Maybe it would be best for both Jón Bjarnason and the whole country if he were to move to Grímsey, an uninhabited island in the West Fjords.
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The new Dreamliner, Boeing 787, landed at Keflavík International Airport yesterday morning for test flights in side wind. According to the airport’s information officer Fridthór Eydal, the airplane will be in Iceland for test flights for about a week.
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Click on the picture to watch an audio slideshow of a hike to Hraunsvatn lake in Öxnadalur valley in north Iceland, which lies at a height of 490 meters, interlocked between two steep mountains and a small glacier with a view of the majestic Hraundrangar peaks.
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Fjallabyggd (“Mountain Settlement”) is a skier’s dream. Its slopes are perfect for slaloming and there are also tracks for telemark skiing. Winter sporting enthusiasts can also go ice skating or rent snowmobiles. In summer, Fjallabyggd turns into a paradise for hikers. Read this special promotion about one of Iceland’s best hidden gems.
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A group of scientists believe the Holy Grail and other lost objects, which according to Christian mythology were guarded by the Knights Templar, may be located in the rural district Hrunamannahreppur in southwest Iceland.
“There are strong indications that the solution to this mystery may be found in Iceland,” architect Thórarinn Thórarinsson wrote in a letter to the local authority of Hrunamannahreppur, requesting permission for himself and Italian cryptographer Giancarlo Gianazza to search for the treasure in the region, visir.is reports.
According to visir.is, Gianazza believes to have found important clues to where the Holy Grail is hidden in poems by Dante and artwork by Leonardo da Vinci and other Renaissance painters. His research has led him to conclude that the treasure is located in a five-meter-large secret underground dome by Skipholtskrókar near Kjölur mountain pass.
One of the clues is a consistency between da Vinci’s painting of the Last Supper and an aerial photograph of the area. (Click here to see a picture overlaying the painting and the aerial photograph.)
The theory is that the Knights Templar came to Iceland in 1217 to find a hiding place for their treasure and that Snorri Sturluson, the author of Prose Edda and other mediaeval scripts, helped them create the underground dome in Iceland’s central highlands.
“We have investigated that place since 2004 with field work both in summer and winter and undertaken extensive geological measurements,” Thórarinsson said in his letter. “The information that we have gathered during these trips as well as further research of original sources give us reason to investigate the area in more detail.”
Thórarinn was given permission by the local authority of Hrunamannahreppur to dig a two-meter-deep and five-meter-wide ditch by Skipholtskrókar with the condition that the ditch will be closed after the research is done.
“Although we have our doubts, we think this project is exciting,” said head of the local authority Ísólfur Gylfi Pálmason. “It is at least a different kind of project than what we have to deal with on a daily basis.”
The second issue of the print edition of Iceland Review 2010 has just been published. Entitled “Under the Volcano” the magazine dedicates 20 pages, words and pictures, to the volcanic eruption in Eyjafjallajökull glacier which made headlines all over the word. New subscribers will receive the book 2010 Eruptions as a gift and all subscribers are part of a draw to win a trip to Iceland. Click here to subscribe to the magazine.
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Dadi Gudbjörnsson's art with its smiley faces, Aladdin's lamps, gleaming hearts, blue mountains and psychedelic flora of unearthly origin reminds me of the cheesy R.E.M. song “Shiny Happy People”. The sugar-sweet naivety fails to amuse me but I must admit it infects my mood with delirious joy.
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Former President of Iceland Vigdís Finnbogadóttir turned 80 on 15 April this year and Mayor Hanna Birna Kristjánsdóttir—in making her an Honorary Citizen of Reykjavík to mark the occasion—observed that Finnbogadóttir’s life was interwoven with that of Reykjavík. In June 1980 Finnbogadóttir made history when she became the world’s first democratically elected female head of state.
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Today, August 30, and tomorrow is your last chance to visit the exhibition “Eau De Parfum” by Andrea Maack at the Spark Design Space in Reykjavík. In the exhibition space, Maack introduces three perfumes that are the result of her collaboration with French perfumery apf aromes & parfums.
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