Are you adventurer

Greenland is in fact a world of its own. Icebergs and the inland ice are probably the most famous aspects of the Greenlandic nature. Massive icebergs in unbelievable shapes of blue and white float on the deep blue sea. The internal ice - a truly unfathomable sheet of ice, kilometers thick, which seems frozen hard and immovable but, as the loud and creaking reveals, is in fact under constant movement and change. Greenland is also about green mountains with beautiful flowers, long fjords, steep cliffs, hot springs and fresh air. It is not just people who enjoy living here. Animals also prosper here - at sea and land - reindeer, seals, musk oxen, whales, polar bears. Greenland is a paradise for anglers . The Arctic char is common in most rivers and if you fish from a boat at sea or on a fjord, you may be able to hook a halibut several meters long or a record-size catfish. Greenland is also hunting paradise, here we have exclusive hunting area of 500 square Kilometers. Our Caribou quota is every season 200 trophy bulls. Our one of kind programs have become popular and they are fast becoming a firm favourite amongst our clients. Our Caribou hunters have been returning full of praise for what they have experienced there.

http://icelandontrack.is/Are-you-adventurer.html

Shatteringly beautiful, barren and brutal...

„You can try and CGI this but there is no need - look at it, it exists,“ exlaims actor John Bradley, pointing at the landscape of Iceland where his character, Samwell Tarly, is facing the elements in season 2 of the TV Saga Game of Thrones, based on George R.R. Martins epic fantasy novels.

Iceland in the middle of the winter was the filming location of choice for Jon Snow‘s adventures north of the Wall, into the mystical landscape of the Frostfangs. David Benioff, Executive Producer, explains the choice of Iceland:  "We always knew we wanted something kind of shatteringly beautiful and barren and brutal for this part of Jon's journey cause he is in the true north now."
Alan Taylor, Director and Co-Executive Producer, says that being able to go out into a world that actually ewokes the world they were trying to create was inspiring for everybody.

DESIGN MARCH 2012

For four days at the end of March Reykjavik will be awash with design events – during the festival, hundreds of opening galas, exhibitions and other events will be organised within the city.

Representatives from all sections of the industry from architects to product designers and jewellery designers to ceramic artists are expected to attend. The festival will begin with a series of lectures, which will this year feature architect and musician Tuomas Toivonen among others.

As part of the DesignMarch there will also be a so-called DesignMatch which aims to bring designers and purchasers to the same table. The participants who have already agreed to take part in the 2012 DesignMarch event include: Katrin Olina, Scintilla, Spark Design Space, Vík Prjónsdóttir, KRADS, Aurum, The Icelandic Museum of Design and Applied Art, KronKron, MUNDI, Tinna Gunnarsdóttir, The National Gallery of Iceland, HAF by Hafsteinn Júlíusson, Sruli Recht, STEiNUNN, The Reykjavík Art Museum, Megan Herbert, Kraum, Kurtogpi and Hanna Jónsdóttir.

Light A Pyre In The Sky

The hunt for green ember 7.2.2012 Words by Clyde Bradford 


You know those pictures you see of the Northern Lights? The ones where they engulf the night sky and the hues of green and red are really intense...You know they're not exactly accurate, right? Of course it's the Northern Lights you're seeing in the photographs, but camera trickery is afoot! A bit like touching up the photo of a model, techniques are used to make the lights appear even more spectacular. The pictures are often ‘hyper-real.’ The lights are still pretty spectacular, but you need to know this information before you set off on your big adventure in search of them. You're not necessarily going to see what the pictures show you. Our guide Snorri Valsson makes sure to inform us of this fact as we embark from the BSÍ bus terminal. Snorri and our driver Guðjón Bogason will be aiding and abetting our hunt this evening. Another thing you need to know is that the lights don't come out just because you decided you wanted to see them. They're no dancing monkey. But tonight holds the promise of the largest solar storm in seven years so we should be in for something spectacular! The reason for this is that the lights are caused by the Sun emitting charged particles into space. When they reach Earth, they head towards the poles because the poles are magnetic. For this reason there are Northern (Aurora Borealis) and Southern (Aurora Australis) Lights. When they’re in the Earth’s atmosphere (in the Auroral zone to be precise), these charged particles bash into oxygen and nitrogen particles in the air, which creates green (oxygen reaction) and red (nitrogen reaction) light. 


