Question de goût?

As the Icelandair plane was approaching Iceland and the Keflavik airport, looking from above the weird, Game-of-thrones scenery on the ground, the clouds, the lakes, the volcanos and the lunar-,Martial landscape, I could not figure out if I was the happiest person in the plane or another clueless traveller about to make an expensive mistake, in the annus horribilis  2023 when I felt I most needed to relax and watch many Aperol sunsets sipping strong alcohol.

It was not my first time to Iceland. The first one was in 2012, when my hair was (mostly) still black. I had decided then that one day I was going to go back, off the beaten track of the Geysirs and the Blue Lagoon, and see more of this unique island (strangely, Iceland is Island in Icelandish, since Is is Ice: is you confused enough? :-)), .

Iceland is a love or hate affair, and for some people (myself included), the more the reasons to avoid a place, the more they are tempted to go.
Depending on which category you belong to, here are some reasons for you to go, or not, to Iceland.

• Have you ever been to a country where you pay for the paper cup of your ice cream, that you probably do not need in the first place?
• Have you ever been in a country where the word ‘Police’ is unrecognisable in the local language ? (Lögreglan, in Iceland)
• Have you ever been to a country where there is not A SINGLE plastic bag around, and where you have to carry everything you buy in paper sacs, melting in the constant rain?
• A country where you hear more English spoken than Icelandish?
• (This is really weird) A country where the telephone book lists people based on their name, as opposed to their surname?
• A country that has its’ own genealogical book, The book of Icelanders (Íslendingabók), a database that all Icelanders about to go in a relation need to check to avoid mixing with a person of the other sex belonging directly to the same family tree, leading to possible genetic problems in case children are born? Of course, nowadays there exists an app, the Islendiga-App (aka the Anti-incest app), that Icelanders consult to avoid kissing (or more) cousins...
• A country where the wind opens and empties your pockets (personal sad experience), where the rain often falls literally horizontally...
• A country that despite filthy climate is one of the major exporters of bananas in Europe?

Somewhere between Europe and America, this country really exists and it may fascinate you in a deep, dark way, and even make you want to go back...

I hope you enjoy my pics and videos!