they eat a lot of strange animals... there was baby horse, kangaroo, whale, shark (that rots for 6 months because it is poisonous when fresh), puffin, goose, reindeer, lamb on the menus... i ate puffin which was a bit chewy, gamey and salty. kangaroo was tasty and i am not sure why restaurants serve it since iceland is nowhere near kangaroo land. my reindeer burger was ruined by blue cheese. the shark tasted better than the blue cheese on my burger. i like the whale when it was cooked or smoked, i wasn't a fan of it seared/raw (it was minke whale for anyone who cares). i also ordered a quiche one day that i never got because of "technical difficulties" which i think meant it got burnt. but the phrasing made me laugh.
this is the shark. it came in a sealed jar cause it smells really bad. i described it as really chewy fish flavored gum that smells like bathroom cleaner.
driving was an adventure. for starters, gas was pretty expensive. it was about $100 to fill up the tank in our tiny ford fiesta. its only around reykjavik and the airport that the highways are divided and have shoulders and lights. otherwise the main road on the island is one lane each direction, no shoulders or anything. i think the street i live on is wider than what we drove on. it was really scary when we got into the mountains and couldn't see where the road was going.
most of the island is really desolate. there were times where we would be driving for an hour without seeing another car. and the geography is a mixture of mountains, lakes and rivers, lava fields and farm land.
outdoor swimming pools are also very prevalent. almost every "town" of more than a few hundred people has their own swimming pool usually complete with waterslides and hot tubs (if you don't believe me, look at this website that lists all the pools on the island). this is because the country has a lot of hot water. most places run on geothermal power and several places we stayed were heated thru the floor tiles. the rest of the places were heated with steam radiators.
this is the shark. it came in a sealed jar cause it smells really bad. i described it as really chewy fish flavored gum that smells like bathroom cleaner.
driving was an adventure. for starters, gas was pretty expensive. it was about $100 to fill up the tank in our tiny ford fiesta. its only around reykjavik and the airport that the highways are divided and have shoulders and lights. otherwise the main road on the island is one lane each direction, no shoulders or anything. i think the street i live on is wider than what we drove on. it was really scary when we got into the mountains and couldn't see where the road was going.
most of the island is really desolate. there were times where we would be driving for an hour without seeing another car. and the geography is a mixture of mountains, lakes and rivers, lava fields and farm land.
outdoor swimming pools are also very prevalent. almost every "town" of more than a few hundred people has their own swimming pool usually complete with waterslides and hot tubs (if you don't believe me, look at this website that lists all the pools on the island). this is because the country has a lot of hot water. most places run on geothermal power and several places we stayed were heated thru the floor tiles. the rest of the places were heated with steam radiators.
