Iceland is such an amazing country that this article could have been called “100 amazing facts. But we decided to limit ourselves and chose 20. 20 common things for every Icelander, but curiosities for you and me.
1. Constantly on the move. The island is located on the border of the lithospheric plates: the North American and Eurasian. Every year they move away from each other by 2 cm.
2. The blue color of the flag symbolizes the waters of the Atlantic Ocean that washes the island, the white cross inside represents ice (glaciers), and the red cross inside the white represents fire (volcanoes).
3. In Iceland, back in 930, the world’s first free republic was founded.
4. Despite its northern location and abundance of glaciers, Iceland has a mild winter climate. The average temperature is about 0 ° C, as, for example, in Milan.
5. White nights are black days. The sun shines more than 20 hours a day in summer, just over 4 hours in winter.
6. From sunset to dawn is only a moment. From the mountains on Eyja Fjord you can watch both sunset and sunrise in a minute. This phenomenon is called the “midnight sun.” Barely touching the horizon, the sun begins to rise again.
7. There is no railroad in Iceland. But the percentage of car owners is the highest in the world after the United States.
8. Icelanders believe in Elves and Trolls. Maybe not all… But in Iceland they still don’t build roads where these venerable creatures supposedly live, so as not to disturb them.
9. Icelanders do not have last names. A full name usually consists of a first name and a second name (patronymic). For example, Björk Sveinsson is Björk son of Svein, or Björk Gudmundsdóttir is Björk daughter of Gudmund. But all without exception call each other by their first names.
10. Iceland is not for wimps. This applies to the weather, prices, and cuisine. National dishes: svid – boiled lamb’s head and haukarl – shark meat, dried for 4-6 months. Do you want to try it? There is not a single McDonald’s in Iceland.
11. the national drink is coffee. It is drunk here from morning till late evening. And in many establishments there is a tradition: no matter how much coffee you drink, you have to pay only for the first cup. But Icelanders don’t abuse it.
12. more tourists than inhabitants! The population of Iceland is about 320,000, and the number of tourists in 2014 was more than 500,000.
13. Icelanders are the most reading nation in the world. Everyone buys an average of 8 books a year.
14. Iceland has the highest percentage of Internet users in the world – more than 90% of the population.
15. Iceland has the lowest crime rate in the world. The capacity of all prisons in the country is 121. The police have no guns and not much work at all. But they have an Instagram account: https://instagram.com/logreglan
16. About 65% of Icelandic children are born out of wedlock. The country has the highest birth rate in Europe and the lowest infant mortality rate.
17. Gender equality is a characteristic feature of Icelanders. Icelandic women were the first in Europe to receive the right to vote, the first woman president in the world was elected (for 4 terms), and striptease has been banned since 2010.
18. For the first time in history, a lesbian became prime minister, and she was the first woman to have a same-sex marriage. They have been legal in Iceland since 2010.
19. The Phallological Museum in Reykjavik is the first and only museum to display the sexual organs of males, from hamster to whale. There is also a human one. The goal is to collect specimens of the organs of all mammals in Iceland.
20. From 2010 to 2014 the mayor of Reykjavik was Jon Gnarr, a comedian. In protest, he founded a joke party in 2009 and was soon elected mayor.
+1. Don’t be fooled!
99% of the population is Icelandic, descended from the Vikings. The law on preservation of the nation virtually eliminates the possibility of staying in Iceland permanently.
You can visit Iceland by taking part in our camping trip, details here >>.