What Iceland is like: 50 curiosities, history, customs

Without place to doubts Iceland It is one of the countries with the most contrasts and curiosities that we have ever known, and if you are not careful...

An island called Ice land, what's wrong with it active volcanos with huge glaciers on its surface, rivers with waters that flow at a temperature of 50 degrees, where they believe in gnomes and one of the traditional dishes is rotten shark...

Iceland It's not just another trip, and you realize it as soon as you land, but what you don't expect is the amount of curiosities y manners that you discover when you walk through it, as you can see in this video.

Interesting curiosities of Iceland

We are going to tell you what for us are the 50 curiosities about the history and customs of Iceland most interesting to know, which we have discovered after our recent trip to that country with the specialized agency Polar Lands.

How Iceland was formed

1    Iceland es one of the youngest territories in the world; When the dinosaurs became extinct, this island had not yet fully formed as we know it today.

2   From a geological point of view, half of Iceland's territory belongs to the American continent and the other half to the European continent.

3   It takes the same time to get to iceland flying from Madrid that since New York, that is why it is a global strategic point.

Origin of the Icelandic population, Vikings, Christians?

4   The first settlers stable they were not the VikingsBut irish monks who had to flee Iceland because of that custom that the people had in those times Vikings of kill Christians.

5   However, the icelandic vikings They were the ones who created the first parliament in the world en thingvellir.

What is the language and surnames like in Iceland?

6    El icelandic language It has barely changed in hundreds of years; It is one of those that most closely resembles viking original language.

7    All surnames of men in Iceland end up in - hip and all of the women in -dottir, and until very recently only a limited number of names could be put.

8   Although the language is quite complicated, to remember the names the trick is to look at the endings of the words; So, -foss It means cataractGljufrafoss, Skógafoss), -jökull It means glacier (Langjokull), And -Vik means bay (Reykjavik)

9   Words quilt y geyser They are of Icelandic origin; specific, Eider It is an Icelandic duck whose feathers were stuffed into quilts, and Geysir It is the name of the place where the geyser that has given its name to all the geysers in the world is located.

What are the roads like in Iceland?

10   There is only one road that goes around the island, which was finished paving in 2019; However, in the interior of the island there are only gravel roads indicated with an F, which can only be traveled by 4×4 vehicle.

11   En Iceland It is allowed to make extreme modifications to the 4 × 4 vehicles to circulate through the aforementioned F roads.

12   The roads They are designed with seemingly absurd curves to avoid areas populated by Elves, which are supposed to rest in the moss forests of the island.

What is life like in Iceland?

13   The currency is icelandic crown, which has an approximate exchange rate of 1.000 crowns for 7 euros.

14   in iceland the time is not changed every 6 months; It would be absurd since there are times of the year when it does not get dark, and in the opposite season the sun does not rise.

15   There are towns in the Westfjords that go three weeks a year without seeing the sun.

16   in iceland there are no ants and they barely live amphibians

17   Hallucinate, until 2015 in Iceland it was allowed to kill basques; a conflict in the year 1600 with Basque whalers led to one of Iceland's greatest tragedies"the massacre of the Spanish“, which gave rise to this recently repealed law.

18   Iceland It is the only country in the NATO that has no army; The rest of the allied countries are responsible for its defense.

19   The Whales They are seen around the entire island, but there is a stable population in the northern fjords.

20   The real name of Iceland in English (Iceland) means Ice land, but in reality the true ice island, with 80 percent of its land frozen, is the neighboring Greenland (greenland), whose name means green land.

21   In 2018 they visited Iceland 3 million tourists, when not many years ago barely 250.000 arrived.

Reykjavík, capital of Iceland

22   La población total of the island of Iceland is 360.000 inhabitants, of which 220.000 reside in the capital Reykjavik.

23   En Reykjavik you can visit a penis museum, the largest in the world, with up to 300 penises from different mammals.

What is the food like in Iceland, typical dishes

24   Since the 2008 crisis, in Iceland there is not a single McDonald's.

25   However, there are other American franchises such as KFC o Taco Bell.

26   En Iceland you can eat typical dishes really curious, like the rotten shark, whale, dried cod o soup in bread bowl (bread soap).

27   In Iceland there are 800.000 sheep, more than twice as many people.

Customs and curiosities of the Icelanders

28  Half of the población more or less it is blonde.

29   Is third happiest country in the world, but curiously it has a high suicide rate.

30   Almost all its inhabitants play some musical instrument, and it is one of the countries in the world where the most books are read per person.

31    All health and Education They are free, although they have co-payments.

32    The salaries in Iceland they are two thousand euros.

33    No crime, barely one violent crime every 8 years, which is why the police do not usually carry guns, at most they carry retractable batons or even pepper spray.

34   Everyone has the right to rental aid of his house.

What is the weather like in Iceland?

35   It is one of the places in the world with the most activity of Aurora borealis, but they are not seen as many times because there are clouds most days of the year.

36   Some rain falls almost every day and there are continuous changes in weather; yes, even in summer it is cold because Iceland it is very close to the Arctic Circle.

37   When someone disappeared in a storm at sea, they said they had been taken by the gnomes; It was a way to accept and make sense of the disappearance.

What nature and landscapes are like in Iceland

38   Only 23 percent of the territory of Iceland has vegetation, and 14 percent is covered by ice.

39   En Iceland or 130 active volcanoes and hundreds of fumaroles; some of them are created artificially by drilling to relieve ground pressure.

40   they have smoking rivers, whose waters are more than 50 degrees in temperature, and also spectacular waterfalls which in winter freeze, creating a surprising landscape of water and ice.

41    The lava deserts south of Iceland were formed when a volcano exploded and melted part of the Vatnajökull glacier which was right above, causing a flood that in just 15 hours destroyed everything in its path.

Geothermal energy in Iceland

42   En Iceland or cold water coming from rain and glaciers, and Hot water that arises from the interior of the earth; These waters go through different pipes and, in fact, the shower water in certain places can smell like rotten eggs due to the sulfur it contains.

43   Although the Romans never arrived in Iceland, the tradition of hot springs and baths as a meeting point. The most famous are those of Blue Lagoon.

44   Iceland is one of the countries with the most clean energy thanks to the geothermal energy they obtain from the ground.

What is connectivity like in Iceland: mobile and Wifi

45   In Iceland there has mobile signal e Internet with Wi-Fi throughout the island, even if you are in very remote and remote areas. It's really surprising how well connected the island is.

Iceland, setting for movies and series

46   Julio Verne was inspired by the Icelandic volcano Snæfellsjökull, on the peninsula of Snaefellsnes, for his novel Journey to the Center of the Earth.

47   Many have been filmed in Iceland. movies and seriesas Vikings in the waterfall Skogafoss: Game of Thrones in the basaltic formations of the black beaches of Reynisfjara, along with the population of Vik.

Traditional buildings in Iceland

48   Almost there's no trees, only bushes; As in Greenland, the conditions for them to grow are not adequate, since they are very hard soils that do not allow roots to grow.

49   To build houses, in Iceland they used wood drift, which is the wood from the Scandinavian forests.

50   The churches They were also built with wood, and that is why they have not been preserved.