Iceland has a manner of swallowing expectations and dispersing them as a high quality mist over its lava rock fields, moss-covered valleys, and black-sand shores. Since individuals started arriving at this glacier-topped island in the ninth century, there was one fixed: the climate guidelines all. Then, surviving was removed from sure, and a single storm may take out a life-saving meals supply for the settlers who raised farms and livestock alongside the perimeter of the nation. Now, the considered chasing waterfalls, mountaineering volcanic craters, witnessing lively eruptions, and soaking the afternoon away in hot springs fills the minds of vacationers all over the world. The unpredictable forecast, properly, that is an annoyance for many guests, however a chance for the extra curious to reside a little nearer to the Icelandic manner—which embraces the outside, irrespective of the climate.
Erika Owen
Erika Owen is a Brooklyn-based journey author, editor, and content material strategist. Her pursuits embrace classic design, Iceland (she’s been 14 occasions!), and the colour cobalt blue. Her work has beforehand been revealed in Travel + Leisure, Departures, and Vogue. You may discover her work on-line at GQ, Trip Advisor, Architectural Digest, Martha Stewart Living, Bustle, Rachael Ray Magazine, and extra.
Nearly a decade in the past, I fell underneath Iceland’s spell and have since been writing about its individuals, tradition, and landscapes. With practically 20 visits to the Land of Fire and Ice filling my very own reminiscences, I’ve married deep analysis into the nation’s previous with my impressions of the present in a tome for Assouline, referred to as Iceland Epic. If there’s one factor I’ve realized, it’s that your expectations are by no means sufficient—there’s all the time a spontaneous summer season snow, flash of Northern Lights, or elusive Arctic fox sighting proper across the nook.
Below are some picture highlights from the e book, and a little extra concerning the tales they inform of Iceland—plus, easy methods to faucet into the tradition and experiences they depict in your subsequent go to to Iceland.
For extra tips about planning a journey to Iceland:
One of my favourite components of Iceland is how the individuals who name it residence embody their surrounding environments. There is no combating with the climate, it’s a a part of who they’re. Many artists have captured this in work, images, and design—photographer Anna Isabella Christensen (above left) is one among these individuals. Her work provides a human silhouette to the fantastic thing about Iceland’s pure wonders.
That’s not the one manner the panorama is utilized by creatives: The finest meal of my life is a reminiscence hand-crafted by Chef Thrainn Freyr Vigfusson and his crew at Óx (above proper), a Michelin-starred speakeasy restaurant in Reykjavik hidden behind a bookcase. The 20(ish)-course menu proves Iceland is way over its tourist-attracting headlines (puffin, whale, and fermented shark) however what left simply as a lot of an imprint was the ambiance. A bunch of us diners related in that eating house, designed to imitate Vigfusson’s grandma’s kitchen and lounge, spending the subsequent couple of nights assembly up for (extra) drinks and dinner. I nonetheless maintain in contact with one among my pals from that evening, Amelia, to today.
To follow town limits is a selection—and one I like to recommend everybody attempt a couple of times. But getting out into Iceland’s nature, climbing its volcanic craters or heading underground into its dormant lava tubes, is while you begin to crack open what this place is all about. It all begins with the drive alongside roads lined by each mountains and shoreline, visitors thinning and climate thickening. When you arrive at your vacation spot, it’s nearly like you’ll be able to breathe in its historical past.