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As a kid I thought airports were the most romantic places in the world. Now, while other airports destroy my jet-setting romanticism, Keflavík aptly revives it.
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Click on the picture to observe how to prepare a traditional Icelandic meal of roe and liver (hrogn og lifur). At this time of year, egg pouches are harvested from female fish, mainly cod and haddock, and sold in fish stores around the country along with the liver. The egg pouches may not look appetizing; just remember that caviar is fish eggs too.
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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.
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Prime Minister Geir H. Haarde has submitted a letter to the wage council which handles salaries for officials and requested a five to 15 percent decrease in salaries for everyone whose wages are decided by the council, including himself and other ministers.
Chairman of the wage council Gudrún Zoëga confirmed that the letter had been received on Friday. The wage council will discuss the matter this week and it might take a few days or weeks to handle the request, Morgunbladid reports.
The government has also proposed a bill on changes to controversial retirement regulations for MPs, ministers and judges of the Supreme Court as announced by Prime Minister Haarde and Foreign Minister Ingibjörg Sólrún Gísladóttir in a press conference on Friday.
According to the bill, the minimum age of retirement for these groups will be increased from 55 to 60. The earning of rights among MPs will be lowered from 3.0 percent to 2.375 percent for every year in office and among judges to the Supreme Court from 6.0 percent to 4.0 percent.
It will also be impossible to accept retirement benefits and salaries from the state at the same time. A special provision on prime ministerial retirement benefits will be canceled, so the same rights will from now on apply to all ministers.
Opinion was divided on the changes to retirement regulations amongst opposition leaders.
Chairman of the Progressive Party Valgerdur Sverrisdóttir told RÚV that although the changes were an improvement, they were not significant enough compared to how much the Social Democrats, of which Foreign Minister Gísladóttir is chairman, had criticized the regulations when they were established in 2003.
Copyright of photo of Prime Minister Haarde: Icelandic Photo Agency.
Norwegian lawyer Morten Furuholmen is preparing a lawsuit against Icelandic authorities for what he calls an unfounded arrest of Leif Ivar Kristiansen, the leader of the Hells Angels motorcycle club in Norway, at Keflavík International Airport yesterday.
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The government of Iceland and the opposition in Iceland’s parliament reached an agreement yesterday on a discussion point to use in renegotiations with British and Dutch authorities on the Icesave obligations.
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Icelandair has submitted a request to the Ministries of Justice and Industry that operating casinos be legalized in Iceland. The company is interested in opening a casino at the Hilton Hotel Nordica on Sudurlandsbraut in Reykjavík.
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Icelandic stamp collector Magni R. Magnússon recently found a rare stamp sheet from Liberia portraying President of Iceland Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson in a collector’s store in Belgium. Liberian post authorities issued stamps with almost 200 world leaders in 2000.
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New subscribers to the quarterly Iceland Review magazine will receive the photography book Puffins, which contains a wealth of information about this colorful bird, as a gift. Additionally, all subscribers will enter a draw to win a trip to Iceland. Click here to subscribe to Iceland Review. The new issue will be out next week!
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REVIEWS
When I first heard of the photographic book Legend by Fiann Paul, portraying people dressed in Viking-style in Icelandic landscapes, I imagined it would depict scenes from Norse mythology. However, the idea with the book is to tell a story of how “The Seeker” finds “The Legend” and it feels like a wishy-washy self-help book.
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Fresh back from Brazil, where she was one of 28 international judges at the ‘Cup of Excellence’ awards, Kaffitár founder and owner Adalheidur Hédinsdóttir sat down with Atlantica’s Mica Allan in Kaffitár’s Bankastraeti cafe to talk about her passion and delight: coffee.
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“Lucy” is a video and music installation by Dodda Maggý (1981), the 15th artist to exhibit in Reykjavík Art Museum’s D-gallery project in the Hafnarhús exhibition hall. In “Lucy” the artist explores the idea of the “acousmetre,” a film character portrayed only by voice, never in body, omniscient and ubiquitous.
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