Drinks Around the World: Brennivin and Hakarl (Iceland)

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Iceland is packed with natural wonders, a wild landscape undergoing constant changes by smoldering volcanoes, thunderous waterfalls, steaming lava fields and meandering glaciers.

Iceland's remote existence introduces unusual traditional drinks and food. The traditional national drink, not consumed regularly today, is brennivín. Literally meaning burnt wine, it is made by fermenting the pulp of potatoes and mixing it with caraway seeds. Enjoyed (and I use the word loosely) from a shot glass and served freezing cold, brennivín tastes like a fiery molten rye bread singeing the throat as it is swallowed. This potent caraway-flavoured schnapps is ominously and appropriately nicknamed 'Black Death' (svarti dauði) and could warm the body with one mouthful during the harsh winter months.

For the full traditional Icelandic experience, this firewater is taken with hákarl,a kind of fermented shark meat.

In times past, the long harsh winters and rough seas necessitated a survival instinct with food. Seafood, lamb and seabirds were preserved in many ways, smoked, salted, dried and pickled to provide nutrition and sustenance during the cold. One of the most bizarre foods, from Viking times, is hákarl.

And not just any shark, but Greenland shark. Born without kidneys, the shark is poisonous if eaten fresh. Caught, packed into the shoreline's gravelly beach and weighed down with stones, the toxic liquid is leeched out over a few months before the flesh is wind-dried on racks.

The resulting product is deceivingly served with toothpicks in small cubes like the finest cheese. The pungent ammonia-ridden flavour strikes before the cube first touches the tongue and with a further eye-watering aftertaste similar to cleaning fluid. Once the shock subsides, the next morsel or two are better (blocking the nose helps a little) but hákarl is an acquired taste that most modern Icelanders must struggle with.

I encourage everyone to explore the various local food and drink delicacies of the various countries. Only eaten on a special occasion or served to unsuspecting visitors, brennivín and hákarl provides one of the most challenging and unique eating experiences, with Viking heritage, that shouldn't be passed up and which encapsulates the spirit of this stunningly scenic and rugged volcanic nation.

Photo Credit: black table

Reykjavik Vacations

Inspired by Iceland

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There is possibly no country on Earth where nature has had such a significant influence on the lives and culture of a population. Iceland continues to have a love-hate relationship with its nature, a country where a visitor can stand astride two continental plates and experience a nation being geologically created. Of course, recent Icelandic news was dominated by financial issues and the eruption of the Eyjafjallajökull volcano, the ash cloud affecting people all over the world with the closing of much of the European airspace.

In an exceptional display of co-ordinated national pride, in a campaign called Inspired by Iceland, the population of a little over 300,000 went online during a nominated hour today (the Iceland hour) and sent e-cards around the world about their remarkable island nation. The messages contain an open invitation for people to visit this inspiring country of such staggering natural beauty. A wonderful video of Iceland went to air in that same hour (introduced by the President) showing superb visuals of this extraordinary natural wonderland.

So far it is clearly having some effect as over 500,000 people have viewed the video and two million have checked out their Twitter (@icelandinspired).

People who love Iceland (I have written my memories of visiting Iceland) can go to the Inspired by Iceland website and leave their favourite stories, photos or videos. People considering an overseas vacation this northern summer should seriously consider visiting Iceland. With a favourable exchange rate and an opportunity to have a truly unique experience of nature on such an immense scale, it is a great time to go to Iceland.

Though I have no heritage ties to Iceland or to this initiative, the country offered some of best travel experiences I've ever had. My memories of visiting Iceland are numerous - sitting in naturally warmed rock pools overlooking a glacier in the evening twilight, viewing tortured rock formations, standing on the edge of untamed waterfalls, trekking along immense glaciers, cruising a lake full of graceful icebergs, dining on wild salmon, watching a geyser erupt every few minutes, walking the colourful streets of the tiny capital city, standing on the location of the world's first parliament and listening to rich Icelandic sagas (some written about on this blog). But my abiding memory is of the friendly reserved people, so proud and accepting of the wild and unpredictable nature of their terrain - as one put it "it is what makes us Icelandic".

Do you want to be inspired by Iceland?

Active Iceland

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As reported in various news reports (such as here and here and here), the eruption of the Eyjafjallajökull volcano in southern Iceland triggered the orderly evacuation of over 600 people from neighbouring towns, the closure of roads and the temporary shutdown of air services into Iceland. While the country is well prepared for such exceptional natural forces, with no-one being killed or injured, it highlights the extraordinary natural travel wonder that the island nation of Iceland is. A fissure nearly a kilometre wide spews ash and lava into the wintry Icelandic atmosphere as shown in photos of the various news services. Generously covered with glaciers, the small island is bisected by the edges of two continental plates causing regular volcanic activity across the country – literally, the country of fire and ice.

