In June this year, I finally decided to visit Iceland. The North of Europe has always fascinated me during this season because of the gright nights and the vivid colors one can see then. I also had heard Iceland is a completely different world itself. So I decided to give it a try and see it with my own eyes.

Once I landed at Reykjavik airport, I was fairly surprised since I did not previously check on weather, not expecting significant difference in weather vs. central Norway from where I just arrived from. It was raining with strong wind and with temperature of approximately 13 degrees Centigrade. Great summer wather in short… Immediately upon arrival, I got on the bus to the Blue Lagoon – one of greatest attractions on Iceland, located just about in the middle between the airport and Reykjavik downtown. Getting there, I checked in and went to dressing rooms leading to thermal springs in the open, which is what the Blue Lagoon is renowned for. Looking out through the glass of the building leading to baths, I spotted great moisture resembling fog, and silhouettes of bathers peeking above water, and surrounding rocks that left one with the impression all of this was really taking place on the surface of the Moon.

Heading towards baths, along these ten meters or so towards the water, I felt the cool wind and the rain it brings. Getting in the warm water, however, I hoped to finally reach relaxation that warm baths usually bring, but I soon learned this is a completely new and different experience. My body was in the warm cozy water while my face was harrowed by vigorous and cold wind with drops of rain too, that was drizzling. Water depth was about a meter to a meter and a half, while temperature varied significantly in individual parts – from tepid to hot. After a while, neither the wind nor rain no longer bothered me, but I let go to the unique experience of Iceland’s Blue Lagoon.

Most interesting is the story of how the Blue Lagoon was created exactly. That is, in the vicinity of the Blue Lagoon, there is a geothermal power plant. The guide told us the plant used to output waste water at the venue where the Blue Lagoon is located today. This gave water the turquoise-light-blue tinge. One of factory employees was probably feeling somewhat adventurous and decided to go for a dip in the turquoise and warm liquid. He obviously found the experience fairly pleasant so he decided to regularly repeat his ritual. After a while, he realized his pseoriasis difficulties vanished completely. Having informed the others of his experience, research was conducted that confirmed the positive medical effects of the newly created liquid, created by combining warm springs and industrial waste. And this is how Blue Lagoon was created. Incredible, yet true. The Blue Lagoon today is one of greatest attractions in Iceland, and millions of people come there every year to try the uniqueness of the experience it affords and to convince themselves of the positive health effects that Blue Lagoon brings to its visitors.

After the Blue Lagoon, I came to the hotel located in the downtown of Reykjavik, and went for dinner and some drinks in a tapas bar nearby. The tapas bar was easy to find and I was able to taste there few interesting dishes – from whale which is one of Icelandic national dishes to exceptionally tasty smoked salmon which is probably the best one I ever tried. The taste of whale, I have to confess, I did not particularly like (it reminds me on rabbit perhaps or something similar), while the smoked salmon was so tasty I fondly remember how it slid down my throat while I was enjoying every bite. During the following two days I went on two full day trips. During the first day, “the Wonders of Snæfellsnes“ and on the second on “the Golden Circle and the Fountain” tour, which was remarkably interesting, and where I had my opportunity to witness the Icelandic geysirs, waterfalls and hot streams. Tour guides were very talkative so I could hear and learn quite a lot about Iceland.

Iceland in general terms

Iceland is a fairly small country according to its number of inhabitants and is not member of EU, even though it has been integrated into the Schengen with other EU members. Only 320,000 people live there, out of which 120,000 inhabit the inner, and as many as 200,000 the greater area of Reykjavik (or over 60 of the total country population) - which is at the same time the capital of Iceland. Reykjavik meanssmoke bayand represents the center of all events in Iceland. Iceland takes up the area of 103,000 square kilometers² which is double the Denmark with far many inhabitants (country which ruled Iceland for centuries). The very name Iceland (ice land) points to a significant number of icebergs/glaciers located there. It is estimated 12 per cent of Iceland is glaciers, and it also contains the greatest European glacier, with the area of approximately 9,000 m²Glaciers are found in the interior of the country, while all Icelanders live along the coast.

