Culture
It takes special people to not just endure but embrace the dark winters, spewing volcanoes, and the isolation that are facts of life in Iceland. Indeed, resilient Icelanders have an utterly sunny outlook, with one of the longest life expectancies and highest standards of living in the world. Ever since the Vikings, Iceland's first inhabitants, set foot on this enchanting island in the 9th century, the people of Iceland have been hard at work successfully making this rugged country a hospitable and overwhelmingly desirable place to live.
Iceland floats in the North Atlantic with sparsely populated Greenland as its closest neighbor, 180 miles away. Because of this geographical isolation, the Icelandic way of life borrows much from its major cultural influence, the Vikings. This fairly homogenous gene pool has produced a country full of tall, blonde, blue-eyed people--an obvious likeness to the sword-wielding Nordic warriors who settled the country.
The isolation has also made Icelanders a relatively reserved people. They may seem shy at first, and they likely won't initiate conversation. But once they open up, they're proud to tell you about their country, give you advice on your travels, or ask you about your life back home to feed their insatiable curiosity about the world beyond the Atlantic Ocean.
The value of hard, honest labor has also endured the test of time, whether it's sheep farming, fishing, or working a white-collar office job. At 43.5 hours, Icelanders have the longest workweek in Europe, and they maintain the agrarian mentality that one's worth is measured by how many hours one toils. But that's just half the story: Icelanders also have to work hard to balance their infamously compulsive spending habits.
But Icelanders play hard too, as evidenced by the all-night raucous partying every weekend in Reykjavík. Festivals also draw huge, celebratory crowds. Independence Day on June 17 celebrates the day when the Danish crown granted Iceland full independence in 1944. Festivities include parades, dancing, and street theater, concentrated mostly in Reykjavík. And don't miss Beer Day on March 1, when Icelanders drink lots of beer to commemorate the 1989 lifting of a 75-year beer prohibition.
When not working or playing, Icelanders are reading or writing books. With a 99.9 percent literacy rate, Icelanders devour books with intensity, and have for centuries. Sagas, written by anonymous Icelanders in the 13th century, tell the history of Iceland with fact-based heroic tales of battles, religion, and romance. These sagas can hold their own against more renowned classic works like Shakespeare, and because the Icelandic language hasn't changed much since the Middle Ages, these exciting stories are accessible to modern Icelanders. Today, writing prose is almost a rite of passage: Nearly one in 10 Icelanders publishes a book in their lifetime.
Cuisine
Fish pulled from unpolluted waters and lamb that feed on unfertilized fields make up the staples of Iceland's entirely organic cuisine. Lobster, ocean perch, cod, salmon, and trout are more delicious and fresher than you ever thought possible. Icelandic lamb has a distinctively "wild" flavor, reportedly due to the animals' freewheeling and happy life roaming the countryside and eating untainted herbs.
Fish is traditionally baked, salted, or thrown together with garlic and onion in a stew. Smoked salmon is a favorite, along with fish paté and pickled herring. The faint of stomach may want to avoid hákarl, shark meat that's been buried for three months or more until it's putrefied.
The lamb dishes you'll find in gourmet restaurants, spiced with mustard or prepared as filets, are probably the best you'll ever have. But these newfangled lamb recipes are much different from the old, traditional (read: bizarre) dishes. That's not to say they're bad, they're just, well, different.
| Salted, smoked, or slathered in curry sauce, Iceland's national bird, the puffin, is a popular dish in the country's best restaurants |
Take ram's testicles pickled in whey, for example. Or svið, a sheep's head that's been burned to remove the wool, cut in two, boiled, and either eaten fresh or pressed into jelly. And then there's slátur (sounds like "slaughter" for a reason), sheep innards tied up in sheep's stomach and cooked. Adventurous travelers should at least try these surprisingly tasty dishes, which have been sustaining Icelanders since medieval times. A swig of Icelandic spirit Brennivin ("Black Death") or one of Iceland's many excellent vodkas always helps for a dose of courage.
For dessert, there's skyr, a rich curd best mixed with cream or topped with wild berries. Another national favorite is randalín, a delicious cake layered with blueberry jam.
Visas: Most tourists do not require visas for stays up to three months.
Currency: Icelandic Króna
Money Matters: It's relatively easy to exchange money at airports, banks, and currency exchanges. Most establishments accept major credit cards like Visa and Mastercard, and ATMs are available in most regions. Foreign traveler's checks can be exchanged at any bank for a $2.50 fee. Tipping is generally not required; most restaurants tack a service charge on your bill, making additional tipping unnecessary, but appreciated.
Climate: Contrary to its name, Iceland enjoys a temperate climate. Winters rarely get colder than 35°F and summers warm to about 56°F. Summer brings a special treat with three months of nearly 24-hour sunlight. But Icelanders pay a price for their sunny summers: In the winter, the sun only rises for few hours a day.
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