Iceland, a country with more culture than inhabitants

Hi there, followers!

Like you've already read in Isabella's post, we've reached Iceland, our final destination... So here we go for my last blog post, about Icelandic culture.

Although the population of Iceland is only about 320 000 people, they do have a rich culture, with literature, art, cuisine, and of course music. Icelandic culture is mostly influenced by Norse traditions.

The most important literature from Iceland, are the Icelanders' sagas. These sagas are stories about events in Iceland in the 10th and early 11th centuries, also known as "Saga Age". The writers of the sagas are unknown. But these sagas aren't their only important pieces of literature. Iceland still has many great writers. For example, in 1955, Halldór Laxness received the Nobel Prize in Literature.

We've also seen some art here in Reykjavík, in the Reykjavík Art Museum, and the National Gallery of Iceland. In those museums, we've seen paintings from Icelandic artists. These are very interesting, because they help to explain the traditional Icelandic culture.

Another part of the Icelandic culture, and my least favourite one is... the traditional cuisine. The Icelandic national food is called "Þorramatur". It mostly consists of offal dishes: picled ram's testicles, putrefied shark, singed sheep heads, blood pudding, etcetera. And believe me, it doesn't taste better than it sounds.

And now, finally, my favourite subject: music! Iceland has a few popular music acts. The most famous ones are without any doubt Björk and SigurRós. Björk is a singer-songwriter, who makes electric, rock, jazz, classical folk and electric dance music. Her most famous songs are "It's Oh So Quiet", "Army of Me", "Hyperballad" and more recently "Earth Intruders" and "Moon". She's very well-known in Europe, and the rest of the world. Next summer, she will be headlining a lot of European summer festivals, including Pukkelpop in Belgium.
The second Icelandic music act that I'm going to talk about is SigurRós. They are considered as one of the most experimental bands on earth. The genre of their music can be described as post-rock and ambient, but there are a lot of classical influences in there. The lyrics are mostly Icelandic and "Vonlenska" ("Hopelandic"), which is a non-literal language. The band used to be "well-kept secret". They were popular by a rather small amount of people, but that changed in 2008. The band then gained popularity with their fifth full-length studio album, called "Meðsuð í eyrumviðspilumendalaust", which means "With a Buzz in Our Ears We Play Endlessly". The album was a major success, so later in 2008, SigurRós were one of the big names on Rock Werchter and Pukkelpop.
In 2010, Jónsi, the singer of the band, released his first solo album, and by the end of May, the new SigurRós album will be in the stores. I can't wait!

I could go on for ages, but I don't think anyone would have the time to read it all, so I think I'll leave it there!

I would like to thank you all for reading our blog! It was an amazing adventure and I'm really glad I've done this trip with my friends. But now it's time to go home... With some beautiful music by SigurRós on the airplane!

Take care!

Jens
               

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iceland#Culture

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture_of_Iceland

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Gallery_of_Iceland

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bj%C3%B6rk

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sigur_Rós

Wonders will never cease

Good morning my friends,

You guys already know that this is our last stop, but you know what they say… Save the best for last. And this is what we did, because even though it’s a very exhausting last stop, it’s definitely a country worth visiting. As Isabella already said, Iceland’s nature is amazing! You know that we decided to do the “Golden Circle”, and now I’m going to explain you a little bit more about this tour. Of course we’re not in Reykjavik yet because we still have to walk a few days before we get to the finish.

The “Golden Circle” exists out three primary stops:

1.       The National Park Pingvellir

2.       Waterfall Gullfos

3.       The active valley of Haukadalur

To do this tour we have to complete a route of 300km. Some of us are getting a little tired, but we were all very excited to see these three wonders of nature.  In the meantime we’ve already seen two of them and it’s obvious that it’s definitely an experience of a lifetime. In my point of view, Iceland its nature is very special because sometimes we see snow and ice, and a few kilometers later we see lots of green and animals. That’s probably because the creation of this country is still progressing today, due to volcanic eruptions. Because of its youthfulness new animal species are still being discovered today, and that’s not something that you here every day.Everything that we’ve been seeing this week seems magical…

during our tour. So, we’re doing the best we can to keep you updated, and if it’s not possible to tell you about our last experiences here in Iceland we will post our adventures when we’re home again.

This was my last blog post, but I assure you that one of my friends will tell you something about the end of our trip. Thank you for reading my posts and don’t hesitate to write a comment to tell me what you think about this route!

Lisa Van Gassen

Iceland week 12

Source: http://www.visiticeland.com/

Ice creams in Iceland

My dear friends, we finally arrived at our last country namely Iceland.

This country is officially called Republic of Iceland. It’s situated in the North Atlantic Ocean without any neighbors. Iceland is volcanically and geologically active. Two years ago, in 2010, one of the glaciers began to show seismic activity. A month later, there was a volcanic eruption. The Eyjafjallajökull resulted in the closure of airspace over many parts of Europe and there were a couple of evacuations.

The capital and the largest city is Reykjavík. Almost two-thirds of the country’s population lives in this city. Our sleeping accommodation is also situated in Reykjavík. Their nature is amazing! It mainly consists of a plateau typified by sand fields, mountains and glaciers. Together, we decided to visit the “Golden Circle”. It was breathtaking. When you want to visit a country with a few friends, Iceland is the place to be! 

You can always contact me for some general information.

In 1994, Iceland joined the European Economic Area. This was their ticket to a better economy. In recent years, specialist named Iceland as one of the wealthiest nations in the world. Even in 2011, after their bank system failed, Iceland was ranked as the 14^th most developed country in world. It is fantastic how they have built their economy up during these difficult years. Unfortunately, the crisis had negative influence on the politics of Iceland.

Its economy is based on a free market with low taxes. This is exceptional due to providing universal health care and tertiary education for their citizens.

This country has so many hidden treasures. I’m sure one of my friends will tell some more facts about this island. On one hand, I’m glad to return home but on the other site I will miss these adventures with my best friends.

I hope you enjoyed my blogs and please comment!

Isabella

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eyjafjallajökull

http://www.iceland.is/