The land of Iceland is a lot younger than the European continent. Thus, it is estimated Iceland is twenty to thirty million years old, while the European continent is about forty to fifty million years old. This is exactly why nature here is unstable, unusual and beautiful, and this is the main cause of events such as volcano eruptions (there are some 130 volcanos on Iceland), and other occurrances one can rarely find on the European continent, such as pools of lava, geysirs and hot streams. Except for its youth in terms of geological structure, Iceland is also the last country that was settled in Europe – in 8th century, by Vikings.

The first settler who stayed came from Norway in 874. The first Norwegian settlers came to Iceland running away from a strict Norwegian king. Before them, there had been visitors who had not stayed, and some priests had also lived on the island for a while. One of oldest European parliaments was founded on Iceland, which functioned as early as 930. The sessions, in the period between 930 and 1798 were held in open and by a lake, where attendees would come during June (when the day lasts all day long). They would pitch a tent in the venue and convene for a few days. Meetings were held next to the area with North Atlantic plate, for this area has great acoustics. Women could also speak in the parliament from the very beginning, which is the historical genesis of Iceland always having been cherishing gender equality. As for history, Iceland was conquered by Norway in 13th century, and by Denmark in 1380. On 17 June 1944, it declared its independence, which is celebrated on this date today as well.

Iceland gets its energy 100% from green sources - 30% of country’s energy requirements are met by geothermal sources, and 70% of them come from water. Furthermore, 87% of houses in Iceland are heated by using geothermal energy. The guide told us the average household pays approximately USD 55 for heating and electricity. The prices in Iceland, on the whole, are exceptionally high. For example, the taxi to airport is EUR 110, and this is why almost everybody use the bus system, which is fairly well organized by the leading tourist agency. Every hour the bus collects people around the city, brings them to a gathering point in city periphery and then transports them to airport (the same works in the opposite direction). According to our guide, to rent a 70m² apartment in Reykjavik means EUR 1,000 a month, and, if this is in downtown then the cost would be around EUR 1,500. All mentioned tesstifies about relatively high prices and until the 2008. Crisis, salaries of the people were in in line with such prices.

The financial crisis came as a storm to Iceland in October 2008, with the top three banks going bankrupt in a week. The GDP dropped by more than ten per cent in six months, and the Icelandic currency, the crown, devalued to half its level in relation to Euro. Local prices as a consequence of devaluation skyrocketed, with many people’s salaries dropping significantly at the same time (this was also accompanied by an increase in unemployment). The consequences of the financial crisis in Iceland appear similar to those in other European countries: drastic decrease of the middle class purchasing power and the need for people to work significantly harder in order to live well. The guide for example said he worked nine to twelve hours a day in order to live a reasonable lifestyle, but he did not say this with bitterness but as a conclusion, along with the comment Icelanders are generally positive and do not want to have negative thoughts (in contrast to certain other nations ). Economic recovery and growth in Iceland started again in 2011. In order to put things into perspective, let me stress Iceland’s GDP per capita is, even today, twice the one in Croatia (and it grew over 3% in 2013), and that the unemployment rate in Iceland is somewhere at the level of 5%.

Tourism is the most significant industry in Iceland; apart from tourism, developed industries include fishing, production of aluminum (four factories) and pharmaceutical industry – mainly presented by Actavis, which as some Croatians may remember was a potential bidder for biggest Croatian pharmaceutical company Pliva. As a support to tourism industry, the Icelandic airline (Iceland Airlines) introduced affordable flights between Europe and North America with stop overs of several days in Iceland (Iceland is located some 2.5 to 3 hours of flying from the European continent and approximately 5 hours from North America). This represented great impulse for the development of tourism in Iceland.stop overima) od nekoliko dana u Islandu (Island se nalazi na 2,5 – 3 h leta od europskog kontinenta i na oko 5 h leta od sjevernoameričkog kontinenta). To je predstavljao veliki impuls za razvoj turizma na Islandu.

