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Iceland Travel Blogs

Settled by Norwegian and Celtic 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, then Denmark, achieving full independence in 1944.

Iceland experiences a rather mild climate for a country on such a northern latitude, yet weather patterns are known to be volatile, conditions changing frequently. During the summer months, Iceland never reaches full darkness, and in northern areas a Midnight Sun can be seen. Iceland's stunning landscape provides areas of geothermal activity, mountains, waterfalls and glaciers. It's cities although small, provide both a taste of traditional culture and the chance to experience the Icelandic way of life.

Highlights

• Gullfoss (The Golden Falls)
• The Jökulsár Lagoon
• Dettifoss
• Vestmannaeyjar
• The Culture House museum - holding a large collection of medieval manuscripts.
• The Blue Lagoon
• Reykjavík

Tips and Hints

Best to travel in the summer months - winter offers near permanent darkness and freezing weather conditions.

Iceland

Map of Iceland

Iceland's Flag

Hostels in Iceland
Latest Iceland Blog Entries
Iceland Photos

By KMyshrall
July 5th 2009

The End of the World Europe » Iceland » Southwest » Reykjavík

Geysir area

I actually wrote this last night but am just getting a chance to upload it! Hi everyone, Well today was a long, fun and interesting day. After my last post we innoculated our samples. After the past week of feeling like an idiot, it felt great to watch the astrophysicists have no clue what was going on during the microbiology lecture and lab and have to ask us questions!! After that we had lunch and headed back to the hotel to get our bags (they were very nice to let us leave one small thing each behind so they can enjoy [View Full Entry]

By KMyshrall
July 5th 2009

Yay for geology! Europe » Iceland » Southwest » Reykjavík

View from Hotel Highland

Today was actually a lot of fun even though we only had lectures. The bugs from hell got way worse and the hotel was incredibly smart and started selling us mosquito netting headcovers for 500 Krona. Totally worth the $4!! We had lectures throughout the day on glaciers, volcanoes, and climate change. It is so nice to have geology lectures and know what is going on. We were quite enjoying when the astrophysicists were asking questions such as "What's ENSO mean" and "Why is Iceland even here" (geologically speaking of course). After a week of barely understanding, it's great to be [View Full Entry]

By TrafficJan82
July 4th 2009

Goodbye Iceland! Europe » Iceland » Southwest » Reykjanesbær

Through the lava fields

Last day on Iceland! We'll spend it in style: after killing ourselves cycling around the place for (almost) 2 weeks, today is going to make all of it worthwhile - especially yesterday's torture ride to get here. In the morning, again we are woken by rain. So, again, we decide to do the reasonable thing: sleep in, and wait for the weather to come to its senses, and stop the rain. And it works! At 11am, we are, once again, the last people on the campsite, but the rain has stopped, and so we can have a nice dry breakfast, pack [View Full Entry]

By Bothan Taistil
July 4th 2009

Iceland the land of many delights Europe » Iceland

The Blue Lagoon, Iceland

I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel's sake. The great affair is to move. ~Robert Louis Stevenson July 4th, 2009, Saturday, Ekeberg Camping, Oslo, to Oslo Airport to Keflavik Airport, to the Blue Lagoon, Iceland to Farm Guesthouse near Selfoss, Iceland. After a night of storms, the weather has finally cooled down. Finding our way to the airport was relatively easy, UNTIL,,, we drove down a ramp to long term parking, it was underground parking with a clearance of 2.2 meters…we are 3.4 meters…Oops! After a U-turn and a ve [View Full Entry]

Lots of folks enjoying the geothermal heated pool, in the rain

Thereâ€™s what her nameâ€¦.. Enjoying the warm water.

Bob and Kel refreshed after a pleasant soak!

By KMyshrall
July 4th 2009

Moving on Europe » Iceland » Southwest » Reykjavík

Feeling much better today. Not 100% but good enough to get moving this morning. I was sick until about 2PM yesterday and finally got smart and opened the windows to let some air in, and then ran to the store to get some crackers and stuff, packed and slept all afternoon and night. I vaguely remember waking up when my roommate got back around midnight, fell back asleep, and didn´t wake up until it was just about time to head to breakfast. They had to split the groups for lab work this morning so I´m in the computer lab playing on [View Full Entry]

By TrafficJan82
July 3rd 2009

Back to Reykjavik (once again) Europe » Iceland » Southwest » Reykjavík

Good morning!

What a rude awakening! Starting from 6am, rain starts gushing on the tent, and the wind shakes the tent, even has us worried that the whole thing might take off. We try to get some more sleep - the bus doesn't leave until 9 - but by 7, there is no point, so we get up and start packing up, all the while trying to keep the tent from taking off. Breakfast is cancelled, since there is no point trying to make coffee in that kind of weather. Plus, the bus leaves from the petrol station, so we can just get [View Full Entry]

By KMyshrall
July 3rd 2009

Finally some fun! Europe » Iceland » Southwest » Reykjavík

Today was a LONG, but good day. This morning we started early since we had so much to do. 4 hrs of programming which ended up not being too bad since I'm fairly comfortable with basic unix commands and perl script. We then loaded onto the greenest bus I have ever seen...seriously, I have pictures, the entire thing was green...and headed to the botanical gardens. We didn't have much time but I managed to take a lot of pictures (which are uploading, unedited, at a reduced format, and at a snail's pace to my flickr site). We had lunch in their [View Full Entry]

By KMyshrall
July 3rd 2009

Sick Europe » Iceland » Southwest » Reykjavík

Well, I think the lack of sleep, steamy, sulfur filled rooms, eating horribly, and being crammed with 50 other people on a bus or lecture room every day finally caught up with me. I wasn't feeling that hot last night, couldn't sleep and was in the bathroom constantly. This morning was even worse and I've been throwing up for the past 1 1/2 hrs. Since we were traveling to a location without any facilities at all in the middle of nowhere and won't return until about midnight, I talked with the organizer and we decided I should stay here today. I'm [View Full Entry]

By mike allen
July 3rd 2009

Iceland Europe » Iceland » East

Iceland is fantastic! The weather has been great, the sights amazing, and all is well with the World. Access to computers has been challenging, however: everyone has their own! To be honest, I´ve really enjoyed being disconnected from my website, email, facebook, twitter, youtube, et al. I´ve decided today to not bother with blogging for this trip. I´m going old school: pen and paper, camera for later, messages to family and friends - as for the rest: I´ll tell you all about it in September! I hope everyone is having a great summer. I wish you all well and I´ll see [View Full Entry]

By The Joy Family
July 2nd 2009

A Trip to the Saga Museum Europe » Iceland » Southwest » Reykjavík

The Saga Museum

We had two possible options today: the thermal pools or the Saga Museum. Having done thermal pools a lot in New Zealand, we decided to go the the Saga Museum instead and so, after packing a lunch, we headed off. The Saga Museum is about a half hour walk from our apartment and is more on the outskirts of Reykjavik. It is a very modern looking domed building, visible from quite a distance away. As we approached the museum, we found ourselves on a rise of land from which we could see most of the city. The gardens around the museum [View Full Entry]

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Iceland Travel Blogs

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