Iceland review - 2014, Qupperneq 6

4 ICELAND REVIEW
When the odometer was exactly at 300 km (186
miles) I met the third car of the day since starting
my journey from Egilsstaðir, East Iceland, heading
north, in mid-December. What I had seen was
white land, icy roads, and no one—for five hours.
In mid-winter, Iceland is alien land with less
than four hours of daylight; twenty of darkness.
I always forget how dark Iceland is in December,
even though the darkness arrives at the same time
every year, with no exceptions.
And the light comes back in late January with
the migrated tourist; one million people are
expected to visit Iceland this year.
Half a century ago, tourists numbered less than
20,000 per year; the year this magazine was
founded, (see page 44).
Two centuries ago, there were almost no tourists,
except for one English botanist, neither noble nor
wealthy: William Jackson Hooker, who came here
in the summer of 1809, and encountered a
remarkable dress, (see page 30).
Eighty years ago, another Englishman, the noble
poet W.H. Auden, traveled to Iceland and wrote an
account of his visit. It seems that nothing has
changed; at least when it comes to how we behave
and how we manage our economy, (see page 40).
Today, we have to look further than a wall of an
ice cave, with its walls made of snow that fell on
Vatnajökull glacier 800 years ago, (see page 22).
We have to look further up, all the way to the
Arctic region, where Iceland’s next great
opportunities might lie, (see page 36).
Or just do as I did; head to Northeast Iceland,
have a glass of water and find something different.
A lone road, a single bird and the northern Arctic
Ocean, blue as a black night.
Páll Stefánsson
ps@icelandreview.com
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EDITOR
Páll Stefánsson
DEPUTY AND
fEATUREs EDITOR
Ásta Andrésdóttir
DEsIGN
Erlingur Páll Ingvarsson
CONTRIBUTING
WRITERs
Deb Smith
Eygló Svala Arnarsdóttir
Goddur
Halldór Lárusson
Haraldur J. Hamar
Harpa Björg Birgisdóttir
Heiðar Guðjónsson
Júlíana Björnsdóttir
Mica Allan
Zoë Robert
CONTRIBUTING
PhOTOGRAPhERs
Áslaug Snorradóttir
Helgi Arason
Howard Coster
Ólafur Magnússon
RAX
Valgarður Gíslason

WEB EDITORs
Eygló Svala Arnarsdóttir (on leave)
Zoë Robert
COPY EDITORs
Julie Ingham
Zoë Robert
PRODUCTION
Erlingur Páll Ingvarsson
COLOR PRODUCTION
Páll Kjartansson
ADVERTIsING sALEs
Helga Möller
Sunna Mist Sigurðardóttir
Sverrir H. Geirmundsson
Advertising Sales sunna@heimur.is
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From
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