Homepage > Life between the fire and ice

Life between the fire and ice

Icelanders call their country as a land of fire and ice.People have a lot of names for fire,ice or water in their language.However,they are have learned to live there.

How to live in this country.

Living in this country changed course development.

Native turfy lived in homes that protect them from adverse

weather conditions (rain, cold and wind).These snares

have a very small number of windows, doors,and usually

one on the roof of the thick layer of clay on which

the grass grow.Houses completely merged the country.

Today you can see these houses in different places of Iceland,

as the Museum of Nature.The countryside is very different

than living in the city.-Where you will find the village.

There are only a few such houses or just any farm.Individual

settlements or farming settlements were and still are spaced

a few tens of kilometers.People meet only at some festivals

or churches,which also usually tend to go far enough.

Houses in Iceland are mostly made of wood,

which is mostly imported, as you will not find many trees.

The heating of the earth using geothermal energy.In cities,

most of the population of Iceland in Reykjavik

is just more than half of all people.For example,the second

largest city in Iceland, Akureyri has about 17,000 inhabitants.

Others are much smaller.Even in the capital,dominated

by family houses, so it looks rather like a large village.

The other cities on the island are Sellfoss,Akranes,

Borgarnes,Keflavík,Grindavík,Reykjanesbaer,Hafnafjordur and other.

Most cities are situated on the coast (the western,southwestern,

eastern and north).Iceland is among the countries where life

expectancy for both men and women the highest in the world.

This is due to lifestyle,clean air and healthy diets.

There is also due to climate and less isolation of disease or virus.

Ice

Ice covers about 14% of the Iceland.It is expected that in the past was more extensive cover. Iceland is Europe's largest glacier Vatnajökull (8300 km2), which sometimes reaches the thickness of 1000 m.Beneath its ice hiding even some active volcanoes.Even this, however,retreating glacier.Ice crack off the edges and falls into lakes, spewing rivers of muddy water.Other glaciers are located in southern,northern or northeastern part of the island.Water below the derivative path between rocks or gorges.On some sections of the falls from a great height (hundreds of meters) in the beautiful waterfalls in the gorge and sometimes turn creates a huge canyons.Other glaciers on the island as: Eyjafallajoekull,Langjökull,

Hofsjökull,Mýrdalsjökull,

Drangajökull and several smaller glaciers.

Search site

Fire

Iceland is an island, bringing together North American and Eurasian tectonic earth plates.It affects the very existence of Iceland.Iceland was created by volcanic activity .This activity continues today.On this island is also in several active volcanoes.Geothermal activity is seen early everywhere.On some places,you can see squirt the hot geysers, hot springs or ground water which create lakes with hot water.Even on some hills hot steam is escaping through cracks in the soil , which creates, in conjunction with soil and sulfur bubbling mud and peat . larger areas in inland are covered dry lava .giant fields are covered with stiff left and coal dust. This country somewhere looks like as moonscape without of life.Nature shows signs of power and earthquakes are there enough frequently.