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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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Prime Minister of Iceland Jóhanna Sigurdardóttir said in an interview with Bloomberg, published today, that Iceland cannot afford to wait any longer for the International Monetary Fund’s review and the second payment of the loan to Iceland.
Prime Minister of Iceland Jóhanna Sigurdardóttir. Photo by Geir Ólafsson.
The IMF had originally planned to review the economic stabilization program for Iceland in February 2009. Sigurdardóttir hopes that there will be no more delays and that the IMF will review the program next month. “However, it’s clear that the IMF wants to see a solution in the Icesave matter, prior to Iceland’s review with the fund.”
In August, the Icelandic parliament, Althingi, introduced preconditions to the legislation on the state guarantee on loans that will be provided to Iceland from the UK and the Netherlands so that Landsbanki’s Icesave account holders in these countries can be compensated.
“We assume a formal answer from the Netherlands and the UK to the conditions and how we can uniformly move forward will arrive shortly,” the PM told Bloomberg. Last week she told Icelandic reporters that the discussions with British and Dutch authorities were well underway.
“It’s extremely important that both the UK and the Netherlands understand that Iceland is eager to honor its obligations,” Sigurdardóttir said. “However, taking on more than we can handle isn’t going to benefit anyone. This perceived link between the solution to the Icesave issue and the IMF program is, in my mind, unfortunate to say the least.”
Iceland’s Minister for Foreign Affairs Össur Skarphédinsson also conveyed Iceland’s dissatisfaction with the continuous delays of the review of the economic stabilization program at the IMF in his speech at the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Saturday, as stated on the website of his ministry.
Click here to read more about Icesave and here to read more about the IMF.
Click here to read Bloomberg’s interview with Sigurdardóttir in full.
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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