Iceland

Discover Iceland

Around the year 1000, a Norse explorer named Leif Eriksson sailed west from Greenland and spent the winter in North America, roughly 500 years before Columbus. The settlement site has been found in Newfoundland, Canada. Iceland produced the first European to set foot on the continent.

Norse settlers had arrived around 874, most of them escaping fighting and power struggles back home in Norway. In 930, they established the Althing, a gathering where leaders met each summer to make laws and settle disputes. It is one of the world's oldest parliaments.

There was no king and no army. Laws were memorized and read aloud each year by an elected official called the Lawspeaker.

Iceland came under Norwegian rule in 1262 after decades of clan warfare, then passed to Danish control. It gained full independence on June 17, 1944.

In 1980, Vigdís Finnbogadóttir became the first woman ever elected president of any country. She was a single mother and former theatre director who served sixteen years.

Many Icelanders believe in hidden people called huldufólk, beings said to live inside rocks and hills. This isn't just old folklore. Roads in Iceland have been rerouted to avoid disturbing rocks where huldufólk are said to live.

Iceland sits on two giant slabs of the earth's crust that are slowly pulling apart, making it one of the most volcanically active places on earth. In 2010, the eruption of Eyjafjallajökull shut down air travel across Europe for about a week. You have permission to not attempt to pronounce that.

Walk between the two slabs of crust at Thingvellir National Park, where the split is visible right on the surface. Soak in the Blue Lagoon, a spa heated by volcanic activity and set inside a lava field. Chase the northern lights in winter or the midnight sun in summer.

Eat lamb soup, skyr with wild berries, and the Icelandic hot dog, made with lamb and topped with crispy fried onions, raw onions, and a sweet brown mustard called pylsusinnep. Order one before you do anything else.