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Author Archives: Alda

Midwinter Bloating

Here in Iceland we’re currently in the thick of Þorrablót season—the traditional midwinter festival where people get together to eat rotten food and drink lots of Black Death. While it is commonly regarded by outsiders as merely a putrid-food drinkfest, there is a lot more to it than that. Before Iceland adopted Christianity in 1000 AD, [...]

7 February 2008 – 8:15 | Posted in Festivals, iceland | Comments (0)

Putrid Fish for Beginners

Step One: Hold your nose. In a country of bizarre traditions, one of the craziest has to be the putrid skate party. Every year on Þorláksmessa (St. Thorlák’s Mass), 23 December, Icelanders get together and eat skate (the fish, not the sporting equipment) that has been sitting in a closed container and allowed to ferment for [...]

24 December 2007 – 6:43 | Posted in Christmas in Iceland, food, iceland, Western Iceland | Comments (4)

Chasing Aurora

You’ve seen the pictures, heard the rave reviews, and now you want to experience them for yourself: the aurora borealis, the northern lights, those elusive, magical, shimmering rows of colour that dance across the Nordic skies in winter. The northern lights are definitely near the top of sights to see for the majority of tourists [...]

8 December 2007 – 13:00 | Posted in Adventure in Iceland, iceland, northern lights | Comments (5)

How to Vacation Like an Icelandic Wage Slave

Here in Iceland, there’s a groovy system in place for wage slaves: labour unions buy cottages all over the country and rent them out to their members on the cheap. This means that virtually every Icelander has access to a cottage, as it’s mandatory for salaried employees in Iceland to join a labour union. Consequently, cottage culture is deeply ingrained [...]

7 November 2007 – 16:22 | Posted in iceland | Comments (0)

Slimy Little Secret

So you’ve come to Iceland intent on sampling its renowned pool culture, but find the Blue Lagoon a bit touristy and the Laugardalslaug a bit hectic. You need something off the beaten track, something wild, something enticing, something to make you feel like you’ve landed in a sci-fi movie from the ’30′s. You need Lýsuhóll. [...]

9 October 2007 – 13:39 | Posted in Adventure in Iceland, gymnophobia, iceland, laugardalslaug, swimming pools, Western Iceland | Comments (1)

Steamy Little Secret

Psst. Read any good blogs lately (other than this one, of course)? We have. Alda Kalda writes ‘The Iceland Weather Report’ (which gives you far more than the weather), and will be helping us out in upcoming months.* We like her, and we think you will too. The small town of Laugarvatn is home to one of the best-kept [...]

21 August 2007 – 17:48 | Posted in gymnophobia, iceland, nature | Comments (2)