Iceland in Pictures

Iceland is 103.000 square kilometers or 40.000 square miles. That makes it about the same size as the US state of Virginia or the country of Ireland. It is about 500 kilometers wide (E-W) and 300 kilometers tall (N-S). Considering the dimensions, Iceland has a very long coast line due to all of the fjords. The coastline is just under 5.000 kilometers. If you want to drive around the whole of Iceland, you follow the Ring Road which is 1.332 kilometers. It is a lot shorter than the coastline because it skips the Vestfirðir fjords in the northwest. The highest peak is Hvannadalshnjúkur peak on the Öræfajökull mountain in the mighty Vatnajökull glacier at 2.111 meters.

Even though we have loads of land and a population density of 3,1/km2, most of the land is uninhabited. Only about one percent is cultivated and a fifth used for wild grazing. Three quarters of the population lives in or near Reykjavík.

Thank you!

I’m not sure how you should define fine Icelandic cuisine. Although today, we have plenty of great restaurants which could definitely be considered fine cuisine, they’re maybe not so much Icelandic per se.

The traditional Icelandic cuisine is more a method to survive than fine dining. Keep in mind that Icelanders throughout the centuries had very short summers to grow things, long and cold winters and no firewood. That meant food had to be simple and be preservable. One great result of these conditions is “skyr”. Everybody loves skyr and it is super healthy. It is a lot like greek yoghurt, but better. You can get it in a few places around the world now, Siggi’s Skyr in the US, skyr.is in Iceland and some places, skyrsverige in Sweden. Although most Icelanders eat it either as a breakfast with milk and sugar or as a snack between meals, many fancy restaurants have been experimenting with it. They have been making unique skyr cakes and other delicacies.

The other well known traditional Icelandic foods are sviðakjammar, fermented shark and other things which are not exactly to everybody’s taste.

Here’s a great blog article with pictures of some fancy cooking of puffin, whale, Icelandic horse and shark.

Não tenho certeza mas pode contatar SEEDS que eu mencionei aqui. Uma outra possibilidade é intercambio com AFS. Eu fiz intercambio para o Brasil com eles e sei que você pode ir ao outra direção também.