Iceland review - 2016, Side 6

4 ICELAND REVIEW
ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION (WORLDWIDE) EUR 50,
approximately USD 55/GBP 36, or equivalent in other currencies.
No articles in this magazine may be reproduced elsewhere, in whole
or in part, without the permission of the publisher.
ISSN 0019-1094. Iceland Review (ISSN:0019-1094) is published six
times a year by Heimur hf. in Iceland and distributed in the USA by
SPP 75 Aberdeen Road Emigsville PA 17318-0437. Periodicals
postage paid at Emigsville PA. POSTMASTER: send address changes
to Iceland Review P.O. BOX 437 Emigsville PA 17318-0437.
I like numbers. The population of Iceland is
now 332,751. The number of tourists who
dropped by last year was 1.4 million or 4.3
times the population of this island. Most of
those people came here for the first time.
Word of mouth told them about the volcanoes,
the lava fields and the black deserts of the
central highlands. And many come back,
again and again. Thrilled by the northern
lights, frozen waterfalls, and the unassuming
beauty of Bakkafjörður, in the northeast (page
68).
Others came here knowing very little about
the country, or the dangers of climbing the
glaciers, driving the country’s icy winter roads,
or playing with the untamed waves along the
South Iceland coast. Sadly, a few visitors
have succumbed to Iceland’s wild nature,
most recently a man who was swept away by
the waves off Reynisfjara beach.
A few of the recent arrivals are invited
refugees from Syria, set to stay here as long
as they wish (see Zoë’s article on page 36).
Before receiving the invitation to resettle in
Iceland, they could not find Iceland on a world
map. Now one of the families, from Aleppo,
has made a new home for itself in Akureyri.
Speaking of Akureyri, we visit the young
fashion designer Aníta Hirlekar (page 18)
who, when not in London, calls Akureyri
home, too.
We meet another powerful young woman:
Eygló Ósk (page 14), the Icelandic Sportsperson
of the Year 2015. Halldór Lárusson takes us on
a tour of Reykjavík (page 56), we taste traditional
Icelandic food with a twist (page 64) and see
new works by two fresh female photographers
(pages 8 and 48). Hugi Ólafsson (page 42) tells
us how Iceland is responding to climate change.
And, of course, we take a yoga class (page 53),
discuss Icelandic relations with Mother Russia
(page 60), as well as take a look at how water
shapes the Icelandic landscape (page 24).
But that’s not all: we go back to the year 1900
(page 74), when Iceland was one of the poorest
countries in the world, with fewer than 100
tourists a year paying us a visit. One of them,
Ludvig Mylius-Erichsen, a reporter from the
Danish newspaper Politiken, wrote about
Iceland that year: “…. the lack of European
civilization, roads, trains, and good restaurants,
was a fact. All other countries populated by
snow-white people surely are civilized.”
The country’s population that year was
77,967.
Iceland has since been transformed, in part
thanks to increasingly looking outward and
welcoming the outside in.
Páll Stefánsson
ps@icelandreview.com
Head Office
Heimur hf.
Borgartún 23, 105 Reykjavík, Iceland
Tel: (+354) 512-7575
icelandreview@icelandreview.com
Printed in Iceland by Oddi
ecolabelled printing company
Advertising Sales sunna@icelandreview.com
Subscriptions dagbjortm@icelandreview.com
Daily news from Iceland: icelandreview.com
EDITOR
Páll Stefánsson
DEPUTY & WEB EDITORS
Eygló Svala Arnarsdóttir (on leave)
Zoë Robert
DESIGN & PRODUCTION
Erlingur Páll Ingvarsson
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS
Alëx Elliott
Edward Hancox
Elliott Brandsma
Halldór Lárusson
Jenna Gottlieb
Larissa Kyzer
Mica Allan
Michaela Cavallaro
Rachel Mercer
Vala Hafstað
Yaroslava Kutsai
CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS
Aaron Flacke
Annie Ling
Áslaug Snorradóttir
Geir Ólafsson
Guðmundur O. Eiríksson
Kristina Petrošiutè
RAX
Saga Sig
Soffía Jónassen Claessen
Walter H. Trevelyan
COPY EDITOR
Alëx Elliott
PROOFREADERS
Julie Ingham
Vala Hafstað
COLOR PRODUCTION
Páll Kjartansson
SUBSCRIPTIONS
Dagbjört Oddný Matthíasdóttir
ADVERTISING SALES
Kristján Már Gunnarsson
Sunna Mist Sigurðardóttir
MARKETING & SALES DIRECTOR
Sverrir H. Geirmundsson
PUBLISHER
Benedikt Jóhannesson
ICELAND
REVIEW
PHOTO BY RAX.
141 776
NORDIC ECOLABEL
PRINTED MATTER
WORLD’S SMALLEST WATCH
MANUFACTURER
PROBABLY THE
With his legendary concentration and 45 years of
experience our Master Watchmaker and renowned
craftsman, Gilbert O. Gudjonsson, inspects every single
timepiece before it leaves our workshop.
All the watches are designed and assembled by hand in
Iceland. Only highest quality movements and materials are
used to produce the watches and every single detail has been
given the time needed for perfection.
Our Master Watchmaker
never loses his concentration
www.jswatch.com
From
the
Editor