Enjoy Travel To Iceland And Be Rewarded With Magical Beauties

By Michelle Howe


Iceland is a country of strange beauties and otherworldly landscapes; of seemingly endless summer nights and active volcanoes. Travel to Iceland can mean taking your swimming costume during winter time, and hiking along mountain ridges which are literally only a few decades old. It is a land of adventure and mystery, the setting for some of the famous Viking sagas.

Some people will already be aware of Iceland thanks to its musical exports, which include the singer Bjork and the electronic musicians Sigur Ros. Reykjavik, the capital city, is located in the south western part of the country, and has enjoyed a reputation for hipness in Europe for many years now. There are few other settlements apart from this medium sized city of around 120,000 people, which means that there is plenty of epic space to enjoy out in the countryside.

This island in the North Atlantic was formed as a result of volcanic activity, and its landscape is still being shaped by rumblings under the earth. Located on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, the country experiences great amounts of geothermal activity, as well as some volcanic eruptions. This means that the landscape is dotted with boiling mud pools, spouting geysers and natural hot springs, and anyone who visits here, at any time of year, should make sure that they pack a swimming costume, as it is possible to bathe in the hot pools.

Eleven per cent of all of Europe's glaciers can be found here, and they still scrape and shape the landscape in a much slower way than the volcanoes do. Europe's largest glacier is located in Iceland. All of which leaves little space which is actually inhabitable for the total population of 300,000 people.

The sheer number of glaciers means that there are some dramatically impressive landscapes to be seen, and more wildlife, especially birdlife, than you might expect. There is an enormous amount of space and peace too, with the empty landscape possessing a savage and defiant beauty. Pollution is minimal, and this really is one of the world's unspoilt environments.

There is also the weather to enjoy, though that might seem unlikely when looking at the location of this beautiful country in the North Atlantic. The summers here are actually surprisingly warm, and the landscape takes on a lush, green beauty which only grows as the days stretch out from spring onwards. Anyone who enjoys photography or painting will find plenty to inspire them here, with the mountains, ridges and petrified streams of lava offering some alien looking landscapes which could not exist anywhere else on earth.

Even winter has its amazing sights and sounds to enjoy here, in this isolated part of northern Europe. The Northern Lights, or Aurora Borealis undulates in the night sky at this time of year, its blue, yellow, green and pink lights spreading an otherworldly pattern overhead. The island's reserves of geothermal and hydroelectric power mean that you can stay warm in a very environmentally friendly way too.

There is nowhere else in the world quite like this northern Atlantic island, with its strange, lava twisted, glacier shifted landscape. The people are very friendly too, and there are so many possibilities, however you like to spend your time. Travel to Iceland is something every adventurous person should be considering.




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