Some things I can’t see or understand. Not even with my FUJI camera.  more

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

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

Published in the 2010 summer issue of Iceland Review – IR 48.02. By Bjarni Brynjólfsson, photos by Páll Stefánsson.

Barley growing up from the thick ash at Thorvaldseyri, the largest farm under the Eyjafjallajökull volcano.

“Oh, that is just thunder, caused by the electricity from the eruption,” said Gudni Úlfar Ingólfsson, farmer at Drangshlídardalur, located west of the Skógá river next to Skógar municipality. Like there was nothing more mundane. We were standing right under the erupting volcano, about four miles from the fissure, and the thunder was so intense everything vibrated. “This is nothing. You should hear when the volcano roars and the shock waves come. Then even our house trembles.”

We were visiting the farms in the Eyjafjallasveit region on 17 May—the area which was hit the hardest by the ashfall from the Eyjafjallajökull volcano. The sky was blue and Ingólfsson’s grass fields were getting green. Yet the sky roared at us. Then the ashfall suddenly started. It was not fine dust like at the beginning of the eruption, but like a hailstorm. Only this was no ice but pure glass, magma ground to grain size by the explosions inside the volcano, triggered when the magma meets the glacial ice.

“Let’s go inside for a coffee. It’s impossible to stand outside in this rain of glass,” said farmer Ingólfsson. He was raised on this farm and now lives there with his wife Magdalena Jónsdóttir and their two young kids.

A white plate had been placed on a chair right next to the main door of the farmhouse to detect ashfall; an old method developed by the farmers here in this vicinity of volcanic disasters.

The farmers in the Eyjafjallasveit district had been under enormous strain when we visited. They had been trying to cope through the darkness of the ashfall which was copious for the first weeks of the eruption and then continued on and off depending on the direction of the wind.

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. It was hellish darkness and the images of birds fluttering their wings, like bats flying in the dark, and horses with drooping heads in the ashfall will never leave my mind. It’s no wonder that some of the farmers experienced nervous breakdowns trying to cope with this springtime catastrophe—spring is usually a merry season for farmers.

You can read the remainder of this article in the 2010 summer issue of Iceland Review – IR 48.02. Four times a year the print edition of Iceland Review brings you a wealth of articles on all aspects of life in Iceland including Páll Stefánsson's latest images of the country's majestic landscape. Click here to subscribe and here to browse through a selection of pages from the current issue.

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For someone who is not a believer in the supernatural, Christina Sunley has had her share of strange coincidences, laying out the path towards her becoming a bestselling author. The Tricking of Freya, her debut, is set in an Icelandic fishing village in Canada as well as in Iceland itself and Sunley weaves in references to Icelandic culture and literary heritage. It’s a novel she thought the average American might find too “obscure” to pick up.  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

Out by Keflavík international airport in Iceland’s southwest corner, a former US military base has been transformed into a burgeoning venture zone with a focus on green energy, health and logistics. Called Ásbrú, the revamped site has plenty of projects that appeal to foreigners.  more

Amiina’s sound is intimate and rife with mellifluous dialogue. Though lyrics are few and far between, that’s not to say Amiina's new album Kurr doesn’t strike a chord with its listeners. On the contrary, it resonates in the most unexpected of ways.  more

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

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

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

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