 FIRST CONTACT A solar storm means lots of charged particles, which means lots of Northern Light activity. This explains why there are five coaches full of people on the tour tonight. However, Iceland is currently being battered by storms. And with storms come clouds, the sworn enemy of any Northern Lights hunter. Snorri tells us that we will be heading to the hopefully cloud free Reykjanes peninsula, close to the international airport in Keflavík. Thirty minutes down route 41 (the main arterial road between Reykjavík and Keflavík), we stop and Snorri jumps out to take a better peak at the night. “We need to head west,” he says and with that we’re off, Guðjón’s eyes on the road and Snorri’s eyes fixed firmly on the sky. We’re now off route 41 and taking our chances on some less well lit roads... You don’t want pesky man-made light when you’re searching for the Northern Lights. Then murmurs start to pick up, heads peer skyward and eyes strain through coach windows—we have first contact. 


 I WAS THERE AND HERE’S THE PROOF Piling out of the coach, the throng assembles and aims their cameras towards the sky. No comment. I head closer to the lights and watch them undulate about the atmosphere. It seems like we’ve hit the sweet spot and we get a good twenty minutes worth of action. But minutes later the lights begin to fade. The clouds are foiling us. Snorri takes this opportunity to get us all back into the coach and we head towards the picturesque village of Hvalsnes—a prime Northern Lights viewpoint that also happens to appear in the film ‘Mýrin’ (“Jar City”). As we approach town, we get a better view of the column of light streaking across the sky. It appears from behind the church and houses of Hvalsnes, and I crane my neck back to follow its route. Quickly giving up on that approach I spin around only to see the column disappearing behind the clouds. The horizon catches my eyes as man-made light makes its attempt to vie for attention. A far off town obscured by hills throws up its lights and they bounce off the clouds that cover it from above. It looks as though the horizon is on fire. Good, but no dice... I spin back around and keep my eye on the Northern Lights until they fade from view. 


 NO DICE The clouds have closed in again and as we all look hopefully to the sky, catching only glimmers of green light, a 4x4 arrives on the scene. It’s a local on his way to destination unknown and he needs to get by our coach. As he attempts to squeeze past, his 4x4 slides off the road. Disaster. Like a turtle on its back the guy needs help. Snorri, Guðjón and some of our group (myself included) give him a push back on to the road. It’s a tense few minutes, but real disaster is averted! That brief bit of excitement out of the way, we go back to searching the sky for lights, but a few glimpses aside, we have no dice. It’s getting late so Snorri hustles us back into the warmth of the bus and we make our way back to our hotels and homes. Lights were seen, japes were had and a little bit of excitement even when the lights were hidden, but in the end we were mostly foiled by the clouds.

Food & Fun 2012

The 11th Food & Fun Festival is just around the corner here in Reykjavik, Iceland. For the last few weeks we have been putting the finishing touches on the list of participating restaurants and we are very excited to announced 5 new places joining us in this years festival, all of them are new in the restaurant scene and have all been very well received by the locals. http://www.foodandfun.is

Iceland tops polls as most attractive destination in 2012

Iceland tops polls as most attractive destination in 2012 Tiny Iceland is coming up big in the competition for the most exciting travel destination in 2012. The country recently, topped The National Geographic’s Traveler Magazine’s list of the world’s best destinations in 2012, which claimed it was “[a] final relic from the world’s last ice age.” Iceland also finished atop of the Lonely Planet’s annual Best in Travel list as the readers’ choice for the best destination in the world. Iceland received a total of 32% of votes cast, 19% more than 2nd place, Italy. In addition, Iceland’s capitol, Reykjavík, finished well ahead of 2nd placed Lisbon, as the most exciting city to visit in 2012 for the same publication. Iceland’s rugged beauty, shaped by glaciers, waterfalls and volcanoes, was a major hit with Lonely Planet Readers’ who were attracted by the country’s untouched nature and pristine landscapes. MORE

Easyjet and WOW Air launch flights to Iceland

Easyjet and brand new Icelandic airline, WOW Air, will increase accessibility from the UK to Iceland by six flights a week. The two airlines are both launching flights from London airports to Keflavik International Airport in the spring and summer of 2012. The inaugural Easyjet flight is on 27 March 2012 and will operate three times a week from London Luton on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays. Prices start at £32.99 one way and £58.81 return and flights are available to book at www.easyjet.com. WOW Air will fly for the first time on 1 June 2012. Flights from London Stansted to Keflavik will operate three times a week on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday with prices starting at £53 one way. WOW Air is Iceland’s newest airline and focuses on flexible travel within Europe at competitive prices. The airline will also fly from Iceland to Alicante, Basel, Berlin, Copenhagen, Krakow, Lyon, Paris, Stuttgart, Warsaw and Zurich. Flights are available to book at www.wowair.is.