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Destination extraordinaire, Iceland is the stuff of fantasy, fable and funky boob tube documentaries. Fundamentally exciting, Iceland is for those of us who take pleasure in the world that nature intended: throbbing with seismic activity, vulnerable to volcanic eruptions, this is a land where glaciers shimmer even as geysers simmer; this here is a land to stupefy the senses.

The sea around, the mountains within, the intricate filigree of rivers and fjords, the unending daylight of the summer months, the unrelenting nights of the winters, the wonder of aurora borealis when the northern lights blaze through the sky and into your memory forever…Iceland – less icy than you think, more fiery than you imagined!

Icelanders do not have surnames or a family name. Icelanders carry forward the names of their father and add “son” or “daughter” to it as their surnames. Thus: If Hinrik had a son named Pala, it would be Pala Hinriksson. If Hinrik had a daughter named Anna, it would be Anna Hinriksdottir. Owing to the fact that Icelanders do not have surnames, women in Iceland do not take their husband’s name when they get married.

Do not tip in restaurants in Iceland as it is considered as an insult to the waiters and others working there. Service charges are usually included in the bill.

Isn’t it strange that the sun never fully sets during the month of June in Iceland? There is daylight even during the night as the sun is above the horizon for most of the nights in summer. For the same reason Iceland has also been referred to as “the Land of the Midnight Sun”.

Iceland is one of the few countries on earth that has no defence force – no army, navy or airforce! But they do have coast guard service.

Historically Speaking

Iceland was first settled by Irish monks fleeing the unsettled Scandinavian countries and then by those daring savvy seafarers, the Norsemen, in the 9th century AD. They set up a parliamentary republic by the first half of the 10th century, holding their assembly at a rock cut amphitheatre, about 40 kilometres from where Reykjavic is today in a place called Thingvellir. In the 10th century, Iceland, by now inhabited by the Vikings and Celts, had colonized Greenland and according to some were the first of the Europeans to discover America – half a century before Columbus.

In the middle of the 13th century, Iceland came under the rule of the Norway, and when Norway was taken over by the Danes in 1397, Iceland too fell under the Danish kingdom. When Norway became independent in the early years of the 19th century, Iceland did not automatically follow suit. It was not until 1840 that Iceland was allowed to have her own parliament and a degree of self-governance. In 1918 the country was granted complete independence but continued to call the King of Denmark its head of state till 1944.

In 1944, Iceland declared herself a completely independent country following a plebiscite in which the mandate was overwhelmingly in favor of cutting ties with the Danish monarchy. On 17th June, the Republic of Iceland was established at Thingvellir, the site where the old parliament had been established more than a thousand years before.

Habitat

Europe’s second largest island, at 103,000 sq km, Iceland is not a very large country. The greatest distance from north to south is about 300 km and from east west, it is some 500 odd km wide. Iceland lies in the North Atlantic Ocean, its northern most point just degrees away from the Arctic Circle. There is some topographical variation but primarily Iceland is made up of highlands and mountains. In the central and northern part of Iceland range after range of craggy mountains, snow-peaked and bare in the north, with green undergrowth towards the south, fill the vision. The northeast of Iceland is where some of its most stark and stunning landscape is: the Mt. Herdubreid, Jokulsa River and Lake Myvatn are here. The northern, western and eastern coastlines are indented, making for Iceland’s famous fjords. Across the length and breadth of Iceland one sees vast tract of sandy wastelands, rock outcropping and lava fields.

The American and European tectonic plates meet at Iceland making the country a hotbed of seismic activity. Glaciers like the Vatnajökull, Europe’s largest are in the same geographical region as geysers like the Geysir and Strokkur, and volcanoes.

Iceland’s forest cover had depleted enormously after its inhabitation in the 9th century, but legislative measures have rectified the damage somewhat. The largest forests are the Vaglaskógur in the north and the Hallormsstaður on the eastern coast. Iceland’s flora resembles that of Northern Europe and Scandinavia. The most common vegetation is low shrubs, moss, lichens and grasses. The common shrubs are dwarf birch, willow, bearberry, crowberry and heather. In the southwest lichens and moss usually come up in the lava fields.

Iceland is waterfowl paradise. Lake Mývatn is one of the largest breeding grounds for birds in Europe. It even attracts the Barrow’s goldeneye and the harlequin duck whose habitat otherwise is America. The birds commonly found in Iceland are the whooper swans, and seabirds like the guillemot, the puffin, the fulmar, the gannet, the razorbill and the kittiwake.

Iceland’s waters are inhabited by many species of whales, including belugas, orcas, a variety of baleen whales and sperm whale. A variety of seals and walrus are also found here. The Icelandic horse, small but sturdy, is a creature of beauty. The arctic fox, minks, otters, house mice and rats, reindeer and the odd polar bear that’s lost his way are the other mammals found in the wilds or not so wild regions of Iceland