We all know Iceland has stunning nature and scenery but did you know that:
◊ Iceland has the youngest land in the world. Which came about when Surtsey erupted in 1963 and created a whole new island on the south coast of Iceland
◊ The famous glacier Vatnajökull is Europe’s biggest glacier
◊ Beer was illegal for 73 years. Becoming legal again on the 1st of March, 1989
◊ Icelandic is considered to be one of the oldest languages in the world
◊ Everybody is listed by their first name in the telephone book
◊ In 2015, the Icelandic car rental fleet, drove 7600 times around the earth or 400 times back and fourth to the moon
◊ In Iceland people don’t say “Enjoy” or “Bon appetite” before dinner. Here they say “Verði þér að góðu” which can be translated to “Hope the food will do you good”
◊ Icelanders leave their babies to nap outside, in any weather
◊ There are no McDonald’s in Iceland
◊ An Icelandic horse transported abroad, is not allowed to enter Iceland again
◊ Geothermal water has to be cooled down before piped into houses
◊ Most houses in Iceland are heated with geothermal water
◊ There is no army in Iceland and the police force does not carry guns (except a small special forces troop)
◊ The word “berserk” as in “going berserk” comes from a Viking family, the Berserks who was known to have a HUGE temper
◊ Plain Vanilla who ran & created the game QuizUp was an Icelandic company
◊ The colors in the Icelandic flag symbols ice, fire and the blue mountains in the distance
◊ Iceland does not do day light saving by moving the clock back and forth an hour (GMT all year around)
◊ You can drink tap water everywhere in Iceland and it’s delicious
◊ Iceland has around 130 volcanic mountains
◊ Close to 99% of all Icelanders are connected to the internet
◊ Iceland’s parliament is the oldest extant parliamentary institution in the world
◊ There are no trains in Iceland
◊ The Icelandic alphabet has 32 characters
◊ There is an Icelandic anti-incest app to prevent relatives from dating each other
◊ Iceland has a Nobel prize winning author
◊ Usually, women don’t take the husband’s last name when they marry
◊ The Arctic fox is the only indigenous land mammal in Iceland. Both the Mink and the reindeer were brought here. The Mink spread by accident. They fled from Mink farms.
There are more facts for sure and these are just a few of them. You will discover more of them when you travel around here! 🙂
Safe travels! #GoIceland
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