Unusual Things You'll Only See In Iceland

Believe it or not, but these days, with global warming and carbon pollution rising to all-time levels, the desire to breathe clean, fresh air is becoming something that people are actually trying to make a business out of. While visiting Iceland to breathe the air yourself is ideal, bringing a can of the stuff back home for those who couldn't attend would be a nice gesture. While we don't think you'd really be getting your money's worth, it would be a much funnier gift than a "My Friend Went To..." t-shirt!

One of the best things about all the cold weather in Iceland is that it creates a number of really amazing natural phenomena that make for some pretty spectacular sights. One of the coolest of these has to be the many ice caves that you'll find around the country. These are essentially rock ridges that have been frozen over with an icy ceiling which create these amazingly luminescent natural structures. You often have to hike to reach these though, so be prepared for an adventure!

If you're traveling to Iceland in the hopes of enjoying a traditional, Western-style fast-food meal, you're not going to have much luck! While we might all enjoy a fast food snack from time to time, the small population in Iceland and their inherently traditional culture means that they don't eat fast food much. In fact, there are no operating McDonalds restaurants in the entire country and the last one was sold in 2009. So get used to eating the local food - or bring your own snacks!

Despite the harsh cold weather, Iceland did experience a significant rise in the brown rat population during the 19th and 20th century as boats would frequently bring them with shipments by accident. The fishing ports had the highest concentration of this species and, as a result, the locals had to import cats to help control the mice population. Today, having cats as 'professional' mice catchers is still a tradition in Iceland and one that we hope continues for a while! Iceland is a cat-lover's dream it seems.

As you can imagine, with all that cold weather, Icelandic people know how to keep it warm! As you can imagine, having all that cold weather and lack of direct sunlight can make people feel a little sad, drowsy, or isolated from time to time. To show the people that they care (and have a great sense of creativity), the Icelandic government replaced all the red traffic lights with little red hearts to help brighten up your day if you're in traffic and feel less disappointed about hitting a red light!