So why Iceland?
Beauty
Most of all, Iceland’s beautiful. Everyone cites the
waterfalls, the glaciers, the hot springs and geysers, the lava formations and
volcanoes*. It’s been a hot spot for filming movies, too. If you’re outdoorsy,
Iceland sounds like a great place to go.
* Some of the volcanoes are still active. Because beautiful
beautiful Iceland still wants to kill us.
Music
Iceland’s known for music, which is unexpected given that
instruments were something of a luxury for much of Iceland’s history, as the
people were preoccupied with not starving/freezing/smothering-under-ash to
death. What people did do, though, was sign, and in the 1900’s rock hit it off
in Iceland. There seems to be a whole lot of energy and diversity pouring into
the music scene now.
Thanks to its relative isolation from Europe, Iceland has
retained a lot of tradition, including centuries-old singing styles and a written/spoken
language that’s so similar to Old Norse, Icelanders can read sagas in the
original language.
Elves
Iceland has rich stories about all kinds of fairy folk,
including ghosts who age and islands dotted by the forms of petrified trolls. Many
Icelanders truly believe that elves and faeries exist and there are plenty of
stories of construction companies having to re-plan their road building in
order not to disrupt an elf house and anger the occupants. (If you do mess with
an elf’s dwelling, expect accidents and setbacks).
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