Today we offer some reflections from Iceland. We've pretty much finished reporting from our trip to Iceland and we're taking the opportunity to share some of the things we noticed during the trip. At the same time, we'll show some of the photos that we haven't had time to show yet.
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1. Icelandic has great words
If you follow this blog, you may know that I (Helena) speak Icelandic reasonably well, as I was a exchange student on Hemön as a 17-year-old. In a way (in terms of pronunciation!), the the Icelandic language but at the same time I realise that I have a limited vocabulary. If only I could spend a little more time in Iceland, it would fall into place. The words are so wonderful! Here are some favourite words that I was reminded of during the trip:
- Farfuglaheimili - hostels (aka "migratory bird shelters")
- Immediately - immediately
- Public Prosecutor - police (eg "rule of law")
- Rental car - taxi (eg. "lego car", similar to "mercenary")
- Bandaríkin - USA (eg. "bandits" approximately?)
- Svartfjallaland - Montenegro (aka 'Black Mountain Country')
2. Icelanders drive jeeps
In Iceland, people like to drive big cars with four-wheel drive. There's a reason, of course. If you want to get out into nature, outside the big trails, then you need four-wheel drive. Maybe all these jeeps go out into the countryside from time to time. Maybe they mostly circle Reykjavik. It's hard to know, but they are big!
Some of the jeeps we saw were bigger than others. Some of them were black and looked like huge military vehicles. Others were white. We asked and were told that most of these are used for guided tours into the wild with tourist groups.
3. Icelanders are pirates?
So, this point should be taken with a pinch of salt. But one Icelander we met said "We are pirates". She was referring to the fact that the first Icelanders fled the Norwegian king because they wanted to rule themselves, and said that they have now opted out of the EU for much the same reason. She further explained to us that there is less bureaucracy in Iceland, and that you don't have to sign papers for everything. We also met an Icelander who is active in the Pirate Party. So, Icelanders are pirates ... right?
4. There are no McDonalds in Iceland
Did you know that there is no McDonald's in Iceland? You might be tempted to think that they've stood up to the fast food giant, but we were told that McDonald's went bankrupt during the economic crisis. However, there are plenty of other fast food chains!
5. The landscape is suitable for film
The landscape is magical, and it's no wonder that several films have been shot here. Some of the films and TV series (partly) filmed here are The Lionheart Brothers, Interstellar, Batman Begins, Tomb Rider, Prometheus, two different James Bond films and Game of Thrones.
It's great to travel through a landscape that alternates between glaciers, lava fields, mountains, open spaces, gorges, waterfalls and geysers. If you missed it, check out our posts on Iceland's nature:
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Britt-Marie Lundgren says:
What wonderful and logical language; "migratory bird house" is great!
After your posts from this trip, we've probably moved Iceland up to the top three on our bucket list!
20 March 2019 - 8:10
Helena says:
Right? They have many such clever words 🙂 Great that Iceland ended up high on the list!!! 🙂
20 March 2019 - 12:48
Ama de casa says:
We have travelled around Iceland, both by bus tour, boat trip (cruise and whale watching) and by rental car.
The hire car we had was a golf. No four-wheel drive and we ended up on a really bad road. When we arrived at a main road, we saw that our road was closed with a barrier that said "Lokad". But only from that direction. Can explain why the road that we just came on was in such a bad condition... Would have been smart to close it from both directions, you might think 🙂.
Have a great day!
20 March 2019 - 10:12
Helena says:
Haha, it sounds like it would have been good to have four-wheel drive on that particular road 😉 I've travelled the Ring Road all around Iceland in a regular car and it works great, but the detours inland you have to skip 😉.
20 March 2019 - 12:50
Marianne - Glimpses of the world says:
Strax in Icelandic, straks in Norwegian 🙂 My favourite word in Icelandic is gluggaveður!
20 March 2019 - 17:21
Helena says:
Ah, weather that is best viewed from the inside ...!? Haha, good word! 🙂
20 March 2019 - 21:57
Marianne - Glimpses of the world says:
Weather that looks good through the window, but doesn't feel so good when you come out and feel, for example, how cold it really is 😀.
25 March 2019 - 22:50
Henny says:
An interesting and quite close destination. Perhaps a good time to make a couple of days stop there on the way to the son in the USA. I have just checked how I am doing in terms of points on Eurobonus and what I have accumulated so far would be enough for a trip to Iceland, maybe it will be something like that thanks to your descriptions from the island.
20 March 2019 - 18:17
Helena says:
Iceland is really worth a visit, and you can make a stop for a few days between Sweden and the USA if you want to 🙂.
20 March 2019 - 22:01
Biggeros says:
I would love to go to Iceland and bathe in these hot springs and go on a jeep tour of the island. Well, that's a lot of words to take in ?
Icelandic police have been featured in some series. Strax which means immediately can sometimes cause problems. Thanks for the tips!!!
20 March 2019 - 20:17
Helena says:
Strax has a slightly different connotation in Icelandic 😉 Hot springs are wonderful 🙂 .
20 March 2019 - 22:02
BP says:
The Icelandic words are really funny - and totally logical if I think about it;-)
McDonald's in Umeå didn't do so well and had to close twice. So it doesn't surprise me that the chain had to close in Reykjavik as well.
Read two blogs during the summer of 2018: Ellen, who took a campervan to Iceland and travelled around the island for four weeks, and Mia, who rented a car for a week to explore Iceland.
Both bloggers were totally shocked by the high prices there. You have not mentioned costs/prices once. That actually surprises me. I understand that you were invited to most things and that you do not want to write anything negative so as not to risk the cooperation you had, but still.
20 March 2019 - 21:25
Helena says:
Well, McDonald's had to close in Umeå too, I didn't actually know that! Good point about the prices by the way! There is absolutely nothing stopping us from writing about it. We have added some information about prices in the fact boxes about e.g. Blå Lagunen and Matfestivalen, but otherwise we haven't written much about it. It is true that it was a press trip and that several things were included for our part, and therefore perhaps we thought less about it. But thanks for the comment, such things are important, I agree!!!! We bought e.g. beer in the pub and it was quite expensive, but felt like in Sweden approximately. According to Forex, the price index is 138 in Reykjavik, so it is generally more expensive than in Stockholm. One thing we liked was that they don't charge for natural attractions like geysers and waterfalls, which we've seen in other countries.
20 March 2019 - 22:12
Daniela | Discovering The Planet says:
Actually a bit crazy that you know Icelandic :). But how nice words anyway. Thank you for tonight. Had so much fun with you. ♡
21 March 2019 - 1:21
Lena - good for the soul says:
Haha, that migratory bird word was charming. Kind of cute in a way.
Hug Lena
21 March 2019 - 6:13