Comments on: Notes from Iceland 2009

By: Muninn

Muninn — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 22:36:48 +0000

Thanks Brendan. I have indeed repeatedly heard the story of deforestion in various descriptions of Iceland, but my understanding was that the forests never covered more than, at most, around a quarter of the island, mostly around the settled and farmed areas. I don’t think anyone knows how much was lost, but I don’t think they covered the many black sand faced mountains and bare rock or lava fields. Some of the many grass fields and farms I passed, though, look like they could have once been the site of forest.

Sunkyoung – I hope you get a chance to visit Iceland some day soon! For now, I hope life is good on the smaller island you now occupy!

By: Sunkyoung

Sunkyoung — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 17:31:38 +0000

As living on a tropical island, I feel very distant from the Iceland’s sceneries that you beautifully described. But, right because of that, I want to see them with my own view.

I like the idea of blanket rental service and you may suggest this to their customer centre. My friend, Jihye would probably like to support the idea with her suggestion for Norwegian rail. She found this very nicely warm blanket on the train headed to Bergen, which she also borrowed but didn’t manage to return to them, as far as I remember.

By: Brendan

Brendan — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 15:39:06 +0000

I very much enjoyed your travel report. On my only trip to Iceland, I only got to see the tourist sites you mentioned outside Reykjavik, and I envy your free-spirited travels across the less-touristed landscape!

I’m sure you probably already know this, but the “complete nakedness” of the barren landscape you describe was actually the result of human intervention. Iceland was heavily forested when the first Nordic settlers arrived 1,100-odd years ago, but within a century or so the frigid winters had prompted them to completely deforest the island! I guess nothing is quite as pristine as it seems…

In any case, you’ve definitely got me motivated to go back. I just wish their economic crash, as sad as it is, had made the country even more affordable, because when I went, prices were outrageous.