Earth, Wind, (Perpetual Daylight) & Fire – Iceland June 2016

Ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah…

We come from the land of the ice and snow,

From the midnight sun where the hot springs blow.

The hammer of the gods will drive our ships to new lands,

To fight the horde, singing and crying: Valhalla, I am coming!

– Immigrant Song, Leg Zeppelin III

The 5^th Element

For much of its existence, Iceland has literally been off the map – more of an ethereal Scandinavian realm than country, (or futbol outpost than Euro contender). Although known, cartographers used to leave the map space blank, then added a blur, followed by a circle, then a detailed outline, to it now even being on Strava (so it does exist). Iceland has evolution from; layover to flyover, stopover to destination, and now a fledging Atlantic Hub aspiring to be what Hong Kong is to Asia or Dubai to the Asia Minor. And, with the above in mind it seems we will be hearing more about Iceland than the news ether of Bankruptcy, Panama Papers or The Wall & Wildlings.

The Las Vegas of the North Atlantic

Foreign Countries Are Awesome – Especially When They Speak English

The Icelandic experience starts upon departure with the relaxed rules aboard the airplane. The flight attendant responded to another passenger’s comment on not playing a safety video, ‘It’s Iceland, we improvise the rules’. Since the 1960’s, the airlines have been employing (and the government likely subsidizing) stopovers in Iceland at no additional cost. The strategy is the one of Las Vegas, cheap travel for those crossing the Atlantic and they will (with great probability) take your money when you get there – but it is a quality experience versus a tacky gamble.

Anyway, most flights from North America arrive in Reykjavik in the early morning and as travellers step past the customs booth, one realizes this is airport is more high-end coffee shop and juice bar. Much of tourist Reykjavik could be considered as such, but in this day and age, who does not like good coffee and smoothies?

The Blue Lagoon – Tailings Pond or Hot Spring?

Upon renting our vehicle, my buddy Vadim and I headed to the fabled Blue Lagoon. The Blue Lagoon is probably the most expensive (but expansive) hot spring in the world and projects the same eerie beauty of a tailings pond – except you can safely swim and drink beer in it! After a surprisingly not-long flight, the expensive hot tub is a good way to rejuvenate and cleanse your outer-self of airports (they have a juice bar at the airport mentioned above for your inner-self) and set foot into the petite metropolis of Reykjavik.

Reykjavik (It does not get any easier to spell with repetition)

Iceland has about 300,000 people, with the majority living in the Reykjavik area – although no statistic on how many people can actually spell Reykjavik without spellcheck. It is a unique city that has double-downed on tourism as its visible industry. Shops, Museums, Gallery-Grade-Graffiti and Restaurants fall in the shadow of a large hilltop church. While condo-towers, convention centres, and expensive hotels corner-off the city centre. There is no McDonalds, but a Viking equivalent called Auto Tak (translation ‘Thank You Car’) fills the void. Iceland makes great beer, great coffee (must be the glacier and volcanic filtered water) and great vegan food – a restaurant called Glo saved us from more traditional and ethically challenging faire such as horse, smoked-puffin, and whale.

Nordic Portlandia

Murky maritime weather, dark winters, and melancholy (I had to read both Ibsen and Hamlet in high school) seem to be staples of Scandinavian culture – add to that island living, a limited supply of wood (there are about 4 trees on the whole island – most are called Bjork, meaning Birch and not avant-garde songstress), a culture of indoor living, ingenuity, recycling and reusing (everything seems to be a heirloom), a bearded Viking heritage, mass consumption of gourmet beer and moss and one can trace the ethnographic roots of both grunge and its millennial predecessor hipsterdom to Scandinavian culture, and likely Icelandic culture. Before one applies for a PhD grant; my evidence of this cultural origin is corroborated by an annual broadcast pilgrimaged to Reykjavik by the famed alternative KEXP Public Radio Seattle. Although KEXP is a more recent addition to the mix, the other items and practices seem to pre-date Neil Young by many years, however he can probably still take credit for his contribution of plaid shirts and lumberjack boots to the overall sect.

Perpetual Dawn or Scotch on the Rocks

One knows life is good when one can (or has to) spend almost $80 on a hostel. This is per bed, in a dorm and this is pretty much the going rate throughout Iceland for hostels and guesthouses. Hotels are about $250-300/ night – even for roadside accommodation. The alternatives are campgrounds (about $20/ night) or car camping. There is one other alternative that I cannot speak from experience, but I would assume it would not be difficult to pick-up and go to a local’s house. The reason, in such a small country, her alternative is likely her cousin.

In Reykjavik we stayed at the KEX hostel and this seemed to be the epicentre of the travellers circus. The place had a great restaurant and bar, live music (likely related to KEXP radio) and some interesting guests and locals. Drawbacks include – last call being at 11pm. This is especially difficult as the sun was still shining. However, one also knows that life is good when one has a 1L bottle of duty-free Macallan in his bag. This beverage served the trip well as Iceland can be a cold, wet, boggy, speyside highland.

