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Click on the picture to watch this audio slideshow about bird watching at Óshólmar, an area at the mouth of Eyjafjardará river just outside Akureyri in north Iceland, the largest Icelandic town outside the capital region. Not many tourists know about this attraction, which is perfect for a walk in the sun.
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Located just 40 minutes by car and six minutes from Keflavík International Airport, Sandgerdi (“Sandy Hedge”) is a growing town of 1,700 with a storied history and loads to see. Read this special promotion about the hidden secrets of one of Iceland's most charming seaside villages.
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Filipino Marilyn Young and her eight-year-old daughter Jinky, who she claims is late chess grandmaster Robert J. Fischer daughter, were in Iceland last week to prepare a claim to Fischer’s estate.
Fischer's grave in Iceland. Photo by Páll Stefánsson.
A biological specimen was taken from Jinky for a DNA test and their lawyer is hoping to find a specimen from Fischer—the last resort is to demand an excavation of his body, as reported on RÚV last weekend. The test will take two or three months.
“We will take any means necessary but of course we hope that we will find a biological specimen,” Thórdur Bogason, the lawyer representing the mother and daughter, told Morgunbladid. He emphasized that this case is about the child’s right to know her origin.
The outcome of the DNA test will have a deciding impact on other claims to Fischer’s estate. “If the test is positive we have won the case,” Bogason said.
According to Icelandic law, children are the legal heirs of their parents. Therefore the girl’s right to Fischer’s estate would be unquestionable. Fischer was an Icelandic citizen at the time of his death in January 2008.
Ever since Fischer died, the rights to his estate have been debated Icelandic courts. Last month Reykjavík District Court recognized the reversionary right of Fischer’s wife, Myoko Watai, and rejected the claim of his nephews.
Fischer’s nephews have appealed the ruling to the Supreme Court of Iceland. However, their claim will be annulled if it is proven that Jinky is Fischer’s daughter. The estate would then be divided between Jinky and Fischer’s widow.
Click here to read more about Bobby Fischer in Iceland.
A skeleton from a person who suffered from the Paget’s disease of bone was unearthed this week during an archeological excavation project at Skriduklaustur in east Iceland, where a monastery was once operated.
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The human being will be on display for the first time in its natural environment in the Reykjavík Family Park and Zoo next weekend. Visitors can observe three men and one woman in a cage after 10 am on Saturday and Sunday.
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The formal Videy island swim took place yesterday and there were three participants, two men and one woman, Thórdís Hrönn Pálsdóttir, who is the first woman to participate in the Videy swim since 1959.
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The Environment Agency intends to investigate whether the Heath Protection Authority handled the situation in Eskifjördur, east Iceland, in the correct manner when contaminated water from a trawler was carried into the town’s drinking water system.
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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 Puffins 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
Hendrikka Waage is an accomplished jewellery designer whose first children’s book Rikka and Her Magic Ring in Iceland, takes readers on an enchanted and educational journey through the country. It’s beautifully illustrated and a good lesson in geography, but the plot could have been better thought through and the moral of the story is a bit too prominent.
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On the third day of the Eyjafjallajökull eruption we drove from Skógar to Hvolsvöllur in total darkness, a distance of 18 kilometers. It was frightening, the darkness being so impenetrable that we could hardly see out the windows of the car. We could see faint lights from the farm standing right next to the highway.
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Ásmundur Sveinsson is among the foremost Icelandic sculptors. The current exhibition in the Ásmundur Sveinsson Museum in Reykjavík is entitled “I choose women who thrive…” and features women as symbols in the sculptor’s art. The works in the exhibition are selected from his entire career.
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