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Background: Settled by Norwegian and Celtic (Scottish and Irish) immigrants during the late 9th and 10th centuries A.D., Iceland boasts the world's oldest functioning legislative assembly, the Althing, established in 930. Independent for over 300 years, Iceland was subsequently ruled by Norway and Denmark. Fallout from the Askja volcano of 1875 devastated the Icelandic economy and caused widespread famine. Over the next quarter century, 20% of the island's population emigrated, mostly to Canada and the US. Limited home rule from Denmark was granted in 1874 and complete independence attained in 1944. Literacy, longevity, income, and social cohesion are first-rate by world standards.

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By Happy Pat
December 1st 2007

And now, the end is near!

Europe » Iceland » Southwest » Reykjavík

Sunrise in Iceland

Greetings from beautiful Iceland! (even though I am writing this on Saturday evening, I am quite certain it won't get sent out till at least Monday, when I am back home) We arrived yesterday (Friday), mid-afternoon. As I mentioned earlier, it was a blustery, windy afternoon in Iceland. I could have used more hairspray, had I known what was awaiting us outside the airport terminal! The views of Iceland from the airplane were so interesting. I got a few good shots. We should have anticipated the fierce winds because we could see huge white caps on the waves below! We were [View Full Entry]

Looks like everyone wanted that photo too!

By Erna
November 28th 2007

Iceland at the mom

Europe » Iceland » Southwest » Reykjavík

I am not traveling at the moment but as soon as I will, I´ll write;) [View Full Entry]

By derbylad
November 19th 2007

That's why Kev goes to Iceland

Europe » Iceland » Southwest » Reykjavík

THIS IS A BLOG OF MINE FROM ICELAND A COUPLE OF YEARS AGO Gott korlaod from Iceland! Just taking advantage of the free internet at the hotel. Been in reykjevik for a few days nowand done loads. the flight alone is worth coming for. Flying over glaciers and what looks like a lunar landscape with lakes. Over the last few days I've climbed a volcano { I almost bricked myself} , visited the Geysirs and a huge two tier waterfall called Gulfoss and today I've been out taking photos of puffins, dolphins and whales {although my 2.49 disposable from Mr. Scoops [View Full Entry]

By CathyW
September 20th 2007

The Long Way Home... to have a baby

Europe » Iceland » Southwest » Reykjavík

Viking sculpture

December 5th finally arrived. With work over and our flat packed up and cleaned we got our bond from the landlord and headed to Heathrow with glee. It was a rainy gloomy day so typical for London and we were happy to be heading onto new places. The checkin line at Icelandair at Heathrow was a first, no one there! A record to be checked in within two minutes. Lanzarote looked busy...heheh. The flight to Iceland took 2.5 hours and was rather pleasant with an interesting meal of cold ham and potato salad. We landed at Keflavik into a treeless landscape [View Full Entry]

By ian jason
September 7th 2007

iceland

Europe » Iceland » Southwest » Reykjavík

group pic

this was such a nice country...totaly amazing to see something on the total other scale of anyhting i have ever seen.... [View Full Entry]

By Rbenson
September 5th 2007

Iceland, true to the name

Europe » Iceland » Southwest » Reykjavík

Look right at the bottom of the photo. Thats me

I decided to take the Thursday off instead of working, even though we were leaving from Heathrow at 8pm, I new it would be a late night. Cam wandered to Walthamstow, and we headed on the Tube thru central London towards Heathrow. After checking in and ensuring we had a window seat (at night). If any of you know me, one thing I’ve always wanted to see is the aurora borealis. (Aka, the northern lights). This was the closest I had ever been to the Artic Circle and therefore my best ever chance to see the lights, unfortunately even though we [View Full Entry]

By Georgiana
August 30th 2007

Farewell to volcanoes, waterfalls and glaciers

Europe » Iceland » Southwest » Grindavík

Iceland is beautiful

Hi again. It is now our final afternoon in Iceland and the good weather has ended, but we were very lucky for most of our week here. It is an amazing country for natural wonders and so little publicised compared with many others. Over the last couple of days we have driven around the south of the country, staying last night at Vik, the southern-most town. As we approached it, the rain arrived, so did not get the chance to look at puffin nests, the usual fabulous rock formations etc. But not to worry, as earlier in the day we saw [View Full Entry]

By Georgiana
August 25th 2007

Geysers, waterfalls and the first parliament

Europe » Iceland » Southwest » Reykjavík

Hot springs and bubbling mud

Just back from a fish dinner in downtown Reykjavik which we will depart in the morning, as we begin to circumnavigate Island (as they call Iceland here). Fish was good and the beer okay. We had a lovely day, picking up our hire car this morning and battling reflexes to switch on windscreen wipers instead of indicators, turn onto the wrong side of roads and all the other automatic things when you haven´t driven on the wrong side for years. But we made it, and can only get better. Reading the books, I was aware about Iceland being in the middle [View Full Entry]

By Georgiana
August 24th 2007

Done cruisin'

Europe » Iceland » Southwest » Reykjavík

Svalbard beach
Old whaling station on Svalbard

Hi all After 12 days on the good ship Academik Sergey Vavilov from Svalbard then Greenland and finally Iceland, we are now much better informed about glaciers, icebergs, Arctic wildlife including bears and history, and ready for a close connection with Iceland over the next week. Good group on the ship including quite a few Australians, but amazingly at least eight children among the 100 or so passengers -- Irish, Italians and English. Can only assume that the parents were pretty well heeled -- although the flights to get to these parts from the UK or the States are much cheaper [View Full Entry]

By Michael T
August 18th 2007

Back in Reykjavik - Running in Memory Of Nabil

Europe » Iceland » Southwest » Reykjavík

Marthon Billboard
Unfortunately, we didn't take any pictures at the race, but we basically looked like these folks ;)

On Thursday, we returned to Reykjavik, where we would stay for the remainder of the trip. Thursday evening and Friday were spent relaxing in the local hot pools, eating out, walking around the city, and visiting the National Museum of Iceland. We also walked over to the sports center to pick up our registration packet for the annual Reykjavik Marathon on Saturday. We were both signed up to run the 10 km race. Most of our hiking group was part of a larger group that was gathering in Reykjavik to run in the races associated with the Reykjavik Marathon in memory [View Full Entry]

Travel Blog » Europe » Iceland » Southwest