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Click on the picture to watch an audio slideshow of a hike to Hraunsvatn lake in Öxnadalur valley in north Iceland, which lies at a height of 490 meters, interlocked between two steep mountains and a small glacier with a view of the majestic Hraundrangar peaks.
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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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Today is Christmas Eve. Christmas officially begins at 6 pm. By then families will have gathered around the dinner table to have smoked pork and afterwards they open presents.
Family members of all ages dress up in their finest clothes, after a long and relaxing Christmas bath, before dinner starts.
A smoked pork roast, glazed with sugar and decorated with pineapple according to a Danish tradition, will be on many dinner tables in Iceland. Side dishes include sugar-coated potatoes, green beans, red cabbage and a salad made of whipped cream, walnuts, celery and grapes. A popular first course is cream of asparagus and home made ice cream is often eaten as dessert.
Roasted ptarmigan is a traditional Icelandic Christmas dinner, originally more common among poorer families. Roasted goose is also a popular dinner at Christmas and reindeer steak is gaining popularity.
Christmas ale, a mixture of orange soda and malt, is the traditional Christmas drink in Iceland, although in recent years many adults prefer wine.
After a three-course meal, the presents that have been stacked underneath the Christmas tree, are opened. Traditionally Christmas cards are not opened until Christmas Eve.
Before Christmas Eve the whole house has to be cleaned and the bed sheets washed. Many people get books for Christmas, and after chatting and playing board games until midnight or longer, they creep in between their freshly washed sheets and browse through their new books.
Some families go to church at 6 pm on Christmas Eve and have dinner afterwards; others might attend a midnight mass. Many go to the graveyard before dinner to place a candle on the graves of loved ones that have passed away and honor their memory.
A typical lunch on December 24 is rice pudding. An almond is hidden in the saucepan and the person who finds the almond in his or her rice pudding gets a little surprise.
The 11th annual Night of Lights festival begins today in Reykjanesbaer municipality in southwest Iceland. Tomorrow and Saturday night, many of the country’s best bands will play in Reykjanesbaer and on Sunday local choirs will entertain guests.
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Iceland’s cabinet met at the presidential residence Bessastadir at noon today where new ministers were announced: Gudbjartur Hannesson of the Social Democrats will lead a new Welfare Ministry and Ögmundur Jónasson of the Left-Greens a new Ministry for Internal Affairs.
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The average temperature of the three summer months, June, July and August, in Reykjavík this year was 12.2°C (54°F), which makes this the warmest summer in the capital since temperatures were first recorded in 1871, according to meteorologist Trausti Jónsson.
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The comedy sketch show Spaugstofan, which has been shown more or less continuously for 21 years on the Icelandic national broadcaster RÚV, has now been relocated to the private television channel Stöd 2.
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The second issue of the print edition of Iceland Review 2010 has just been published. Entitled “Under the Volcano” the magazine dedicates 20 pages, words and pictures, to the volcanic eruption in Eyjafjallajökull glacier which made headlines all over the word. New subscribers will receive the book 2010 Eruptions as a gift and all subscribers are part of a draw to win a trip to Iceland. Click here to subscribe to the magazine.
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REVIEWS
Dadi Gudbjörnsson's art with its smiley faces, Aladdin's lamps, gleaming hearts, blue mountains and psychedelic flora of unearthly origin reminds me of the cheesy R.E.M. song “Shiny Happy People”. The sugar-sweet naivety fails to amuse me but I must admit it infects my mood with delirious joy.
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Former President of Iceland Vigdís Finnbogadóttir turned 80 on 15 April this year and Mayor Hanna Birna Kristjánsdóttir—in making her an Honorary Citizen of Reykjavík to mark the occasion—observed that Finnbogadóttir’s life was interwoven with that of Reykjavík. In June 1980 Finnbogadóttir made history when she became the world’s first democratically elected female head of state.
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Today, August 30, and tomorrow is your last chance to visit the exhibition “Eau De Parfum” by Andrea Maack at the Spark Design Space in Reykjavík. In the exhibition space, Maack introduces three perfumes that are the result of her collaboration with French perfumery apf aromes & parfums.
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