What bad climate brought to Iceland

As you probably already understood so far, weather is not one of Iceland’s strongest cards - to put it mildly. Cold wind often blows (independently of season), and the average summer temperature is 14 degrees Centigrade – which I experienced personally. Winters are not that cold (-3 or -4 in average), but the cold wind is quite vigorous and in combination with just a few hours of daylight during winter - day in Iceland lasts all day long in summer and just four hours during winter. This surely does not stand for the ideal of great weather and temperate climate for most people. Exactly in light of such I would even say gloomy atmosphere during winter, Iceland turned into a principal location for filming winter scenes of the world renowned show the Game of Thrones (the summer locations of which were shot in our beautiful Dubrovnik). This perhaps illustrates best the contrast Iceland portrays in terms contrast vs. Croatian coast, in terms of the climate and the atmosphere it conveys. Iceland also includes quite swift and frequent changes in weather, which can practically occur in a few minutes’ time. Icelanders therefore have a saying which says “If you don’t like weather - wait a while.”

The very fact the climate is as such that Icelanders are not able to enjoy nice weather (as Mediterannean nations can for instance) probably stimulated them more to focus their time on active life and creation.

Iceland has the greatest number of published and read books per capita, and the greatest number of daily newspapers per capita in the world are read there (as many as 1.4 a day per person). The average Icelander reads four books in a year, while each tenth publishes at least one book during his or her lifetime. Iceland also has a literary Nobel winner named Halldor Laxness, who wrote the award winning “Independent Men” and who some refer to as the Northern Tolstoy.

The genesis of such potent literary awareness and orientation of Icelanders towards reading goes back deep into history, i.e. more precisey to 12th or 13th century, the time of the so-called “Golden Era” and before the Danish rule. This is the time when numerous tales were created – they call them sagas. They speak of the time around 1000 – these are about peasants, families, lovers, heroes and kings. They are quite significant works from the perspective of world literature, as books at the time were written strictly in Latin on the European continent. Icelanders usually say their literature represents “their pyramids” or most precious cultural heritage they left to entire mankind. Precisely on account of this rich literature created in ancient times, as well as because of isolation of Iceland from the European continent, Iceland preserved the original language spoken by Norwegean settlers until this very day. On the other hand, Scandinavian languages changed during the course of time because of connection to the rest of Europe. We can therefore say it is on Iceland only that the ancient Viking language is spoken and that Icelanders of today would probably be understood by Hogar the Terrible (famous character in comic books, at least in Croatia).

Apart from the contributing to preservation of original language, direct consequence of numerous sagas written on the original ancient language so long time ago also contributed to historycally very high literacy in Iceland which is since long time till this very day among the highest one in Europe.

Zanimljivo je da na Islandu ima preko 160 bazena, što ukazuje na činjenicu da su Islanđani veliki ljubitelji sporta koji predstavlja još jedan od načina da se prebrode duge i mračne zime. Dvojica su Islanđana bila pobjednici svjetskog tzv. „strong man“ natjecanja. To su natjecanja u kojima se dižu i vuku izuzetno teški tereti. Najtrofejniji sport u Islandu svakako je rukomet u kojem Island ima svjetski respektabilnu reprezentaciju. U Pekingu su čak osvojili i srebrnu medalju i time postali zemlja s daleko najmanjom populacijom koja je ikada osvojila olimpijsku medalju u timskim sportovima. U nogometu su također solidni s obzirom na to da je Island primjerice oko 13 puta manji od Hrvatske po broju stanovnika, a zbog njih gotovo nismo otišli na svjetsko nogometno prvenstvo ove godine (ipak smo pobijedili u dodatnim kvalifikacijama).

There are over 160 pools in Iceland, which shows that Icelanders are great admirers of sport – another mean to get them by through the long and gloomy winters. Two Icelanders are winners of world’s so called “strong man” competition. In these, men lift and pull exceptionally heavy stuff. Iceland won the most trophies in handball, sport in which Iceland has a respectable team in world standards. They even won silver in Bejing, thus becoming the country with the smallest population by far ever to win an Olympic medal in team sports. They are quite good as well in football - given the fact that Iceland is 13 times smaller than Croatia per capita and that they were the reason we almost failed to qualify for world championship this year (we still won eventually).

Apart from reading and sport, Icelanders very often participate in local choirs. For example, the tourist guide told us he lives in a small suburban community that includes approximately 9,000 people – in which there are as many as fifteen different choirs. Choirs enable Icelanders contacts with other people, in order to pass bay the long winters when there is practically no daylight all day long. Iceland also has the greatest birth rate in Europe and at the same time the greatest divorce rate in Europe. Icelanders thus on average have almost three kids per family. One of the reasons for this could be that free education for all kids is granted in Iceland. It is interesting, but understandable too, that bearing children occurs by and large during summer i.e. after the long, gloomy winter. This points to yet another way Icelanders use to kill time during long winters .