Travelling there some years ago, I can recall the landscape being explained in terms of various volcanic eruptions and lava flows. Around Hekla, various rough black stripes crisscross the splotchy panorama, each caused by one of the twenty or more eruptions over the last 1000 years. Small tinges of green colour the older flows as life fights the harsh weather to regenerate. A specialist describes “the green tinged area is from the eruption of 1845, while the darker flow to your right is from 1947”. He continues “Further over there is the lava flow from 1991…” – an ebony charred highway of lava with no sign of life. The entire history of the area is told in eruptions.

More scary is the description of the formation of Asbyrgi, an other-worldly forested area with sheer basaltic walls. While tales are told of Odin’s eight-legged horse leaving footprints in Norse mythology, scientists claim a volcano underneath a glacier caused a mass rapid melting of an ice sheet. The tidal wave of melt water gouged a path through the rocky terrain leaving the harder rocky walls, sweeping the softer rock away with an awesome natural display of primeval power.

Throughout Iceland, areas of activity are on constant show as Iceland slowly pulls itself apart, mud bubbling among steamy fissures – the sulphuric gases wafting for miles around.

The world’s finest vulcanologists continue to monitor the 2200-plus known volcanoes for undue activity – ready at a moment’s notice to report a threat and protect the population of this extraordinary natural wonderland. Maybe no other nation is being so clearly shaped by the incredible forces of nature as the unsettled Earth’s crust vents its fury every few years on this naturally beautiful and wild island nation.

Source: map

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The Icelandic Phonebook Surprise

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Look up a phonebook in Iceland and a surprise awaits you. It is listed in first name order followed by surnames, occupations and addresses.

This makes good sense when you realise that everybody in Iceland is known by his or her first name and nobody uses Mr. or Ms. in any situation. Young children call their teachers and friend’s parents by their first name and Icelanders even reference their president by her first name. Unlike virtually all countries, Icelanders do not have surnames in the traditional sense. A surname in Iceland is simply their father’s name suffixed with either son for boys or dóttir for girls, based on the same patronymic system from the time of the Vikings.

This can be confusing when you consider that it means that a typical family of four will almost certainly have multiple different “surnames”. For example, if Jón Helgason (his father’s name is Helgi) and Margrét Magnúsdóttir (her father’s name is Magnús) have a son, then his surname will be Jónsson while his daughter would take the name Jónsdóttir – four different surnames in the same family!

In a strange way, I believe that this approach to names gives Iceland a greater sense of equality and respect in how they approach their lives with excellent gender and age balances in most walks of Icelandic life.

The well-known eclectic Icelandic singer Björk simply uses her first name as is the Icelandic tradition. According to Wikipedia being the daughter of Guðmundur, her full name is Björk Guðmundsdóttir of which there are a few in the phonebook.

Moreover, when choosing a name for a newly born, the parents must select a name already approved by the Icelandic naming board which would screw up some of those Hollywood types with a penchant for choosing weird names (like Dweezil, Moon Zappa, Diezel and Pilot Inspektor to nominate just a few). New names can be added by special application but they need to be Icelandic in nature.

Similar in motive to the names, a special group designs new Icelandic words to maintain the purity of the language from the Viking age. So rather than take modified English words for modern terms as many languages do (what is the word for computer or television in most languages?), the Icelanders create their own suitable words to maintain their language. So the word for telephone is sími (Viking word for thread) and computer is tölva (by combining Icelandic words for number and soothsayer).

With such a potpourri of surnames, it is little wonder that the Icelandic phone book is sorted by first names. Try the online version in Icelandic or English if you want to test it. Mind you, if the population were 300 million rather than 300,000, I suspect the system may not work as well.

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Lake of Dancing Icebergs (Jokulsarlon, Iceland)

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In a country packed with natural travel wonders including thundering waterfalls, freaky rock formations, snaking glaciers and thermal pools, one of the most unusual experiences in Iceland is the glacial lake, Jökulsárlón, full of powder-blue icebergs. From nature’s perspective, this is a recent phenomenon related to the receding glacier with the lake only present for the last seventy-five years.

The smallish icebergs, having split from the front of an arm of Europe’s largest glacier (and one-twelfth of Iceland’s landmass), slowly waltz around the chilly glacial lagoon with the slow deliberate grace of tai chi. The icebergs are too large to enter the river outlet to the ocean. They slowly meander around the lake until the wind and water erodes them to a size where they can finally escape their lagoon prison.

Apart from the peaceful stroll around the lagoon’s shore, a half-hour journey on an amphibian craft weaves up close to the ice show, revealing the unusual formations carved by nature, the varying shades of blue cast in the chunks of ice and the attractive reflections in the brooding waters.

The film-makers love it with the setting being used for a number of features including two James Bond movies – A View to a Kill and Die Another Day.

Enjoy Jökulsárlón, a surreal travel wonder in a sombre atmosphere of gently lapping water, brooding grey clouds and blue-tinged ice giants silently circulating the cold lagoon waters.

