Unusual Things You'll Only See In Iceland

Iceland is a magical country, but it's also mysterious. These are strange things you'll only find in Iceland.

Believe it or not, with pollution rising to all-time high levels, the desire to breathe clean, fresh air is becoming something that people are actually making a business out of. While visiting Iceland to breathe the air yourself is ideal, bringing a can back home for your loved one is a nice souvenir. It's 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.