Iceland  Population of  We speak Icelandic  The currency is Icelandic króna  Halló!/Góðan daginn!/Gott kvöld (Hello/Good day/Good evening)  Bless/Sjáumst/Vertu sæll (Bye/See you later)

What do you need to know before you go to Iceland  Changeable weather - you will have to be prepared for all kinds of weather every hour of every day.  And we talk about the weather all the time  There are no trains in Iceland and public transport, such as buses and coaches is not good.  You might be shocked when you see how little vegetation there is in most places in the country.

Interesting nature  Quite a lot of waterfalls  Geysers and hot springs

Volcanoes You remember Eyjafjallajökull

In the summer  24 hour daylight (even sunshine) so you might have trouble sleeping.  National holidays on  May 1st – labour day  June 17th (birth of the republic)  First weekend in August (bank holiday weekend)

Midnight sun

Snæfellsjökull

In the winter  During the shortest days in December hardly any daylight.  Often heavy snow and slippery roads so getting about may be difficult (and dangerous)  On New Year‘s Eve – every single person in the country shoots loads of fireworks at midnight (some start earlier) and this lasts for up to 2 or 3 hours.  During the holidays – hardly any shops or restaurants are open.

Northern Lights in Akranes

Iceland  Wilderness – 80-90% uninhabited and uninhabitable: deserts (30%), glaciers, mountains etc.

Food  Traditional Icelandic food – is really only eaten during the wintermonth of Þorri (from around 20th January to 20th February).

Food  Traditionally Icelandic people mainly eat fish and lamb  A popular snack is dried fish eaten with butter=>  Now more varieties of meat, beef, chicken, pork have become popular as well  Game is very popular for celebrations Traditional Icelandic Sunday roast =>

Food  Vegetables grown in greenhouses (geo-thermal heat)  Hardly any fruit is grown in the country – but there are some wild berries that people like to pick in the autumn.

Food  Icelanders usually like their bread from wholewheat or rye rather than white flour.  Very popular bread is particular kind of unleavened bread (flat bread) eaten with smoked lamb most often and Icelandic ryebread (different from the Danish variety)

Food  Icelandic specialities are for instance what we call „kleina“  And for Christmas we deep fry bread which we first carve in various patterns.

Drink  Very fresh water everywhere – we don‘t really use bottled water (except carbonated).  Coffee – people drink a lot of coffee but tea is available in most places.  Alcoholic beverages: Only beer and spirits are produced in the country but imported wine has become really popular as of lately even if it is really expensive.  All alcohol is only sold inmust be bourght from off-licence stores (not in supermarkets)

Activities and hobbies  All sorts of outdoor activities are extremely popular such as  Hiking in the wilderness, mountainclimbing, skiing and ice-skating (when there is enough snow), camping in the summer,  Horseback-riding  swimming - lots of swimming pools everywhere with warm water (geothermal)  Angling (salmon and trout) and shooting (ducks, geese, reindeers).  And lately also: golf

Swimming in thermal pools...

Or in the Blue lagoon

Many like to hike in the wilderness

Others prefer to go by car (jeep)

Skiing

Angling

Icelandic horses

Reindeer

Perlan

Harpa the music hall

Imagine Peace Tower

Interesting facts  Yoko Ono created the peace tower which is lit every year between 9th Oct. – 8th Dec.  There are 13 Icelandic Yule lads – they start arriving 13 days before Christmas (one a day) and each brings the nice kids a small present.  The Christmas cat is really a monster who eats everybody who doesn‘t get a new item of clothing for Christmas.

The Icelandic Yule lads

And finally  Polar bears don‘t live in Iceland but visit occasionally on a drifting iceberg.  We don‘t live in igloos!  Almost every rock and cliff is believed to be the residence of „hidden people“.  Independence in The Icelandic Republic was established in 1944.