RSS feed from icelandreview.com 
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.
more
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.
more
The Analytical and Research department of Íslandsbanki bank reports that this year's birth rate will be the highest in the history of the Icelandic nation. This is reported in the department's newsletter Morgunkorn.
The report covers the decrease in population in 2009 but the population of Icelanders dwindled to 317,593 in the beginning of December which is a 0.7 percent decrease—or 2,163 individuals from the same time last year.
This is a big change from the years before when the population was rising steadily, 2.2 percent annually in the years 2004 – 2008 or, by 6,600 individuals per year.
To find a drop in the Icelandic population one needs to trace back more than 100 years. The last significant population drop was 121 years ago in the year 1888 when hundreds of Icelanders emigrated to North America because of hard economic times.
The recent drop in population can be traced to immigrants with foreign citizenship leaving the country. Nearly 3,100 such individuals have left but Icelanders have increased by about 936 at the same time.
This developement with Icelandic citizens is surprizing because 1,949 more individuals left the country than emigrated to the country. This means that the natural increase of the population, i.e. births exceeding deaths, is the major factor for the increase.
It is thus likely that 2009 will be a record year for births in the history of 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.
more
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.
more
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.
more
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.
more
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.
more
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.
more
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.
more
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.
more