People and Society

Icelanders are among the world’s nations with greatest longevity – life expectancy is as high as 83 years on average. In Iceland, over thirty per cent of the population have college degrees (almost three times as much as the average in Croatia), and as many as five universities operate there – which is really a lot for such a small country. Almost everybody speaks English (they start early on), while they often speak several languages even – no wonder given this is a small and tourism oriented country. It is very interesting estimate that apparenty as many as half of the nation believes in fairies and elves.

It is also interesting that a land founded by Vikings has neither its army nor navy. The scope of country’s pacifism is illustrated best by the fact firearms (except for hunting rifles) are not allowed on Iceland, so even police do not carry weapons (except for the few elite units). Crime rate is negligible or almost nonexistent so parents do leave their children on the street unaccompanied, car drivers often ask strangers whether they need a ride, while walking down the street is fully safe at any time of day, in any place.

When I ventured outside into a live music bar, I was pleasantly surprised by the performer’s truly remarkable quality in rendering world famous hits, accompanied by the guitar (unplugged). I subsequently learned the interesting piece of information which says that each year ten Icelandic rock bands try to go global and they have the example of somebody making it globally – the world renowned Icelandic singer Bjork. Also, going out, I noticed Icelandic women posses special kind of beauty coupled with what I would call an exotic look and distinctiveness – relevant for this entiry country. I found out later this small country has as many as three Miss World winners – so I was not the only one noticing this special beauty I guess. rock-bendova pokuša ostvariti globalnu karijeru, a primjer nekoga tko je u tome uspio jest svjetski čuvena islandska pjevačica Björk. Također sam pri izlascima primijetio da Islanđanke posjeduju neku posebnu vrstu ljepote, upravo zbog određene egzotike i različitosti koju nose u sebi, a koja odražava i cijelu ovu zemlju. Naknadno sam saznao da ova malobrojna zemlja ima čak 3 pobjednice natjecanja Miss World.

Icelanders are fairly informal so everybody calls everybody by their first name and they are as such listed in phone directories even. The inner land of the country is publicly owned and belongs to all inhabitants of the island and the generations to come. As I already mentioned, women in Iceland have had equal status with man since antiquity (ever since Parliament was formed in 9th century). Women, for example, do not take on men’s surnames in Iceland – nor have they ever done so. Taking all of this into account, it is no wonder the World Economic Forum places Iceland on number one ranking in the world in terms of gender equality.

Informality and liberalism of Icelanders goes beyond that. Iceland has the first publicly declared gay prime minister in the history of mankind - Johanna Sigurdardottir is the first lesbian PM, who openly came out. Likewise, the Icelandic Parliament, in 2010, unanimously legalized same sex marriage. Perhaps precisely on account of liberal policies and compassion with minorities, it is Iceland that was the very first country to have recognized Croatia on 19th of December 1991. gay-premijera u povijesti čovječanstva – Johanna Sigurdardottir prva je premijerka lezbijka, koja se otvoreno tako izjašnjava. Isto tako, islandski je parlament 2010. jednoglasno odobrio istospolne brakove. Možda je upravo zbog liberalnosti i suosjećanja s manjim nacijama Island bio prva zemlja koja je priznala Hrvatsku 19. prosinca 1991. godine.

Incredible and timeless nature

All in all, Iceland is quite an interesting and unusual country, but, after all, it is known and attracts people to visit it (just like me), mostly because of its splendid nature. This is the only place in the world where one can see two tectonic plates of the Earth on land – the Euroasian and the North American. The distance between them is approximately 3.5 miles, or almost 7 kilometers, and they are breaking apart from one another at the speed of one centimeter a year. This you can witness at the Pinvellir National Park which is the regular part of the Golden Circle tour, which is probably the most interesting and the most popular tourist tour in Iceland. It contains visit to the geothermal fields in Haukadalur (which includes walks around the geysirs), visit to the Gulfoss waterfall and finally swimming in a hot stream around which a bathing house with natural sauna based on geothermal water has been constructed. In the Pingvelier National Park, by the North American continental plate, diving is very poluar and it is quite unique expirience. Water temperature is 0-4 C degrees Centigrade all year long and one can see very deep, interesting caves while diving (for which I didn’t have pleasure/time to expirience).