North of the Wall, West of Mordor

Most visitors to Iceland tend to do the ‘Golden Circle’, which is the route I would recommend as one will see geysers, waterfalls, hot-springs, volcanoes, glaciers, seaside birds, fjords, and troll shaped rocks over a couple daytrips from Reykjavik. We went beyond this route clockwise around the whole island and saw more geysers, waterfalls, hot-springs, volcanoes, glaciers, seaside birds, fjords, and troll shaped rocks. Don’t get me wrong; it was worth it – however it involved driving, a lot of driving and 24-hour daylight (around 3am, every landscape feature begins to look like a Troll). The scenery was stellar and we saw the largest waterfall in Europe (Dettifoss), and visited the 2^nd largest city in Iceland, Akureyri (population 18,000 and probably even easier to pick-up in than Reykjavik). We visited 3 almost unspellable National Parks, being Vatnajökull, Snæfellsjökull, and Þingvellir. Þingvellir (Þ = ‘th;) is situated on the divide between America and Europe with cartoon zig-zag lines cutting through the ground. It is also the historic site of Iceland’s government, which for those who still vote, is incidentally the World’s longest running Parliament (930AD). Iceland also elected the first female President (Vigdis Finnbogadottir) in the Western World about 1050 years later. That is around 1980 to save you the progressive arithmetic.

From here on in, to describe the trip chronologically or really in any more detail is less memorable than a more qualitative look at Planet Iceland.

Magical People

As Bears, Beavers, and Moose (we pretty much killed off the bison) make-up a holy Canadian Trinity: Trolls, Elves, and Monsters seem to make up an Icelandic one. Known as Huldufolk, these hidden people seem to persist in the imagination of Iceland for many cultural reasons – some probably due to being a northern people and being prone to binge drinking. Anyway, there is apparently a government department that has to ensure no magical peoples exist prior to land development. Have any documented magical people been found? Inconclusive, however many important archaeological and anthropological items have been uncovered from the past 1500 years by just kicking the topsoil. So, like a buried gas-line, it is best to call before you dig.

Garden of Eden/ Blessed Isle

For its entire Viking/ Scandinavian/ Nordic heritage, Iceland was likely discovered and settled originally by Irish Monks in and around 500AD. Iceland is attributed as a possible location of St. Brendan’s Blessed Isle, aka the Garden of Eden. It may not be as theatrical as Adam and Eve, but it somewhat makes sense. 1500 years ago, a scholarly monk would have been watching creation in action as primordial volcanoes and glaciers forged land instantly out of the ocean – genesis. The soil so young and virgin without the rounds of organic succession that the only life it could really sustain was moss – edible moss.

‘A mountainous island where the sun never set and it was always day: the flora were abundant… the rivers ran with fresh water… and the birds sang sweetly‘.

– Navigatio Sancti Brendan Abbatis

However, man may be able to live on moss alone… and why did they not stay? My interpretive anthropological efforts have concluded: These settlements only lasted the immigrant generation, as being clergy they likely had plenty of alter boys, however no female cousins in their company. So, the island remained unsettled for almost 3 centuries. However, not all of these monks were practicing clergy and they probably brought the sheep. These sheep currently number over 800,000, and some even have red hair – but in fairness that trait could have come from the Vikings too.

Shampoo Commercial Quality Hair

Magical Creatures, birds and sheep are not the only animals that populate the landscape; Icelandic horses exist too. Icelandic horses are like regular horses, except they have great hair. Their manes are so long, full, voluminous and color-rich these horses must sweat argan oil and according to scientific facts established as I type: Thor himself sired the breed back in Norse antiquity.

Warrior Poets and Philosopher Kings

Alluded above in the Scandinavian ode to grunge and hipsterdom; wet, misty, dark, and isolated places often give birth to many creative efforts. In Iceland’s case, it’s the Sagas versus Nirvana. These Sagas are novel works that are part history, part Beowulf, and part Soap Opera. Even today, Iceland produces a high volume of literature for it’s small population. Not surprisingly, much of it is dark, sometimes humorous and usually melancholy. Whether it is now, or 1000 years ago – I suppose when you domesticate a Viking, the pen literally gives way to the sword.

Valkyrie

In Norse mythology, the Valkyrie goddesses determined who lives and who dies. With those they chose to die (via honourable circumstances like battle), they had the responsibility of bringing to Valhalla. It’s good to know the Fates have some responsibility. And in Iceland, they have accountability too (bad joke – but spoiler alert, they don’t really have sexism). Iceland is considered the best place in the world to be a woman, and socially it shows. There is almost no gender difference in how people interact or in the confidence and authority they may demonstrate socially. Don’t worry; there is still feminism and the new lesser sex have remained equal and not eunuch – although there is a penis museum in Reykjavik…

Valhalla

Iceland may be a temporary hotspot as the rest of the world is struggling for a foothold, however if it can maintain its momentum of influence, it may be a positive model for our global ‘Post ______ Society’. From a past trip to Brazil, I am convinced that the future of the human race will look like diverse Sao Paulo; and with similar observational logic if the rest of the globe chooses to rid itself of bankruptcy, regain a high standard of living, provide better education, are prepared to jail bad bankers, maintain high interest rates, adopt an equal pay, equal work outlook, 1000+ years of parliament and be open to others – It too could resemble Iceland (likely with better weather and less potential for incest). Perhaps Iceland’s owes it current status to an island mentality, but Britain also has an island mentality that seems to be producing the opposite of results.