Iceland: The Island That Was Packed with Ice in Scandinavia(By: Carys)

 

  Have you been to Iceland before? If yes, and as you guys all know, Iceland is a Nordic island territory that is located between the North Atlantic and Artic Oceans, which is on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is associated with Europe and is the region’s most western and sparsely populated country culturally and politically. Like other countries, it has a capital, or the most inordinate city named Reykjavik, that is home to around 36% of the territory roughly 380000 residents, if excluding towns or suburbs that are a stone throw away and sequestered municipalities. The official language used in Iceland is Icelandic. Iceland is located on the rift between the tectonic plates, and its geological activities comprises of geysers, which are springs with an intermittent water released ejected turbulently followed by the streams and frequent volcanic eruptions. The interior of Iceland includes volcanic plateau with sand and lava fields, mountains and glaciers, and a lot of glacier rivers flow to the sea through the lowlands. This country is warmed by the Gulf Stream and has a temperate climate, notwithstanding of being a latitude just at the southern Artic Circle. Its latitude and marine impact keep summers refreshing, and myriad of its islands have a polar climate. Iceland has a market economy with correlated low taxes than other Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries, same goes to the highest trade union membership globally. It remains as a Nordic social welfare system, a system that provides worldly healthcare and tertiary educations. Iceland is at high rank in international comparisons of national performance, like quality of life, educations, conservation of civil liberties, government transparency and freedom of economy. North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)members’ populations are small in Iceland and is the only country with no standing army, which possesses only a lightly armed coast guard.

  

  Do you want to know the ethics of Iceland? Here it goes--------------It is widely characterized by its literary heritage that had been started during the 12^th century but also cultural arts such as weaving, silversmithing, and wood carving. Reykjavik organizes several professional theatres, art galleries, bookstores, cinemas and museums. There are 4 energetic folk dances in Iceland. Iceland has the highest literary rate globally. Let’s talk about its arts culture firstly.

  To start with, Iceland has architectures that are drawn from Scandinavia and was impacted by the absence of native trees on the island traditionally. Consequently, grass and houses that are covered with tufts were developed. The main grass houses, also known as Icelandic tuft houses, are constructed by the original residents of Iceland were based on the longhouses of the Vikings. A lot of Icelandic histories have been recorded in the Icelandic sagas and Edda. The most top-notch of these consist of Njals saga, which depicts an epic blood feud, Grænlendinga saga and Eiriks saga, at the same time explaining the explorations and settlement of Greenland and Vinland, which is the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador currently. Egils saga, Laxdæla saga, Grettis saga, Gisla saga, and Gunnlaugs saga ormstungu  are also prominent. Iceland has many renowned authors, such as Halldór Laxness, Guðmundur Kamban, Tómas Guðmundsson, Davíð Stefánsson, Jón Thoroddsen, Steinn Steinarr, Guðmundur G. Hagalín, Þórbergur Þórðarson, and Jóhannes úr Kötlum. W.H. Auden, a British-American poet and Louis Macneice, Irish poet, wrote Letters From Iceland in 1937 to tell their journey through that territory.  The first professional secular painters were presented in Iceland in the 19^th century. The group artists comprise of Jóhannes Sveinsson Kjarval, an Icelandic painter who painted the life of the village in Iceland. Ásmundur Sveinsson, an Icelandic sculptor in the 20^th century, was also one of them. Einar Hákonarson was an expressionistic and figurative painter who brought a lot of figures relatively to Iceland in the year 1968. He was also a pioneer in the art scene and education of Iceland. He was named as “The crusader of the painting”, as he involved in many conflicts many Icelandic painters had with the public fine art centres. He’s a driving force in the establishment of Icelandic Printmaking Association and its first president.

  Besides that, I would like to describe the mouth-watering, juicy local delicacies in Iceland. This country offers a wide range of traditional food. For instance, Þorramatur, also known as food of the þorri. This cuisine is consumed most of the time during the ancient Nordic month of þorri currently, in the month of January and February, as a courtesy to old cultures. Þorramatur has many diversed types of cuisines, which are mostly offal dishes such as hrútspungar, which is a pickled ram’s testicles, putrefied shark (fermented shark), singed sheep heads, its jam, black pudding, liver sausage which is same as the Scottish haggis, and dried fish( usually called as cod or haddock). A lot of delicacies centers on Icelandic fish industries. Traditional cuisine comprises of gravlax, which is a smoked salmon that is marinated in salt and dill, hangikjöt, also known as smoked lamb, and slatur, also known as sausages, made from sheep entrails. There is a well-known cuisine named skyr that is made from cultured skim milk. Brennivin, an Icelandic liquor, made from potatoes and caraway.

  Apart from that, Iceland has many astonishing tourist attractions that are awaiting. For example, the blue lagoon. This country has a lot of geothermal spas around it, but the Blue Lagoon is the most famous one. It is located on the Reykjanes Peninsular that is a stone throw away from Keflavik International Airport. Not only that, the Westfjords is one of the most popular tourist destinations in Iceland. It is the most remote and sparsely populated region and named after their infinite dramatic fjords, framed by inordinate flat-topped mountains. Even though it is off the Ring Road and widely only accessible in summer, it is suitable for untouched nature, minuscule fishing villages and artic animals(like arctic foxes, whales and seals)side-seeing activities.