Facts about Iceland

This article presents the most interesting facts about Iceland - a wonderful, mysterious and fabulous country with a harsh climate, but incredible beauties. Its inhabitants are the descendants of the Vikings, but they believe in the existence of the elves. And still here "powerful" volcanoes live, capable of covering the sky with ashes over Europe during the eruption and eventually completely stop the air communication, as it was in 2010 during the eruption of the volcano Eyyafyadlayekudl .

Of course, 50 facts about Iceland we will not provide, but a few really interesting short stories from the life of the Icelanders and their country will tell!

Facts about people

1. Iceland is home to just over 300,000 people. At the same time, active population growth began only after the Second World War. Before that, the Icelanders did not exceed 50,000.
2. Interestingly formed surnames - the children do not get the surname of their father, but "acquire" the patronym, that is, something similar to the patronymic:

• if this is a boy, then a "dream" is added to the father's surname, that is, a son (For example, if his father's name is Sigurth, then his son will become the owner of Sigurtson's name - which means Sigurta's son);
• if this is a girl, then "dottir" is added to the father's surname, that is, a daughter.

Facts about the climate

1. It is believed that the island has a harsh climate, but it is not as cold as many people think. For example, in the winter months, the air temperature does not often fall below -6 degrees.
2. Although the winters here are incredibly dark. For example, on the shortest day of the year, December 21, the dawn comes only closer to eleven o'clock in the morning, and already at 4:00 pm there is pitch darkness. But in summer there is sunshine here, let the rays and do not warm the earth and air. For example, in the first month of summer, the sun practically does not go beyond the horizon - except for a couple of hours.
3. But in winter, the lack of light from the sun can be replaced by beautiful northern lights. Although the Icelanders themselves are so used to it that they simply do not pay attention.

Facts about music

1. Icelanders are very musical people - there is an incredible number of bands, while many play very high-quality music, although they are unknown in other countries.
2. In addition, they take Eurovision very seriously - for them this is almost the main action of the year, the finale of which is monitored by all without exception.

Facts about food

1. In Iceland is not the most pretentious cuisine - basically, here they emphasize seafood and lamb.
2. There are also exotic dishes, such as a boiled mutton head with eyes or rotten meat of the Greenland shark.
3. But with fast food on the island somehow did not work out. So, for the whole of Iceland there was not one "McDonald's" left - the last one closed its doors back in 2008, when the country was covered by a global crisis.
4. Alcohol on the island is quite expensive. Beer was banned for a long time. But here they produce a good potato schnapps. But the cost of ordinary wine depends on its ... fortress. Therefore, quite tasty, good and easy this French wine will cost much less than some incomprehensible fifteen-degree "mutter".
5. The island is happy to use licorice when preparing food - it is added to many dishes.

Facts about safety

1. They say that the Icelanders never fought with anyone. It is difficult to say how this fact relates to the Vikings, but at the moment there is no regular army in the country. Only the coast guard functions here. The authorities are sure that this is enough to protect the country at the moment.
2. By the way, crime here is also very good. In the sense that its level is almost zero. That's why the police do not even carry weapons with them.
3. Probably not the most common offense is the wrong parking - Icelanders can put cars even across the road.

Facts about energy

Iceland actively uses natural sources of energy, which positively affects the environment. So, for heating of houses hot water from geysers and underground thermal sources is used.

In the capital of the country, Reykjavik is never frosted by sidewalks and they are never cleaned from snow. The reason for this - all the same thermal springs. Under the sidewalks are laid pipes, which pumped hot water.

Of course, gas and gasoline are also used here, but only for one reason - for some reason an electric car has not yet taken root in the country.

Other interesting facts

And in this section interesting facts about Iceland are presented in the abstract, because it is possible to talk about the country for a long time and write even longer. So, briefly:

• Icelandic language has not undergone any changes in the last 10 centuries, therefore, any descendant of the Vikings reads even the ancient manuscripts of their harsh ancestors without problems;
• there is a version that Icelanders are the most reading nation in the world;
• The vast majority of Icelanders believe in the existence of elves;
• one of the official religions of the country is based on pagan beliefs - it adheres to more than 2 thousand people;
• at the job interview, they never ask for recommendations, but believe in the word even to foreigners;
• In Iceland, the oldest unregistered parliament of the world still operates - they say that it was founded in 930;
• on the island there are many sheep - at least twice as many as humans;
• This is why the production of clothes made of sheep's wool is developed here - lame-sweaters made of high-quality wool and having original, recognizable patterns can be considered a national treasure;
• Icelanders love sports, but, for example, professional football players here are even less than active volcanoes. So, the last number is 126 pieces, and players with professional status, only 120. Although only 23,000 people are officially engaged in football;
• on the island there are no ants at all, although scientists have not established what is involved in this;
• The main city of the country Reykjavik is officially considered the northernmost capital of the world;
• on the island there is a very strong concentration of geysers;
• geyser - the word purely Icelandic, meaning "gushing".

Despite the crisis that covered the country several years ago and the actual default, when the decision was made to not give loans at a referendum, Iceland has been on the list of countries with the highest standard of living for many years.

If you are interested in this amazing country, you can safely plan your trip to the island. The only problem is that there are no direct flights from Moscow. Will have to fly only with transplants - with one or two, depending on the flight. Travel time is from 6 to 21 hours.