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Astride the Continents (Iceland)

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Iceland is one of the world’s most remarkable countries, full of natural travel wonders and contrasts. In a small area, soaring icy glaciers, spouting geysirs, black lava flows and plunging waterfalls compete and complement to paint an extraordinary landscape. Much of this highly active landscape is due to the gradual parting of two continental plates – where Europe and America truly meet. Most such activity happens deep in the ocean floor, but this continental junction weaves a path through the centre of Iceland, where it is known as the Reykjanes Ridge (or the less interesting Mid-Atlantic Ridge to geologists). It produced the rich Norse legends where the sagas of mighty gods and unearthly powers replace the geological explanations of today.

In the north of Iceland, Mt Krafla has erupted regularly as recently as 1984. A road of black sooty lava replaced the emerald green grasslands that had struggled to grow over the remains of prior eruptions. The tell-tale yellow sulphurous deposits and venting steam (top photo) shows the Earth continues to bubble where the tectonic plates drag apart from each other at two or three centimetres per year.

In places like Krafla where the gap is narrow, you can stand astride the two continents, being careful to avoid the heated fissures.

The world’s first parliament was conducted in Þingvellir (pronounced “Thingvellir”) over 1,000 years ago. Maybe symbolically for the fractious behaviour of many parliaments, the continental ridge runs through Þingvellir where again it is possible to stand astride the two continents.
Near Iceland’s capital, Reykjavik and its beloved Blue Lagoon, a recently constructed bridge that needs to be adjusted every few years to account for the moving ground, stands astride a broader division between the two plates. A short stroll over the typical black volcanic soils quickly transports you from Europe to America.

While exploring the wild beauty of this majestic and mysterious landscape, keep a thought for those trying to build roads, pipelines and bridges as this wonderfully hospitable country literally slowly tears itself apart.

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Photo Source: map

Photo of the Week - Remote Sign

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This photo is from central Iceland - a land left barren from regular volcanic eruptions. NASA thought it so resembled a moonscape that the Apollo 11 astronauts trained around here before their famous moon landing. At least there are signs to avoid being lost! Iceland is also a stunning country full of natural travel wonders such as waterfalls, glaciers, lakes and strange rock formations from the geological activity.

Iceland - Nature’s Wonderland

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Rich in natural travel wonders with large snaking glaciers, weird and wonderful rock formations from the highly active volcanoes, sulphuric thermal pools and waterfalls galore from the melting snow and glaciers, Iceland’s natural beauty, rich Norse legends and easy going nature should put it on the itinerary of any avid traveller.

Expressive and energetic waterfalls seemingly tumble over every rock face in beautiful unaltered settings. Indeed, the word foss (for waterfall) is indelibly engraved in the minds of every visitor to Iceland. Many falls are unnamed yet are sufficiently impressive that many other countries would encompass them into national parks. With a true sense of nature, Iceland leaves their waterfalls au naturel uncluttered with fencing, restrictive paths or concrete viewing platforms. If you are stupid enough to fall into a chasm or step under a geyser, you are free to do so.

Not far from the colourful, peaceful capital of Reykjavik are two of Iceland’s most celebrated natural sights and its most significant historic location. Geysir, which gave the English word geyser for the spouting hot water springs, now lies dormant. Fortunately, for fans of spouting hot springs, neighbouring Stokkur is only a few hundred metres away lying in wait, belching, boiling and bubbling until it launches scolding water around 20 metres in the air every eight to ten minutes.

A couple of kilometres away is the appropriately named Gullfoss (Golden Falls), pictured at the top of this article, which, turning at right angles, cascades in two stages into a narrow gorge below.

Over a thousand years ago, Iceland conducted the first parliament in the world at Þingvellir (where the uniquely Icelandic character Þ is pronounced th). The people met yearly, enacting laws and punishing wrong-doers. Mothers of illegitimate children were drowned in a nearby river. In 1000 AD, the law-makers met and decided that the Icelandic nation, of primarily Viking heritage, would become Christian. The law speaker threw his idols and statues of the Norse deities into Goðafoss, the waterfall of the Gods.

At every turn in the road, waterfalls tumble in some mesmerising natural settings.

Svartifoss (Black Falls) tumbles over hanging hexagonal basaltic columns like a fountain in church organ pipes. These remarkable columns formed from an extremely slow cooling lava flow.

Ófærufoss once flowed with an elegant narrow natural bridge (as in the photo) which you could walk across, but this was shaken down with an earthquake in 1993.

Europe’s most powerful waterfall, Dettifoss, helps empty the extensive and wild meltwater from Europe’s largest glacier pounding 44 metres into the river below. Meanwhile Skogafoss presents a photogenic symmetric fall elegantly tumbling 60 metres from the coastal Icelandic cliffs into a verdant valley.


Iceland remains an undiscovered treasure trove of wild beauty, left in its most natural state. Enjoy this travel wonder of lava fields, gushing waterfalls, emerald green valleys and twisted tortured rock formations, all continually changing with Iceland’s active geology.

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