RSS feed from icelandreview.com
Icelandreview.com on your mobile (Nokia)
The Iceland Touring Association (FÍ) organizes various hiking trips across Iceland throughout the year, including a project called ‘one peak per week’ where people sign up to join FÍ on hikes to 52 mountains in one year. In mid-January the group hiked two mountains called Helgafell in the capital region.
more
Fjallabyggd (“Mountain Settlement”) is a skier’s dream. Its slopes are perfect for slaloming and there are also tracks for telemark skiing. Winter sporting enthusiasts can also go ice skating or rent snowmobiles. In summer, Fjallabyggd turns into a paradise for hikers. Read this special promotion about one of Iceland’s best hidden gems.
more
Footage was captured of an obscure phenomenon yesterday which appeared to be swimming in the glacial river Jökulsá í Fljótsdal, east Iceland.
The monster video on ruv.is.
People speculate whether this may be the notorious snake-like monster Lagarfljótsormurinn, which is said to reside in the lake Lagarfljót.
The video was taken by Hjörtur Kjerúlf and posted on ruv.is.
Lagarfljótsormurinn is Iceland’s equivalent to Scotland’s Loch Ness monster. It was first mentioned in sources dating back to 1345. According to legend, it was at first a tiny worm which was placed on a ring of gold to make the gold grow.
When the owner of the ring returned she noticed to her great terror that the worm had grown immensely but not the gold. She tossed the ring and worm into Lagarfljót where the worm continued to grow.
Whether Hjörtur’s video is indeed evidence of the existence of the legendary monster is debatable; skeptics believe it shows a torn fishing net which blew into the river where it froze.
When the river cleared itself of ice the net came loose and the “worm” wriggled its way through the water.
ESA
The primary proceedings in the case of Sigurjón Þ. Árnason, one of Landsbanki’s two former CEOs at the time of its collapse in October 2008, against the bank over his pension savings are currently ongoing at Reykjavík District Court.
more
A man in his thirties underwent surgery at Landspítali, the national hospital, after being stabbed with a knife between 3 and 4 am this morning in Kópavogur, a neighboring town of Reykjavík. He suffered severe stab wounds.
more
The Icelandic Ministry of Economic Affairs has handed in a Pre-Accession Economic Program to the EU Commission, as revealed yesterday. The report is part of Iceland’s accession process to the European Union.
more
The Árni Magnússon Institute for Icelandic Studies, which has a collection of ancient manuscripts, including the Icelandic sagas, recently received a donation of a rare book dating back to the 15th century.
more
The current issue of the quarterly magazine Iceland Review includes for example an interview with world-renowned fashion designer Steinunn Sigurðardóttir as well as features on the successful biotech company ORF Genetics and the hot debate regarding the EU. If you subscribe now, you will receive a photo book by IR editor, photographer Páll Stefánsson of the eruptions in Eyjafjallajökull as a gift. Click here to subscribe to the magazine and here to buy a gift subscription.
more
REVIEWS
Sweet, honest music from troubadour Svavar Knútur.
more
Does an image say more than a thousand words? Sometimes it does. It is interesting to see Iceland through travelers’ eyes. Some visiting for the twentieth time, others for the first time, but almost all of them focus their lenses on nature; the tiniest details or the greatest panorama of lava fields and mountains.
more
The painter Karen Agnete (1903-1992) was one of many Danish women who married an Icelander and moved with their husbands to Iceland from Copenhagen in the first half of the 20th century. She was fascinated by Iceland and Icelanders; the current exhibition at Kjarvalsstaðir highlights the types of paintings she concentrated on.
more
