yay! Blogging is educational!
it is y’all!!
Enjoyed this post – I’m in – I’ve added Iceland as one of my places to go.
Thanks J – nice to see you over here. :)
Enjoyed this a lot Eva, brava!
Iceland should hire you as their official Travel and Tourism Ambassador. I want to go too! (yes, I admit you had me at trolls and elves, but cream cheese pizza and eternal sweaters sealed the deal.)
Excellent, can you tell them that please as that would be my dream job? Their tourism figures have gone up this year and I’d like to think I had something to do with it… :)
I love it when a plan comes together… Good work, fellow bloggers!
Thanks Hook :)
Iceland is on my bucket list. I’ve actually heard from various people I know that the few in Iceland isn’t just unique…it’s not good at all. I can get past that. I mean, I like to eat, but I’m more of a sights girl myself.
Loved the pictures!
Thanks! Iceland is a worthy entry on a bucket list!
Wow! you had me at “cream cheese pizza.” Add in the creepy and the beautiful scenery and I’m sold!
That was easy!
Great article! Iceland is just amazing, I went last year and it inspired me to write this post http://www.good.is/posts/three-reasons-why-you-should-visit-iceland Not like you need anymore reasons to want to visit! Did you know that Icelandic people are also some of the happiest in the world?!