As for tourists that come to Iceland, the most numerous are Americans, but there are plenty of North Europeans too who come because of splendid nature (Scandinavians, Germans, Fins). It is interesting that during winter there is high number of Asian visitors who mostly come to see and witness the northern lights since they believe that these will bring luck in life. The northern lights (aurora borealis) are one of Iceland’s greatest attractions, but are unpredictable because nobody knows when they could appear. The northern lights occur due to activity of the Sun during polar night, when it is cold, which produces light in the sky. The appearance is so rare and wondrous that some ascribe supernatural characteristics to it as well, along with the positive impact on those who happen to see it.

The greatest volcano on Iceland is called Hakla, which is at the same time also the best known volcano there. It last erupted in 2000, but had no great or catastrophic effects as the fomous eruption of Laki volcano more then two hundred years ago. The eruption of the Laki volcano in Iceland in 1783 is probably the greatest volcano eruption ever recorded in the history of humanity. Because of it, 25% of Iceland’s population got killed and it is estimated its consequences caused the death of as many as six million people worldwide. A direct consequence of the eruption was global cooling and a few years of extreme weather in Europe – especially in its north-western part. In France for example, bad weather during the period between 1783 and 1788 caused hunger and dissatisfaction. So according to many historians, this was one of key factors that facilitated the French Revolution in 1789. Such events remind us that nature is after all tameless, no matter how wondrous or beautiful it is. And Iceland is an example of extreme and unusual beauty on the one hand, while on the other we can see the extreme and devastating consequences which can this very same nature leave behind when it gets angry and shows her full strength.

Interestingly distinctivness of Iceland and strong conection with the natural wonders could be seen and felt while flying their airline. Even the planes have names and a story to them. During my return while I was boarding the plane, I saw a sign that indicated the plane is called Eldeborg – named after volcano which alledgedly has a same nice geometric shape as this plane. The safety instructions on the plane were also made in a very creative way. Videao showed two people in outdoor nature testing the safety belt and then jumping down a waterfall just like they would jump down the emergency slide. So video in fact skillfully incorporated natural beauty of Iceland into this otherwise strictly functional demonstration of emergency safety instructions.safety instructions) u avionu kreativno su osmišljene: dvoje se aktera nalazi u prirodi i isprobava pojas za spašavanje, potom skaču niz slap kao da skaču niz tobogan iz zrakoplova pri evakuaciji i općenito se integriraju islandske prirodne ljepote u tu, čovjek bi rekao strogo funkcionalnu, demonstraciju sigurnosnih uputa u slučaju opasnosti.

Iceland is certainly an unusual and interesting country which is definitely worth visiting. The famous book Journey to the Center of the Earth was inspired precisely by Iceland and its natural beauty and peculiarity. During all tours I took while being there, tour guides always had some interesting stories connected to each location we visited. So almost every natural beauty site has a story on how it was formed, usually based on certain fairy tale. The very unusual scenery of Iceland is inspirational for storytelling and creativity, so it is no wonder this is the “Land of Stories”, out of which some tales are rooted in Icelandic literary heritage and are over a thousand years old. Put u središte Zemlje inspiriran je upravo Islandom te njegovim prirodnim ljepotama i neobičnostima. Za vrijeme svih izleta koje sam imao prilike iskusiti, vodiči su stalno pričali priče povezane sa svakom lokacijom. Tako skoro svaka prirodna ljepota ima priču o svom nastanku na temelju neke drevne bajkovite priče. Sam neobični krajolik Islanda potiče i nadahnjuje na priče i kreativnost te nije čudo što je to „zemlja priča“ od kojih su neke, ukorijenjene u islandskoj literarnoj baštini, stare više od tisuću godina.

Iceland thus inspired me too to use my impression from a visit this June for this text which represnt my story of Iceland. You are to judge for yourselves whether it shall inspire you too to head for this unusal land of icebergs, volcanos and geysirs, located in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.

Josip Muller

13. kolovoza 2014.