Iceland in Pictures

Reykjavík 1910

Although tourism is growing fast in Iceland, it is nothing new. This picture taken in Hafnarstræti in downtown Reykjavík was taken by a French tourist on the large German cruise ship Grosser Kürfurst. Since this is long before daily flights to Iceland, such a visit would cause quite a commotion in the town.

As you can see (click image to enlarge), a “Tourist Bureau” has been set up and tourists are departing on horse carriage rides with local tour guides.

The Irish author Henry De Vere Stacpoole was in Reykjavík at the same time. Here are some quotes from his description of Iceland (translated from English to Icelandic to English):

“It is impossible to distinguish the nationality of Icelandic men, they might as well be German, Danish or Swedish, but Icelandic women only resemble themselves and are completely different from all other women I have seen. Icelandic women rarely smile. They do not return a smile as their southern sisters. It is quite disturbing how dry they are, particularly when one enters their shop. However, as one gets used to this, one realizes that their dryness does not derive from disgust or cold thoughts, but something else which I can not understand, unless they perhaps are seriously embarrassed.”

“Nearly all Icelanders write poems and many of them are serious poets. In Iceland the men are as anxious to write as the volcanoes are to erupt. I know as a fact that amongst the crowd [on the townsquare] there are about twenty editors, because everyone of some might in Reykjavík is there and in Reykjavík there are 20 journals published every week. The most common person you can meet, is quite possibly a writer and I can vouch that the best book I have read about Iceland was written by one of our guides.”

Source: Lemúrinn.

You see it is written with a k not c.

(Source: birgissons, via fuckyeahiceland)

Reykjavík and out in the distance, Bláfjöll, the Blue Mountains.

Photo by Kaity.

(via k-i-tsune)

Enormous rock in front of the Icelandic parliament

When parliament building employees arrived at work this morning they discovered a giant rock sitting in front of the building. Later this morning it became clear that the rock was part of Spanish artists Santiago Sierra’s NO global tour. Previously he attracted attention when he drove a truck around the streets of Reykjavík with a giant NO on the truck bed.

This giant rock or “The Black Cone, Monument to Civil Disobedience” is according to the Reykjavík Art Museum a “reminder of the importance of civil liberties, including the right to refuse to obey laws and commands of the government.” Apparantly it is inspired by the series of protests that have taken place in front of the Icelandic parliament building since the bank crash three years ago. Those same protests were an inspiration for protests in Spain, perhaps prompting Sierra to come to Iceland.

Today at one o’clock (Icelandic time) Sierra will drive a half meter long steel cone into the rock and break it and thus breaking the establishment I suppose.

Reykjavík by Marsý.

Icelandic Police try to rescue a dead poet

The Reykjavík Police posted on their Facebook page that they had received a call saying that a man was sitting on a bench downtown in the snow and hadn’t moved for a very long time. In the cold weather we’ve had in the past few days, this could be quite serious so the police raced to the scene. Once there, they discovered that the immobile man was actually the statue of one of Iceland’s most cherished poets, Tómas Guðmundsson.

After confirming the statue showed no sign of life, the police moved on to other duties. They did however mention that it is better to receive one too many calls than too few.

Kids walking to school in Iceland

There has been some serious weather in Iceland in the past few days, very strong winds, lots of snow and ice. As posted before, there has been plenty of snow in the past few weeks, then on Saturday it began raining heavily. The rain caused the snow to rapidly melt, flooding streets and cellars. Before it had all melted it froze up and began snowing again. This means that all the streets have a thick layer of solid ice covered up with lots of snow. That is just about the most slippery conditions you can get. For the past two days, the wind has really picked up, in many places averaging around 30 m/s (110 km/h, 70mph) and gusting much higher. This has caused stationary cars parked on ice to start skating around town. Quite interesting.

These pictures are all taken by Valdi and published by the Icelandic news site Vísir.is. Check out this video of taken by two news reporters driving on the Hellisheiði plateau just outside Reykjavík. Their car spins off the road in the icy conditions (just click the “Horfa á myndskeið með frétt” button.

Sinéad O’Connor held a concert in a Reykjavík church during the Iceland Airwaves music festival.