Archive for 'Icelandic culture'
Is your neighbour an elf? Posted by hulda on Jun 22, 2012
Happy Midsummer/Solstice everyone! Unlike many European countries, this time of the year is not celebrated very much in Iceland, at least in comparison. There’s Þórláksmessa (the summer version of it – one is held on 20th June and another on 23rd December) held in the memory of Þórlák hinn helga Þórláksson, the patron saint of…
Looking over Reykjavík. Posted by hulda on Jun 20, 2012
Now for that final leg of the climb to the very top of Esjan! The day we began our climb was a sunny one and even though we started out during the early hours of the morning we were feeling a little bit uncomfortable in our warm clothes for most of the time. This quickly…
Happy Birthday, Iceland! Posted by hulda on Jun 17, 2012
“Hæ, hó, jibbí, jei og jibbí, jei – Það er kominn 17. júní!” In other words, happy Independence Day Iceland and Icelanders! Today’s a big fest downtown that began in the morning and will go on until at least seven p.m. We have been lucky with the weather today, it’s been sunny and warm with…
Iceland from the air. Posted by hulda on Jun 14, 2012
For the last couple of weeks I’ve been on a bit of a vacation and while it was most fun and relaxing it also feels good to be back. I have to admit that when I first moved to Iceland it was out of necessity rather than any real wish of living here. I had…
Dogs Posted by sequoia on Jun 12, 2012
Reykjavík-ians (Reykvíkingar – often towns and small areas have a special name for their inhabitants, although I think it only shows up in Icelandic about as much as in English) have a strange thing with dogs. It’s said that in the past, dogs were completely banned from the capital and you couldn’t even own one…
Want to climb a mountain pt 2. Posted by hulda on Jun 11, 2012
When I mentioned in the first part of this post that the water in the little streams that run down the mountain is very clean I was not kidding. I filled my drinking bottle at the fourth stage where the path goes over a river (careful you don’t slip in while crossing it, the water’s…
Apartment Hunting Posted by sequoia on Jun 9, 2012
Finding an apartment near the capital that’s both within a budget and not completely broken-down or in a bad area is pretty hard. The second hard thing is knowing what your budget will be after necessities, if you have little idea of prices in Reykjavík. First we’ll estimate the monthly expenses that you’ll have to…