The top five things to see in Iceland: Dettifoss, Europe’s most powerful waterfall, the northern lights (probably best place to see them is on the Tjörnes peninsula by the farm Máná, near Húsavík and Dettifoss), Askja, a volcano lake high up in the central northeast highlands, Vatnajökull glacier, which covers one twelfth of the Republic—white magic—and, my favorite, Hrafntinnusker in the central-south highlands, the biggest geothermal area in Iceland.

The top five things to do in Iceland: Take a bath in the natural hot springs in Landmannalaugar, perfect for the body and soul, have a Happy Cloud in Café Marengs in the National Gallery of Iceland, hike up Esja, the mountain overlooking Reykjavík (it’s easy and offers a perfect view of Faxaflói bay and the capital), go whale watching from Húsavík and climb up Fimmvörduháls to see the footprints of last spring’s eruption.

The best artists on the rock are Björk in music, Arnaldur Indridason in literature, Ragnar Axelsson in photography, painter Georg Gudni and actor Ingvar Sigurdsson.

As for politicians, we have very few good ones but I once saw a list ranking politicians from the bottom up and Icelanders had two among five of the world’s worst politicians.

Minister of Fisheries and Agriculture Jón Bjarnason of the Left-Greens and Chairman of the Progressive Party Sigmundur Davíd Gunnlaugsson were on the list, accompanied by Chairman of the Presidium of the SPA (the Communist Party of North Korea) Pak Sep Tcheul, Thokozani Khuphe, a Zimbabwean politician and the Vice-President of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) and Venezuelan Minister of Agriculture Elías José Jaua Milano.

Jón Bjarnason is the only minister in history of mankind who does not support the government in which he has a seat. Last week when the ministers of the government had a difficult meeting about next year’s state budget, he did not even show up because he had an important meeting with dwarf  fishing boat owners on the Snaefellsnes peninsula, a two-hour’s drive from the capital.

Maybe it would be best for both Jón Bjarnason and the whole country if he were to move to Grímsey in Steingrímsfjördur fjord, an uninhabited island in the West Fjords close to where he was born, and declare independence.

And then he could close Grímsey’s borders not only to foreigners but to everyone who have ever talked to foreigners, especially if they come from European Union.

And with no imports, we, the true Icelanders, and Jón the first King of Grímsey, would be self-sufficient people, independent people with a free spirit. We wouldn’t need anything from the big, big world out there.

Páll Stefánsson – ps@icelandreview.com